RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents & links :: JRL 2020-#40 :: Friday, 6 March 2020

March 6, 2020 JRL Russia List JRL Tables of Contents, Russian News

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2020-#40 :: Friday, 6 March 2020
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toc-2020-#40

1. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, No more Kafka: Russian bureaucrats now offer service with a smile. When an infamously unpleasant bureaucracy is replaced with a friendly, modern version, few are going to complain. But when it happens in an autocracy, it raises a question: Why now?
2. Moscow Times: Alcohol Deaths Plummet as ‘Warmest Winter’ Hits Russia.
3. Moscow Times: Russian Women Are Ready to Reclaim Once-Forbidden Jobs. Women are training for professions that have been closed to them for decades.
4. www.rt.com: Moscow declares HIGH ALERT over coronavirus threat, imposes mandatory self-quarantines & workplace health checks.
5. Moscow Times: Michele Berdy, The Expat Russian Language Guide to Coronavirus.
6. TASS: Russian and American scientists discover new microbe fighting mechanism in Baikal bacteria.
7. AP: Putin Dismisses Talk About Extending His Rule.
8. AP: Putin: Russia needs constitutional changes to move forward.
9. TASS: New attempts to “destabilize” situation in Russia unacceptable – Putin.
10. Twitter: András Tóth-Czifra, Putin says he won’t chair the State Council.
11. Kremlin.ru: Meeting with State Duma party faction leaders.
12. www.rt.com: ‘Make it a national holiday of LIBERATION’: Russian activists celebrate anniversary of Stalin’s death.
13. Levada Center: Ratings-Detailed Charts.
14. Wall Street Journal: Discord in Kremlin Helps Putin Remain Russia’s No. 1. Russian leader moves to extend his dominance by sowing rifts and changing law.
15. NYU Jordan Center: Ekaterina Vassilieva, Gesamtkunstwerk Putin?
16. RFE/RL: Russia Looks To Lure Citizens To Energy-Rich But Foreboding Arctic Regions.
17. www.rt.com: Russia’s inflation headed towards lowest level in post-Soviet history
18. www.rt.com: NOPEC! Oil prices plummet after Russia rejects new crude production cuts.
19. Forbes.com: Russia Controls The Oil Market At OPEC Today.
20. Intellinews.com: Erdogan, Putin agree Syria truce.
21. www.rt.com: Fyodor Lukyanov, Stress test passed: Russia and Turkey continue to work in Syria.
22. www.rt.com: Scott Ritter, New Putin-Erdogan deal is sugar-coating the Turks’ surrender.
23. The Unz Review: The Saker, Erdogan Loses the Battle, But the War Is Far from Over.
24. Dances With Bears: John Helmer, THE CATHERINE PRINCIPLE FOR NEGOTIATING WITH THE TURKS – LET ARMS DO THE TALKING.
25. Observer Research Foundation (ORF): Nivedita Kapoor, BRICS in Russian foreign policy.
26. The Diplomat: Sunjae Kim and Taeho Kim, What Their Ever-Changing ‘Consultations’ Tell Us About China-Russia Relations. The vice-ministerial talks touch on THAAD, the Korean Peninsula, and (implicitly) soft balancing.
27. TASS: Kommersant: Russia’s senior diplomat sees future for Non-Proliferation Treaty.
28. www.rt.com: Starting a nuclear conflict now ‘a political option’ for Washington, Moscow believes.
29. The Guardian (UK): Trump picks official involved in Bush-era torture program as his nuclear envoy.
30. Carnegie Moscow Center: Konstantin Skorkin, Ukraine’s Unromantic Reshuffle. Having dismissed his young government, President Zelensky risks joining the ranks of Ukraine’s failed reformers. The reshuffle is being seen as a victory for business as usual and oligarchic interests.
31. BMB Ukraine: Three Questions to… Brian Milakovsky. (re Donbass)
32. TASS: The Netherlands seeks to exert pressure on court ahead of MH17 case hearing – diplomat.
33. AP: MH17 Families Hope Truth Emerges From Unprecedented Trial.
34. TASS: Ukraine’s new PM denies his own words on water supply to Crimea.
35. Washington Post: David Ignatius, The Ukraine conversation Joe Biden needs to have.
36. Washington Post: State Department blames ‘swarms of online, false personas’ from Russia for wave of coronavirus misinformation online
37. New York Times: As Bernie Sanders Pushed for Closer Ties, Soviet Union Spotted Opportunity. Previously unseen documents from a Soviet archive show how hard Mr. Sanders worked to find a sister city in Russia when he was a mayor in the 1980s. Moscow saw a chance for propaganda.
38. National Public Radio (NPR): How Russia Is Trying To Boost Bernie Sanders’ Campaign.
39. National Public Radio (NPR): Report: Russian Election Trolling Becoming Subtler, Tougher To Detect.
40. Counterpunch: Jeremy Kuzmarov, The Long Roots of Our Russophobia.
41. Counterpunch: Andrew Levine, Russian Meddling Again.
42. New York Times: The Job of a Moscow Correspondent: Putin, Politics and Frozen Reindeer Meat. Anton Troianovski has traveled to the far reaches of the Russian Arctic to better understand life across the country’s 11 time zones.