RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-69 :: Wednesday, 18 April 2018

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#69
Wednesday
, 18 April 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. The Express (UK): Russia World Cup: Kremlin SEX THREAT to England players. GORGEOUS Russian girls will be lined up by Russia to ‘honey-trap’ England players at this summer’s FIFA World Cup, a security expert has claimed.
2. Business Insider: Putin might already have your Wi-Fi password.
3. Intellinews.com: Putin and Trump trying to walk back Syria strike and sanctions tensions.
4. Bear Market Brief: Yesterday’s US-Russia detente ordered from above.
5. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, Russia wants US military out of Syria. But it still needs US to help bring peace. Russian and US-allied forces avoided conflict during Friday’s airstrikes on alleged Syrian chemical weapon sites. But Moscow sees the US’s ongoing involvement in Syria as nothing more than spoiler. Still, analysts say, Russia needs the US to help diplomatically.
6. Corriere della Sera (Italy): Russian pundit to Italian daily: Putin not to abandon Assad. (Fyodor Lukyanov)
7. Foreignpolicy.com: How Social Media Built the Case for Trump’s Strike on Syria. Evidence of chemical weapons used to require a chain of custody. Now, open-source intelligence is often enough. http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/04/17/how-social-media-built-the-case-for-trumps-strike-on-syria/
8. CNN.com: US struck Syria without certainty on sarin. https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/17/politics/us-syria-strike-sarin-certainty/index.html
9. http://theduran.com: Even western mainstream media is reporting that no chemical attack took place in Douma. http://theduran.com/western-media-says-no-gas-in-syrai
10. www.rt.com: Moscow slams western media ‘disinformation campaign’ about OPCW experts being denied entry to Douma.
11. Gazeta.ru editorial: Fixed war. Why missile strikes against Syria by United States and its allies proved advantageous to everyone.
12. Paul Goble: Western Attack Hasn’t Changed Situation in Syria or Harmed Moscow Despite Russian Public Reaction, Akopov Says.
13. Washington Post: Hannah Chapman, Russians are actually getting less xenophobic.
14. Russia Beyond: Is Russia a communist country?
15. Carnegie Moscow Center: Andrei Kolesnikov, Cheese Protests: How Citizens are Born in Russia. It’s a cliché in the Western discussion about Russia to portray Putin as a god-like force in Russian life who demands unfailing obedience from oligarchs and little people alike. Yet recent spontaneous protests in Siberia and a small town near Moscow show how quickly average citizens can mobilize to rail against injustice and the stunning incompetence of their country’s rulers.
16. Moscow Times: State TV Still Biggest and Most Trusted News Source for Russians – Poll.
17. Meduza: Russia is trying to block Telegram, but it’s failing. Why?
18. www.rt.com: Russia threatens to block Facebook.
19. TASS: WWF begins project to preserve traditional life of Russian North’s indigenous peoples.
20. TASS: Kommersant: Russian corporations to cut space, nuclear contracts with foreign companies.
21. Izvestia: Russian bill providing response to US sanctions viewed.
22. Bloomberg: U.S. Told Russian Embassy No New Sanctions Due Soon, Russia Says.
23. Intellinews.com: Ben Aris, What’s the cost of US sanctions on Russia?
24. Reuters: Exclusive: Russia’s drive to replace Western power technology hits snag.
25. RFE/RL: Russia Tells Its Study-Abroad Students: It’s Time To Come Home.
26. New York Times: The Fight With the West Is Isolating Russia. But That Isn’t Stopping Putin.
27. The Guardian (UK): US and Russian nuclear arsenals set to be unchecked for first time since 1972. Arms control experts have signed a statement warning international constraints will expire in 2021 unless a new nuclear deal is reached.
28. Hoover Institution: McFaul Examines Reasons For Decline In US-Russia Relationship.
29. Valdai Discussion Club: Anatol Lieven, AFGHANISTAN DISASTER OVER THE YEARS.
30. RFE/RL: British Media Regulator Probing RT’s Impartiality After Salisbury Poisoning.
31. www.rt.com: Britain admits OPCW did not confirm ‘essential evidence’ on origin of Skripal poison.
32. TASS: OPCW expert says no BZ substance detected in Salisbury samples.
33. Consortiumnews.com: An Alternative Explanation to the Skripal Mystery . An alternative explanation to the mystery surrounding the poisoning of Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter may involve a possibility that neither the British nor Russian governments want to talk about, as Gareth Porter explains. [Text with links https://consortiumnews.com/2018/04/17/an-alternative-explantion-to-the-skripal-mystery/]
34. www.rt.com: Neil Clark, Dirty money or dirty politics? UK hypocrisy over ‘Russian oligarchs’
35. New York Times: Karen Dawisha, 68, Dies; Traced Roots of Russian Corruption.
36. Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with BBC HardTalk. [Video: https://youtu.be/0D3ygXuHdkQ]

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