RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-22 :: Thursday, 1 February 2018

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#22
Thursday, 1 February 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
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1. Paul Goble: Average Russian an Overweight 37-Year-Old Married Woman with Children Who Smokes, Drinks and Suffers from Depression, Doctors Say.
2. Financial Times: Russian economy grows in 2017 for first time in three years.
3. Valdai Discussion Club: Andrey Kortunov, RUSSIAN APPROACHES TO THE UNITED STATES: ALGORITHM CHANGE IS OVERDUE. The usual “top-down” algorithm of Russian-American relations will not work under Trump. Hence, it is necessary to change drastically the algorithm – to start building relationships on the “bottom-up” principle.
4. Moscow Times: Andrei Kortunov and Ivan Timofeyev, How Should Russia Respond to an Adversarial West? Washington is resolved to damaging Russia under Putin as much as it can. But Russia doesn’t have to take a hard line.
5. Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Analyst says Putin list part of Trump’s ‘anti-globalization ideology’. (Fyodor Lukyanov)
6. TASS: Nezavisimaya Gazeta: ‘Kremlin List’ nothing to laugh at.
7. http://theduran.com: Dmitry Babich, Russian liberal’s strange love for blacklists. The “Kremlin list” included 210 names of the top Russian officials and businessmen. [Text with links http://theduran.com/russia-liberals-strange-love-blacklists/]
8. Interfax: Sovereign debt sanctions may cause brief volatility, no real effect on economy, financial stability – Nabiullina.
9. Sputnik: Cashing Out: How New Sanctions Can Push Russia Into Dropping Its US Bonds.
10. Meduza: During a live radio show, two Russian journalists punch each other in the face because of Stalinism.
11. Moscow Times: Putin’s Support Drops Below 70% Ahead of Elections.
12. www.rt.com: Russian Elections Commission chief expects no more than 8 candidates in 2018 vote.
13. Bloomberg: Henry Meyer and Ilya Arkhipov, Putin Is Grooming a New Generation to Preserve His Legacy The Russian leader grooms young loyalists to ensure his policies live on.
14. Vesti.ru: A Congress of the People – Putin Shares Plans With “Honored Russians” About Upcoming Election. [Video with English subtitle https://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=2982897&cid=4441]
15. Paul Goble: Kremlin’s New Approach to Dissent has Marginalized Even Navalny, ‘Nezavisimaya Gazeta’ Says.
16. Washington Post: Vladimir Kara-Murza, Western leaders shouldn’t recognize Russia’s sham election.
17. Moscow Times: Elizaveta Osetinskaya, In 2018, Russian Media Outlets Face These 4 Challenges. Тhese are the trends shaping the Russian media landscape this year.
18. Moscow Times: Ben Aris, Russia’s Economic Recovery Remains a Challenge. Putin’s choice of economic model in 2018 will set Russia’s course for the next decade.
19. Intellinews.com: Russia global top oil producer in November.
20. Oilprice.com: Russia Struggling To Expand Arctic Oil Production.
21. www.project-syndicate.org: Kostantin Sonin, Russia’s Economic Stagnation Is Here to Stay. The Russian economy is stagnating across almost all sectors, meaning that boosting growth will be impossible without deep structural reforms. But with President Vladimir Putin approaching a fourth term after having shown little appetite for such reform, there is no reason to expect much to change in the foreseeable future.
22. www.rt.com: ‘Justice finally served’: Russia reacts to CAS clearing 28 athletes of doping allegations.
23. Financial Times: Moscow searches for political path out of Syrian morass. Russia’s challenges clear as opposition to Assad regime denounces Sochi talks.
24. Rethinking Russia: Pietro Shakarian and Lusine Gigoyan, Six Global Health Challenges Facing Russia and the US.
25. TASS: Over 10 Russians arrested abroad at US requests in 2017.
26. Valdai Discussion Club: Mary Dejevsky, WHAT LIES BEHIND THE UK’S WARNINGS ABOUT RUSSIA?
27. Renegade Inc.: Danielle Ryan, Playing the Russia card doesn’t always work. [Text with links https://renegadeinc.com/playing-russia-card-doesnt-always-work/]
28. Coda: Joshua Kucera, Is This Putin’s Utopia? But don’t write off Russia’s Eurasian Union yet. (excerpt) [Full text https://codastory.com/disinformation-crisis/information-war/is-this-putins-utopia]
29. Irrussianality: Paul Robinson, BOOK REVIEW – RUSSIA RISING; ‘IS PUTIN GOG?’
30. The Daily Beast: Amy Knight, What Was Russia’s Spy Chief Doing in Washington Last Week? Probably Playing the Trump Administration…Again. Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Chief Sergei Naryshkin came just before Trump punted new sanctions and issued a useless ‘oligarch’ list. What message did he bring from Moscow?
31. The Wilson Quarterly: Patrick Babiracki, PUTIN’S POSTMODERN WAR WITH THE WEST. It may not look like war, but perhaps it should. Russia’s interference in American democracy proves that popular conception of the term needs to be updated – and failure to do could increase U.S. susceptibility.
32. US Department of State: Telephonic Press Briefing with Ambassador Volker, Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations.
33. TASS: UN says Donbass conflict ‘one of the deadliest in Europe since WWII’
34. Russian and Eurasian Politics: Gordon Hahn, Political Science and Political Polarization through the Prism of the Ukrainian Crisis.
35. Russia Insider: Paul Craig Roberts, Russians Don’t Understand the Seriousness of the US ‘Kremlin List.’ It’s actually a very serious escalation and the non-provocative and responsible Russian response has the effect of encouraging more provocations from Washington
36. Forbes.com: Paul Roderick Gregory, Did The FBI Vouch For The Crazy Russian Deal From The Steele Dossier?
37. Russian International Affairs Council: Pavel Koshkin, ‘He Has a Chance of Keeping Afloat’: Can Trump Be Impeached? [Text with links http://russiancouncil.ru/en/analytics-and-comments/analytics/he-has-a-chance-of-keeping-afloat-can-trump-be-impeached-/]
38. http://theduran.com: Alexander Mercouris, As publication of GOP memo looms panic grips Washington. Democrats, Justice Department, FBI and media engage in furious campaign to block publication of GOP memorandum. [Text with links http://theduran.com/publication-of-gop-memo-approaches-panic-grips-washington/]

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