RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-217 :: Tuesday, 18 December 2018

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#217 :: Tuesday, 17 December 2018
A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. The contents do not necessarily represent the views of IERES or The George Washington University.
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1. AP: Putin decries prosecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia.
2. Moscow Times: ‘Russia Is Being Used As a Meme in U.S. Politics’ – An Interview With Fyodor Lukyanov. Political scientist Fyodor Lukyanov on Russia’s place in the world.
3. Washington Post editorial: Russia’s support for Trump’s election is no longer disputable.
4. New York Times: Social Media’s Forever War. “The 2016 election was the Pearl Harbor of the social media age: a singular act of aggression that ushered in an era of extended conflict.”
5. New York Times: Some of the Popular Images and Themes the Russians Posted on Social Media. Using an array of accounts on multiple platforms and targeting a variety of demographics, the Russians have generated millions of interactions with their posts.
6. Twitter: Nate Silver, Comments on 2016 election.
7. Facebook: Fred Weir, Repackaging American political ideas.
8. Twitter: Aaron Mate, Disinformation campaigns.
9. Carnegie Moscow Center: Tatyana Stanovaya, The People Vs. the President: United Russia’s Survival Strategy.
10. Meduza: Moscow’s man triumphs in Russia’s Far East How the Kremlin took back Primorye’s gubernatorial election.
11. www.rt.com: Russia passes law to tackle foreign meddling in its elections.
12. Paul Goble: Online Social Networks Now Most Important Means to Mobilize Russian Voters, Political Technologists Say.
13. Intellinews.com: Russians spend a third of their income on food.
14. Intellinews.com: Russia’s major corporates undergoing a digital transformation.
15. TASS: Kommersant: Ex-foreign minister evaluates global risks for 2019. (Igor Ivanov)
16. Asia Times: Pepe Escobar, How the New Silk Roads are merging into Greater Eurasia. Russia is keen to push economic integration with parts of Asia and this fits in with China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
17. New York Times editorial: Don’t Tear Up This Treaty. Arms control isn’t perfect. But abandoning treaties without a plan for the future is dangerous.
18. www.rt.com: Russia will easily design new missiles to defend itself if US pulls out of INF – Putin.
19. TASS: US to look for new ways of neutralizing Russian strategic nuclear forces.
20. Militarytimes.com: Think tank: NATO must prepare to counter a rapid Russia invasion in Europe.
21. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, How one woman’s citizen diplomacy has strengthened US-Russia ties for decades. Sharon Tennison has been credited with helping to break the cold-war ice. And her mission isn’t over: She thinks the official rhetoric on both sides today is harsher than it was at the depths of the cold war.
22. Washington Times: Edward Lozansky, Is this what George H.W. Bush envisioned?. Clinton, Bush, Obama abandoned Bush’s vision on Russia.
23. Indian Punchline: M.K. Bhadrakumar, Russian deployment to Venezuela served the purpose.
24. Counterpunch.org: Nino Pagliccia, Have the Russian Military Aircrafts in Venezuela Breached the Door to “America’s Backyard”? [counterpunch.org/2018/12/18/have-the-russian-military-aircrafts-in-venezuela-breached-the-door-to-americas-backyard/]
25. Georgia Today: Emil Avdaliani, Russia’s Perennial Quest for Modernization.
26. Asia Times: Pepe Escobar, An historical journey into Crimea. Washington insists sanctions will remain until Russia returns the peninsula to Ukraine, but this will never happen. For Moscow, Crimea is back to where it belongs, and this is a region that has seen conquerors come and go for centuries.
27. www.strategic-culture.org: Martin Sieff, The Stampede of the Gadarene Swine: US Leaders Allowing Ukraine to Pull Them into Global War. [strategic-culture.org/news/2018/12/17/stampede-gadarene-swine-us-leaders-allowing-ukraine-pull-them-into-global-war.html]
28. Bloomberg: Leonid Bershidsky, Religion Will Be on Ukraine’s Ballot. With re-election in mind, President Poroshenko gets behind a new, unified Orthodox Church, separate from Moscow.
29. Grayzone: Mohamed Elmaazi and Max Blumenthal, Integrity Initiative and the UK’s Scandalous Information War. The Grayzone entered the carefully concealed offices of a covert, British government-backed propaganda mill that is at the center of an international scandal the mainstream media refuses to touch. [grayzoneproject.com/2018/12/17/inside-the-temple-of-covert-propaganda-the-integrity-initiative-and-the-uks-scandalous-information-war/]
30. www.rt.com: Steele dossier’s main claims ‘likely false,’ admits journalist who helped launch Russiagate.
31. www.rt.com: ‘Beyond understanding’: Kremlin blasts fresh US reports on alleged Russian election meddling.
32. www.rt.com: ‘I didn’t really get into rap’: Lavrov on music, borscht, world policy & Harry Truman.
33. Russian Foreign Ministry: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda, Moscow, December 17, 2018.

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