RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-33 :: Thursday, 15 February 2018

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#33
Thursday, 15 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. Russia Beyond: 8 Russian books to help you find the meaning of life.
2. Rethinking Russia: Richard Sakwa: The Key Challenge for Russia is to Avoid Inflicting Damage on Itself. Rethinking Russia sat down with University of Kent’s Professor Richard Sakwa to discuss his new book Russia Against The Rest, its relations with the West, its role in a new world order as well as its greatest challenges in 2018.
3. Russian and Eurasian Politics: Gordon Hahn, Expansion, Sanctions, and Opposition-Promotion: the West’s Failed Russian Transformation Strategy.
4. Kremlin.ru: Meeting with Mentor forum participants.
5. The New Yorker: Masha Gessen, The Curious Case of the Television Star Running Against Vladimir Putin. (Ksenia Sobchak)
6. Meduza: The Russian government blocks Navalny’s website, as Instagram caves to the censor’s demands and YouTube wavers.
7. Interfax: Opposition reports authorization of Nemtsov memorial event in central Moscow on Feb 25, authorities confirm it.
8. Jerusalem Post: Dmitriy Frolovskiy, JEWISH BUSINESSES ARE ON THE RISE IN RUSSIA. It is fair to assert that antisemitism in Russia has witnessed a sharp decline over the past years.
9. Bear Market Brief: Officials say no new taxes, probably.
10. TASS: Ex-finance minister says fears of tougher sanctions restrain Russia’s economic growth. (Alexei Kudrin)
11. Interfax: Medvedev: U.S. seeks to oust Russian companies from European market by putting them on different lists.
12. Interfax: Ryabkov predicts countermeasures in response to new U.S. sanctions on Russia.
13. TASS: Russia’s PM not encouraged by state influence in competitive industries.
14. Washington Post: For Olympic Athletes from Russia, a sense of unity and defiance.
15. Orientalreview.org: Who is burying the Olympic movement and why?
16. The Nation: Stephen Cohen, If America ‘Won the Cold War,’ Why Is There Now a ‘Second Cold War with Russia’? The ongoing role of false narratives and historical fallacies.
17. Russia Matters: Dmitry (Dima) Adamsky, Unintended Escalation: 5 Lessons From Israel for the Russia-NATO Standoff.
18. Sputnik: Top Russian Commander Debunks Myths About Soviet War in Afghanistan. (Boris Gromov) [Text with photos https://sputniknews.com/russia/201802151061681322-gromov-afghanistan-soviet-war-myths/]
19. Vedomosti: Commentary views Russian authorities ‘hypocrisy’ over Syria casualties.
20. www.rt.com: Reports of scores of Russians killed in Syria are disinformation by anti-govt forces – Moscow.
21. Russia Military Analysis: Michael Kofman, U.S. Strikes and Russian PMC Casualties in Syria – Fact vs Fiction.
22. The American Conservative: David Isenberg, Putin’s Pocket Army? The Rise of Russian Mercenaries in Syria. Russia is taking America’s use of privatizing war to the next level–hired guns who are off the books and unaccountable to the people.
23. Bloomberg: Leonid Bershidsky, How to Fix the Eastern Ukraine Problem. A UN expert has devised a near-perfect plan — which will only work if both Russia and Ukraine believe in their stated goals.
24. Sputnik: EXCLUSIVE: What Strikes Fear Into Ukraine: Sputnik Publishes Evidence by Georgian Snipers. https://sputniknews.com/europe/201802151061669056-georgian-snipers-maidan-evidence-saaksashvili/
25. Texas National Security Review: Marc Trachtenberg, Assessing Soviet Economic Performance During the Cold War: A Failure of Intelligence? For years, scholars have argued that economists and the CIA failed to see that the Soviet Union’s economy was headed toward collapse. But are they right?
26. New York Times: THE LEARNING NETWORK. Teaching Activities for: ‘Russia Sees Midterm Elections as Chance to Sow Fresh Discord, Intelligence Chiefs Warn’
27. Facebook: Fred Weir, Supposed Russian Tweets.
28. New York Times editorial: Why Does Trump Ignore Top Officials’ Warnings on Russia?
29. Washington Post: Mike Rogers and Rick Ledgett, Four steps to fight foreign interference in U.S. elections. We’re running out of time to protect our midterm elections from foreign agents.
30. Washington Post editorial: The threat to voting is real. The response is in Congress’s hands. Intelligence chiefs say Russia is likely to continue to target U.S. elections, and the nation needs to be prepared.
31. Washington Monthly: Joh Stoehr, Democrats Need to Unite the Country Against Russia.
32. Dances With Bears: John Helmer, WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LIES THE DUTCH FOREIGN MINISTER AND THE CANADIAN FOREIGN MINISTER HAVE BEEN TELLING ABOUT PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN? THERE’S NO DIFFERENCE. [Text with links, footnotes, and photos http://johnhelmer.net/what-is-the-difference-between-the-lies-the-dutch-foreign-minister-and-the-canadian-foreign-minister-have-been-telling-about-president-vladimir-putin-theres-no-difference/#more-18701]
33. Sic Semper Tyrannis: Pieces of the Coup Puzzle Fall Into Place by Publius Tacitus [http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2018/02/pieces-of-the-coup-puzzle-fall-into-place-by-publius-tacitus.html#more]
34. Center for Strategic and International Studies: Countering Adversary Threats to Democratic Institutions: An Expert Report.
35. Rolling Stone: Peter Travers, ‘Loveless’ Review: Bad Parenting as Putin-Era Metaphor in Devastating Russian Drama. A couple goes looking for missing son and exposes corrupt soul of Putin-era nation in Oscar-nominated stunner.

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