RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-38-39 :: Thursday, 1 March 2018

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#38-39
Thursday, 1 March 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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JRL 2018-#39:

1. Kremlin.Ru: RUSSIALINK VIDEO & TRANSCRIPT: “[Putin] Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly”

JRL 2018-#38:

1. Russian International Affairs Council: Andrey Kortunov, How do We Get Out of the Chelyabinsk Disco?
2. Intellinews.com: Ben Aris, MOSCOW BLOG: Putin promises guns and butter in his state of the nation speech.
3. TASS: Russia’s economy must grow faster than the global economy – Putin.
4. Interfax: Russia should allocate at least 3.4 trln rubles for demographic development within next 6 years – Putin.
5. www.rt.com: Putin on new US nuclear stance: If attacked, Russia will use nukes.
6. www.rt.com: Putin: US deployed 5 cruisers, 30 destroyers near Russian borders as part of missile defense system.
7. Bear Market Brief: Putin’s Federal Assembly address: what he promised.
8. New York Times: Putin Shows Off New Weapons, and Warns U.S. and Europe, Too. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/01/world/europe/russia-putin-speech.html
9. Bloomberg: Putin Didn’t Do So Well On His Last Round of Campaign Promises.
10. http://usforeignpolicy.blogs.lalibre.be: Gilbert Doctorow, Transcript of the first debate in the Russian presidential election, 2018. (excerpt) [Complete text http://usforeignpolicy.blogs.lalibre.be/archive/2018/03/01/transcript-of-the-first-debate-in-the-russian-presidential-e-1163670.html]
11. www.rt.com: Communist Party candidate withdraws from debates as TV discussion descends into chaos.
12. Interfax: CEC refuses to assess candidates’ behavior at debates.
13. Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Pundit says only Putin signals what voters want to hear from candidates. (Alexei Chesnakov)
14. Intersection: Ivan Davydov, An Election With No Alternatives. A series of implausible candidates remain to make up the numbers and provide some colour to an election that has become a clear formality for Vladimir Putin. Is this all just a vicious sociological experiment?
15. www.opendemocracy.net: Badma Biurchiev, If Russia’s minorities are excluded from national political life, then why are they the most “loyal” on paper? By rejecting popular support in Russia’s national republics, you can win more votes than you lose. (excerpt) [Full text https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/badma-biurchiev/If-russias-minorities-are-excluded]
16. Financial Times: Henry Foy, ‘We need to talk about Igor’: the rise of Russia’s most powerful oligarch. Igor Sechin was once Putin’s secretary. Now, as head of the oil giant Rosneft, he has emerged as one of the country’s most formidable political figures.
17. TASS: Izvestia: Russian Olympic Committee’s membership reinstated, RUSADA’s future uncertain.
19. NYU Jordan Center: Do anti-corruption campaigns work? David Szakonyi presents evidence from Russia.
20. Wall Street Journal: Exxon Abandons Russian Projects Brokered by Tillerson. Withdrawal for now marks end of energy giant’s hopes of drilling in Russia’s Arctic ocean oil fields.
21. Valdai Discussion Club: Mary Dejevsky, TWO VIEWS OF THE SYRIA CONFLICT THAT SEEM NEVER TO MEET.
22. Sic Semper Tyrannis: The Pentagon Refuses To Support the Chemical Weapons Hoax In Eastern Ghouta.
23. Moon of Alabama: It’s 2002 Again – New York Times Makes Bogus WMD Claims.
24. Washington Post editorial: Putin is getting away with murder in Syria.
25. Reuters: No Evidence Thus Far That Russia Behind German Cyber Attack: Economy Minister.
26. Washington Post editorial: The NSA chief spelled out the Russian threat. Is Trump listening?
27. TASS: Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Washington intends to get tough on Moscow’s ‘influence’ in US.
28. NYU Jordan Center: Vasily Gatov, Russian Meddling and Fake News, Part One: Sell Me More Diapers and Napkins, Please.
29. NYU Jordan Center: Vasily Gatov, Russian Meddling and Fake News, Part Two: Fearless Hybrid Defense.
30. The Nation: Stephen Cohen, Russiagate as Historical Amnesia or Denialism. Many aspects of Russiagate are said to be unprecedented-which is very far from the truth.
31. Buzzfeed.com: Miriam Elder and Charlie Warzel, Stop Blaming Russian Bots For Everything. “I’m not convinced on this bot thing,” said one of the men behind the Russian bot thing.

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