RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-40 :: Friday, 2 March 2018

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#40
Friday, 2 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
The contents do not necessarily represent the views of IERES or The George Washington University.

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1. Russia Beyond: Poverty, despair and stray dogs: What do Russians fear most?
2. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, Why the Kremlin publishes uncensored translations of Western news. The state-sponsored InoSMI gets hundreds of thousands of Russian readers each day, who generally seem to view Western coverage of Russia as selective and simplistic. But the site also highlights how important cultural context is to understanding the news.
3. Valdai Discussion Club: Ivan Timofeev, RUSSIA: A NEW POLITICAL CYCLE AND THE CONTOURS OF A NEW WORLD ORDER.
4. www.rt.com: New arms race started by US pulling out of missile treaty – Putin.
5. TASS: Media: Putin trots out ‘invincible’ nukes and war on poverty in State of the Nation.
6. www.rt.com: Russian lawmakers emphasize that Putin’s address was a call for peace and talks.
7. Vesti.ru: Putin’s Speech Rustles Western Media – “They Didn’t Listen to Us Then, Perhaps They Will Listen to Us Now” [News video https://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=2992327&cid=4441]
8. Meduza: He’s trying to say: Take us seriously. We’re not joking anymore’ Russian political and security experts interpret Putin’s state-of-the-nation speech.
9. The National Interest: Dave Majumdar, Russia’s Nuclear Weapons Buildup Is Aimed at Beating U.S. Missile Defenses. [DJ: Weapons videos: englishrussia.com/2018/03/01/five-types-of-newest-weapons-putin-announced-today-including-laser-canons-and-more-videos/]
10. www.rt.com: Western media accuses Putin of ‘starting new arms race’ after ‘terrifying’ nuclear missile ‘boasts’
11. Interfax: Russian ambassador criticizes U.S. remarks on Putin’s address to Federal Assembly.
12. Interfax: Russia has created weapons capable of overcoming all existing and future missile defense systems – Shoigu.
13. http://theduran.com: Alexander Mercouris, Vladimir Putin just revealed 6 brand new Russian weapons – and they are impressive. The weapons are formidable and cutting edge, but affordable. [Text with links http://theduran.com/6-new-weapons-putin-revealed-state-nation-address/] [DJ: Weapons videos: http://englishrussia.com/2018/03/01/five-types-of-newest-weapons-putin-announced-today-including-laser-canons-and-more-videos/]
14. http://usforeignpolicy.blogs.lalibre.be: Gilbert Doctorow, Missile-gate. [http://usforeignpolicy.blogs.lalibre.be/archive/2018/03/02/missile-gate-1163692.html]
15. Washington Post: Pentagon looks to adjust missile defense policy to include threats from Russia, China.
16. New York Times: Putin Vows to Lift Russia’s Struggling Middle Class.
17. Vesti.ru: Will Russia’s Economy Grow? Will Living Standards Rise? Putin Outlines Priorities in His New Plan. [News video https://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=2992302&cid=4441]
18. Russiafeed.com: Alexander Mercouris, Putin’s State of the Nation address: charting a course for a modern Russia. Putin embraces Fourth Industrial Revolution; predicts sharp rise in economic growth in 2020s.http://russiafeed.com/putins-state-of-the-union-address-charting-course-for-modern-russia/
19. www.opendemocracy.net: Elena Solovyova, As Russia’s presidential election approaches, apathy is running high. On 18 March, Russians go to the polls to elect a new president (or rather, re-elect the old one. But there’s little enthusiasm around.
20. Novaya Gazeta: Russian daily says authorities’ pressure boosts Navalny’s reputation.
21. Interfax: Russia cannot acknowledge McLaren Report clause on state support for doping – Russian Olympic Committee head Zhukov,
22. The Economist: Putin’s fiscal fortress. Russia’s credit rating rises; Brazil’s falls. Sanctions can be good for deleveraging.
23. Bloomberg: Russia to Rescue as Europe Draws More Gas in Siberian Chill.
24. TASS: Vedomosti: Stockholm court fuels Russian-Ukrainian gas transit dispute.
25. Bloomberg: Leonid Bershidsky, Why Russia’s Pipeline Power Is Overhyped. A $2.6 billion ruling in Stockholm against Gazprom shows its limits as a Kremlin tool.
26. Vox.com: Sean Illing, How the Cold War can explain our current standoff with Russia. “This is payback.” (interview with Harvard historian Odd Arne Westad)
27. Asia Times: M.K. BHADRAKUMAR, What the Russian veto on Yemeni war signifies. This is the first time Russia has shot down a US-led move in the Security Council regarding a regional conflict in which it is not directly involved.
28. Kyiv Post: Kennan Institute to close Kyiv office after accusations of pro-Russia bias.
29. USAToday.com: Jonathan Turley, Purging Russian bots and trolls from politics may backfire.
30. The American Conservative: Peter Van Buren, What Mueller Has and What He’s Missing. So far there’s little of the former and a lot of the latter. Absent more evidence, skepticism remains a healthy stance.

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