RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-88 :: Wednesday, 16 May 2018

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#88 :: Wednesday, 16 May 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. Los Angeles Times: Jules Boykoff, The World Cup in Russia could be a display of bigotry, xenophobia and ultranationalism.
2. Washington Post: Anton Troianovski, Putin’s bridge to Crimea illustrates his power – and his regime’s weak spot.
3. Kremlin.ru: Opening of Crimean Bridge motorway section.
4. Washington Examiner: Tom Rogan, Ukraine should blow up Putin’s Crimea bridge.
5. www.rt.com: Russia’s new nuclear & other deterrence ensures strategic balance for decades to come – Putin.
6. Moscow Times: Putin Signs Order to Restructure Government Ministries.
7. Kremlin.ru: Working meeting with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
8. Intellinews.com: Russian Kudrin sets goals following his appointment as head of the Audit Chamber.
9. Bear Market Brief: BUDGET SPENDING VIOLATIONS DOUBLE IN 2017.
10. RFE/RL: Mike Eckel, Putin Vs. Pensions: Will His Reelection Finally Free Him To Tackle Looming Crisis?
11. Moskovsky Komsomolets: Russian daily gives government year before ‘social explosion’
12. Russia Insider: John Rubino, Russia Deploys Exotic New Weapon: A ‘Budget Surplus.’ Albeit it isn’t that exotic to Russians. The kind of war being waged on Russia is financial thus slashing military spending and protecting and further growing its reserves actually makes a lot of sense and is more key than more tanks and airplanes
13. Delovoi Peterburg: Totally Wired. Telecom Operators Taking Their Time Clearing Nevsky Prospect of Wires.
14. www.opendemocracy.net: Ivan Chesnokov, Behind the wire: pride and paranoia in one of Russia’s closed towns. Thousands of Russian citizens live in “closed towns”. I visited one of them, Lesnoye, to find out how people live today.
15. Interfax: Kara-Murza Jr. to face criminal liability if Duma adopts law on punishment for sanctions – Isayev.
16. TASS: Kommersant: Duma’s countersanctions bill may jeopardize EU businesses’ future in Russia.
17. Sputnik: Caught in ‘Geopolitical Fight’ Russian Kaspersky Lab Opens Data Center in Europe.
18. www.rt.com: Russia could ban imported American French fries.
19. TASS: Russian inspectors likely to carry out doping tests of US athletes.
20. Interfax: Ambassador Huntsman views strengthening of business ties as basis for improvement of Russian-U.S. relations.
21. AFP: Russian support gave Assad half of Syria: study.
22. Moscow Times: Elizabeth Buchanan, The Crumbling Iran Deal Could Make Russia Rich . Trump’s decision to pull out of the Iran deal is a huge win for Russian oil.
23. The National Interest: Andrey Sushentsov, A Russian View on America’s Withdrawal from the Iran Deal. Moscow sees the move as a harbinger of what’s to come: a return to multipolarity.
24. Russia International Affairs Council: Ruslan Mamedov, Moscow’s Iraq strategy: Make lots of friends.
25. Valdai Discussion Club: WILL EUROPE RISK MORE CHAOS IN THE MIDDLE EAST FOR TRANSATLANTIC SOLIDARITY?
26. The National Interest: Lyle Goldstein, The Russian-German Relationship Is in Free Fall. The vital Germany-Russia relationship is badly adrift and European security is imperiled as a result. [Text with links http://nationalinterest.org/feature/the-russian-german-relationship-free-fall-25837?page=show]
27. Russian International Affairs Council: Andrey Kortunov, SCO: The Cornerstone Rejected by the Builders of a New Eurasia? [http://russiancouncil.ru/en/analytics-and-comments/analytics/sco-the-cornerstone-rejected-by-the-builders-of-a-new-eurasia/]
28. Interfax: Differing approaches to Korea crisis may jeopardize N.Korea-U.S. summit – Kosachyov.
29. www.rt.com: US endorses Kiev’s raid on Russian news agency amid international condemnation.
30. The Guardian (UK): Mary Dejevsky, The UK’s obsession with the Russian bogeyman doesn’t stack up. The head of MI5 has joined the security establishment’s anti-Putin onslaught. But his organisation agrees that Moscow is not the greatest threat. [Text with links https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/14/uk-russian-mi5-putin-moscow]
31. Buzzfeed.com: David Klion, Russiagate Is Not About Russia. What the Mueller investigation continually reveals is the extent of everyday corruption in US business and politics. [Text with links https://www.buzzfeed.com/davidklion/russiagate-is-an-american-story?utm_term=.kr3Zk2MwY#.pt9ZzMEPR]
32. CNN.com: Fmr U.S. Amb to Russia: possible Putin tipped election. Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul told Jake Tapper that it is possible Russian interference did tip the election in favor of Donald Trump. https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2018/05/14/lead-michael-mcfaul-live-jake-tapper.cnn
33. SC Media: McFaul says Putin invested billions in trolls and bots to propagate chaos. https://www.scmagazine.com/mcfaul-says-putin-invested-billions-in-trolls-and-bots-to-propagate-chaos/article/765487/
34. Council on Foreign Relations: John B. Hurford Memorial Lecture With Michael McFaul.
35. Interfax: Russian prisons are ‘resort’ in comparison to U.S. prisons – Moskalkova.

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