RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-51 :: Friday, 16 March 2018

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#51
Friday, 16 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. Intellinews.com: Ben Aris, UK PM May grapples with what’s to be done about those who are to blame.
2. The Guardian: UK’s claims questioned: doubts voiced about source of Salisbury novichok.
3. The Guardian: Jeremy Corbyn, The Salisbury attack was appalling. But we must avoid a drift to conflict. Britain needs to hold the perpetrators to account. Yet this is not a time for hasty judgments that could lead to a new cold war.
5. www.rt.com: Lavrov: BBC & CNN dumbing down Skripal poisoning story using lowest Western propaganda methods.
6. Kremlin.ru: Presidential Address to the Nation. The incumbent President of the Russian Federation addressed the nation ahead of the March 18 presidential election.
7. Kremlin.ru: Russia – Land of Opportunity forum. Vladimir Putin met with the winners and finalists of different projects of the Russia – Land of Opportunity forum and delivered a speech at the closing event.
8. Interfax: Kemerovo governor warned not to use administrative resource in election – Pamfilova.
9. Wall Street Journal: Better Off Than Their Parents: Why Russia’s Youth Are Backing Putin. Young people across Russia are poised to vote on Sunday for the only leader they have ever known.
10. The Economist: Meet the Puteens. A generation that has known only Vladimir Putin. Those who have known only Vladimir Putin don’t want revolution.
11. Financial Times: Russian elections: how Putin reaches voters at the end of the earth. The Russian president is guaranteed to win Sunday’s poll, but officials are desperate to raise turnout. That means helicopter trips to remote Siberia.
12. Moscow Times: With Russia’s Presidential Elections Looming, Ksenia Sobchak Has Already Moved On.
13. Vedomosti: Russian daily views candidates, media plans for election night.
14. Washington Post: Adam Taylor, 9 charts that lay out Russia’s uncertain future – with or without Putin.
15. Freedom House: Russia: Sham Elections for a Dictator.
16. Canadian International Council: David Law, Putin’s Polling Numbers. What they may say about Russia’s future. (“This is a construct that is built on sand. Putin will, of course, not be around forever. And when he goes, the system he has championed will collapse, more likely than not in extreme violence.”)
17. New York Times: Elena Chernenko, What Makes Putin So Popular at Home? His Reputation Abroad. The truth is, Russia’s president would win this weekend’s election even without manipulating the ballot.
18. TASS: Russian Central Bank stresses slow but steady economic growth has taken hold.
19. www.rt.com: Inflation in Russia lower than America’s for first time in history.
20. TASS: Russia’s top lender expects country’s digital economy to reach $1.1 trillion by 2025.
21. www.rt.com: Capital returning to Russia as UK threatens to target investments.
22. Intellinews.com: Russia moves ahead with Eurobond plans despite escalating tension with West.
23. www.rt.com: Russia & China dumping US treasuries.
24. Russia in Global Affairs: Zachary Paikin, Camille-Renaud Merlen, and Viktoria Ivanchenko, Four Years Since Maidan: Why Russia-West Reconciliation Will Remain Crucial During Putin’s Fourth Term. http://eng.globalaffairs.ru/book/Four-Years-Since-Maidan-Why-Russia-West-Reconciliation-Will-Remain-Crucial-Diring-Putins-Fourth-Term
25. Valdai Discussion Club: Vladimir Vasiliev, CLOAK AND DAGGER DIPLOMACY. HOW POMPEO WILL FIGHT AGAINST THE “RUSSIAN THREAT”
26. www.rt.com: Russia to blacklist more US citizens in reply to latest sanctions – senior diplomat.
27. Interfax: Anti-Russian propaganda attracts U.S. tourists to Russia – Rosturizm head.
28. Vesti.ru: Rogue Nation – Top Russian Experts Believe the West Will Try to Use the “Iraq Approach” on Russia. [Video of TV news https://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=2996321&cid=4441]
29. Kyiv Post: Lutsenko says Savchenko planned mass murder in the Verkhovna Rada.
30. Russiafeed.com: SHOCKING: ‘Hero of Ukraine’ Nadia Savchenko now accuses Kiev for Maidan Snipers. [Text with links http://russiafeed.com/shocking-hero-ukraine-killed-russians/]
31. Carnegie Moscow Center: Balázs Jarábik and Andras RaczDonbas Diplomacy: Ukraine Bides Its Time.
32. Counterpunch.org: Gary Leupp, What If There Was No Collusion?
33. Transitions Online: Peter Rutland, When States Kill. There can be no doubt who poisoned Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury on 4 March. The interesting question is why.
34. Washington Post: Max Boot, Russia’s been waging war on the West for years. We just haven’t noticed. It’s way past time for the United States and its allies to get serious about Putin’s aggression.
35. Washington Post: David Ignatius, Putin has finally gone too far. The Russian president’s aggressive use of covert action hit an international tripwire.
36. Washington Post editorial: Trump gives Putin a slap on the wrist. He needs to do much more. New sanctions on Russia are better than nothing. But U.S. elections remain vulnerable.
37. Washington Examiner: Poll: 72% say Putin a ‘clear and present danger’ to US, 60% fear attack.
38. PBS Newshour: Do the U.S. sanctions against Russia have any bite? (with Michael McFaul) (excerpt)
39. New York Times: Russia Wormed Its Way Into Access at Power Plants, U.S. Says. Cyberattacks Put Russian Fingers on the Switch at Power Plants, U.S. Says.
40. Consortiumnews.com: Acceptable Bigotry and Scapegoating of Russia. The scapegoating of Russia has taken on an air of bigotry and ugliness, based largely on Cold War-era stereotypes. In this article, Natylie Baldwin counters this intolerance with some of her positive impressions having traveled the country extensively. [Text with links https://consortiumnews.com/2018/03/15/acceptable-bigotry-and-scapegoating-of-russia/#comment-314180]
41. New York Times editorial: Finally, Trump Has Something Bad to Say About Russia.
42. The Unz Review: The Saker, When Dealing with a Bear, Hubris Is Suicidal. [Text with links http://www.unz.com/tsaker/when-dealing-with-a-bear-hubris-is-suicidal/]
43. The National Interest: George Beebe, Here Is What Trump Should Do about the Poisoning of a Former Russian Spy. We can support our ally in a low-key manner and quietly carry a big stick, while looking patiently for information that will help determine what really happened with Skripal.

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