RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents & links :: JRL 2020-#19 :: Tuesday, 28 January 20200

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2020-#19 :: Tuesday, 29 January 2020
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toc 2020-#19 jrl tues 1-28-20

1. TASS: More than half of Russians call coronavirus a real threat, poll says.
2. Meduza: Russian officials reportedly begin preparing for national vote on constitutional changes before corresponding bill has passed.
3. TASS: Venice Commission to probe Russia’s constitutional amendment – senior Russian politician.
4. RFE/RL: Why So Few Protests Against Putin’s Constitutional Shake-Up?
5. Social Europe: Russia’s path toward a better political capitalism. Branko Milanovic explains the possible thinking behind Vladimir Putin’s recent clouded constitutional announcements.
6. South China Morning Post: Emilian Kavalski and Nicholas Ross Smith, Putin’s reforms may be more about legacy building than power grabbing as he looks at retirement, Deng Xiaoping-style. After 20 years, Putin may be looking to protect his legacy by negotiating a controlled power handover in Russia, retiring from day-to-day administration while keeping a firm hand on policy direction as Russia’s father figure – much as China’s Deng Xiaoping did – scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3047236/putins-reforms-may-be-more-about-legacy-building-power-grabbing-he
7. Moscow Times: Russia’s Small Businesses Contribute Just 20% of Economy.
8. Meduza: ‘Conspiracy theories’: What Americans and Russians reveal about themselves in the stories they tell about each other. (podcast)
9. Federation of American Scientists: Matt Korda, What do Putin’s constitutional changes mean for Russian nuclear launch authority?
10. www.rt.com: Russian economy attracts $1 BILLION in foreign investments in 2020.
11. Financial Times: Russia to go it alone on construction of Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Gazprom will continue to build gas route under Baltic Sea without help of foreign companies.
12. Financial Times: Gazprom investors need patience in face of powerful forces. Russia’s most valuable company grapples with global gas glut and geopolitics.
13. TASS: Russian scientists expect achieving quantum supremacy in two years.
14. The National Interest: Stratfor, How Washington’s Infinite CAATSA Sanctions May Actually Help Russia Sell More Weapons.
15. Infobrics.org: NATO’s Upcoming Exercise Is Targeted Against Kaliningrad.
http://infobrics.org/post/30229/
16. Valdai Discussion Club: Timofei Bordachev, Cooperation Along the Eurasian Rim: A Long Way Into the Future – valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/cooperation-along-the-eurasian-rim-a-long-way/
17. Indian Punchline: M.K. Bhadrakumar, Russia stood by Iran in showdown with US – indianpunchline.com/russia-stood-by-iran-in-showdown-with-us/
18. Wall Street Journal: How Putin Outfoxed Trump in Venezuela. The Trump administration underestimated how much support President Nicolás Maduro would receive from Russia and Cuba, as well as from U.S. allies.
19. New York Times: Russia Exerts Growing Influence in Africa, Worrying Many in the West. The Kremlin is increasing arms sales, security pacts and training programs as the American defense secretary weighs withdrawing troops from the continent.
20. Asia Times: China passes Russia as No. 2 arms dealer.
21. www.rt.com: India could be Russia’s regional training and maintenance partner as Moscow expands military cooperation in Southeast Asia – rt.com/op-ed/479310-russia-india-military-equipment/
22. Atlantic Council: Anders Aslund, Is Putin preparing a new Ukraine strategy?
23. Interfax: Surkov still presidential aide de jure – Peskov.
24. Journal of Labor and Society: Ivan Katchanovski, The far right, the Euromaidan, and the Maidan massacre in Ukraine.
25. Washington Examiner: Daniel DePetris, America has bigger fish to fry than Ukraine.
26. https://yasha.substack.com: Yasha Levine, Auschwitz, the Holocaust, and the Fog of Propaganda War. There’s a lot of western historical revisionism about the Soviet Union and World War II. As a Soviet Jew, I’ve come to expect it. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t bother me.
27. The National Interest: Ted Galen Carpenter, The Democratic Obsession With Russia, Explained. The Democrats have overestimated Russia’s strength and threat to the United States.
28. www.rt.com: West v. Steele: Trump-Russia dossier was ‘FABRICATION,’ colleague & spy expert revealed…YEARS ago – rt.com/usa/479333-steele-dossier-fabricated-west/
29. www.rt.com: ‘Nobody ever gets points for saying anything good about Russia’: Stephen Cohen says, as Rep. Schiff spreads ignorance about Putin – rt.com/news/479380-stephen-cohen-schiff-putin/
30. Counterpunch: Jeremy Kuzmarov, Truth a Major Casualty of Impeachment Hearing – counterpunch.org/2020/01/28/truth-a-major-casualty-of-impeachment-hearings/