RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-221 :: Friday, 28 December 2018

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#221 :: Friday, 28 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. Jacobin: Branko Marcetic, Russia Beyond Supervillainy. In Russia, Vladimir Putin’s evil genius matters less than pressures from the ultrarich, US foreign policy, and the ravages of the neoliberal Yeltsin years.
2. Valdai Discussion Club: The 2018 Trends and Developments: Valdai Club’s Top Five. As the stormy and alarming year 2018 is coming to an end, the Valdai Club is presenting its rating of developments that have had the greatest impact on the international situation.
3. The National Interest: Nikolas Gvosdev, Warnings From Eurasia. Perhaps the globe will muddle through the coming crises-and avoid major disasters-but perhaps not.
4. Izvestia: Pundit views Putin shaping common approach to global order. (Andrei Bystritsky)
5. Reuters: Russia faces higher inflation, economic slowdown in 2019: Reuters poll.
6. http://thesaker.is: Russian Economy Presents a New Surprise. (with video)
7. Moscow Times: Luis Saen, What to Expect From 2019. In 2019, the Russian economy is expected to grow by 1.5 percent, with a slight increase in oil prices.
8. Vesti.ru: Putin’s Plan to Compete With Western Business: Time to Address Unfair Competition Practices!
9. TASS: Failure of West’s schemes to stifle Russia’s progress major outcome of 2018, says senator.
10. Bloomberg: Leonid Bershidsky, Europe Should Woo Russia When Putin’s Gone. There’s a better path for both sides than military adventurism. But the Kremlin won’t find it by itself.
11. Interfax: Putin signs law partially decriminalizing Article 282 of Russian Criminal Code on extremism.
12. AP: Russian teenagers use social media to rebel against teachers.
13. Counterpunch.org: Louis Proyect, Putin and Russia’s Turn to Capitalism.
14. The Times (UK) editorial: The Times view on President Putin’s regime: Bad Vlad. Russians are showing signs of discontent at the cost of their leader’s foreign policy.
15. TASS: President of Russian Academy of Sciences sums up major results of 2018.
16. Oilprice.com: The Battle To Control Russia’s Pipelines.
17. TASS: Kommersant: What’s the fate of Russian-US arms control?
18. www.rt.com: Names of BBC journalists in Russia made public after Sunday Times doxxed & shamed Sputnik staff.
19. The American Conservative: Ted Galen Carpenter, NATO Partisans Started a New Cold War With Russia. Putin is responding to the West’s aggressive actions, not the other way around.
20. Russian International Affairs Council: Alexandr Sergunin, Back to “Normalcy” (re Arctic)
21. Spectator USA: Michael Tracey, In defense of Maria Butina. It seems entirely plausible that her biggest crime was networking.
22. Valdai Discussion Club: Kirill Semyonov, Who Should Russia Rely on in Libya?
23. Sputnik: UK and US Always Knew Crimea Wanted to Re-join Russia – Archives.
24. Haaretz (Israel): Ukraine Designates National Holiday to Commemorate Nazi Collaborator. Separately, the state banned ‘Book of Thieves’ which criticizes the anti-Semitic actions of a different national leader for ‘inciting ethnic, racial and religious hatred’
25. Wall Street Journal: Justice Remains Elusive in Ukraine, Widening Door to Russian Influence. Attacks on dozens of activists across the country illustrate Kiev’s feeble grip over certain regions, allowing corruption and separatist stirrings to persist.
26. https://russianmilitaryanalysis.wordpress.com: Michael Kofman, Is a Russian military operation against Ukraine likely in the near future? (excerpt)
27. The New Kremlin Stooge: Mark Chapman, The Candy Clouds of the Dreamweaver do Battle with the Battering Ram of Reality. (re Ukraine)
28. Washington Post: How Russia’s military intelligence agency became the covert muscle in Putin’s duels with the West.
29. www.rt.com: Danielle Ryan, Newsweek gets Russia experts from the Atlantic Council, the Atlantic Council & the Atlantic Council.
30. The Nation: Aaron Mate, New Studies Suggest Pundits Are Wrong About Russian Social-Media Involvement in US Politics. Far from being a sophisticated propaganda campaign, it was small, amateurish, and mostly unrelated to the 2016 election.

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