RUSSIA & UKRAINE: JRL 2014-#206 table of contents with links :: Thursday 2 October 2014

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Johnson’s Russia List
JRL 2014-#206 :: Thursday 2 October 2014
E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net
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Ukraine

1. Inside Science: Joel Shurkin, Why Russian is harder to learn than English.
2. RFE/RL: Frustrated Ukrainian Activists Dishing Out ‘Trash-Bucket Justice’
3. www.rt.com: ‘Moron!’ Notorious radical Ukrainian MP defies, threatens interior minister.
4. Business New Europe: Lenin again! Lenin statue to be re-erected after toppling in Kharkiv.
5. TASS: Yatsenyuk demands to adapt school curricula to information warfare tasks.
6. Reuters: Putin says hopes election will bring Ukraine stability.
7. www.rt.com: Ukraine recovery in Russia’s national interest – Putin.
8. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Dmitry Babich, Can Poroshenko plan heal a divided nation? A task much harder than winning applause: The Ukrainian president will have to navigate his way between the stubborn Russian-speaking conservatives and the fiery Ukrainian nationalists.
9. Interfax: Russians say Ukraine ceasefire not being observed – poll.
10. Reuters: Merkel tells Putin Moscow has duty to temper separatists in Ukraine.
11. www.foreignpolicy.com: Alec Luhn, Cluster Bombs in Potato Fields and Tripwires on the Cow Path. Cleaning up after five months of war in eastern Ukraine.
12. Interfax: Ukraine rebels’ reports of “mass grave” of 400 a “misunderstanding”, leader says.
13. Interfax: Russian official accuses Ukraine of “mass killings”, defends “genocide” probe.
14. RIA Novosti: Senior Russian diplomat pleased with OSCE mission in Ukraine.
15. Russia Direct: With Eastern Ukraine stabilized for now, Crimea is new priority. Think Tank Review: Recent events such as the reduction of hostilities in Ukraine and the Russia-Ukraine-EU deal to resume natural gas shipments have shifted the focus of U.S. think tanks to NATO-Russia relation, ISIS and a rumored Crimean special economic zone.
16. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Russian Ambassador to the UK: We need a credible investigation into MH17. Alexander Yakovenko says that a full review of the data from the Boeing’s black box and the results of international investigations are crucial for maintaining order in the world and establishing a permanent ceasefire in eastern Ukraine.
17. Wall Street Journal: Poland’s New Premier Signals Shift in Ukraine Policy. Ewa Kopacz Says Warsaw Will Take ‘Pragmatic’ Approach to the Separatist Conflict.
18. Reuters: World Bank sees Ukraine economy shrinking 8 percent this year due to war.
19. Business New Europe: Industry takes heavy hit across Ukraine.
20. Wall Street Journal Europe: Anders Aslund, Ukraine’s Old, Internal Enemy. Even with Yanukovych gone, corruption is a problem that still plagues the country.
21. World Socialist Web Site: German committee criticises television news coverage of Ukraine.
22. Russia Insider: M.K. Bhadrakumar, West Beats Retreat in Ukraine.
23. Euromaidan PR: EU: Poroshenko’s mistake may cost Ukraine its European future.

Russia

24. Moscow Times: Russian Army Pilots Rescue Lone Polar Bear Cub in Arctic.
25. RIA Novosti: Putin’s spokesman rules out return of Iron Curtain.
26. Interfax: Putin expects world economy to reach sustainable development trend
27. Reuters: Putin says ‘foolish’ sanctions will not hold back Russia.
28. RIA Novosti: Putin: Russia Needs True Industrial Breakthrough in Coming Years.
29. Kremlin.ru: Russia Calling! Investment Forum.
30. Bloomberg: Russia Oil Production Near Record With Sanctions Yet to Bite.
31. Moscow Times: Finance Minister Says Russians Should Pay Part of Their Own Social Security.
32. Russia Beyond the Headlines: No recession for Russian economy in 2014, says World Bank study. The World Bank has come up with three possible scenarios for the development of the Russian economy, depending on the external political situation. However, the bank estimates GDP in 2014 at approximately 0.5 percent, independent of the political circumstances, which means that Russia will be able to avoid a recession this year.
33. Wall Street Journal: Russian Officials Say No Plans for Capital Controls. Central Bank Chairwoman Tries to Reassure Skittish Investors at Annual Conference.
34. Carnegie Moscow Center: Thomas de Waal, Queuing for Russia’s Food Market.
35. Russia Insider: Katya Chekushkina, Living in Moscow is Cheaper than you Think.
36. Washington Post: Leonid Peisakhin, Russia’s local elections: a sign of things to come?
37. Moscow Times: Maxim Trudolyubov, Russians Are Dangerously Addicted to Putin.
38. BBC: Russia brain drain after Putin crackdown.
39. Jurist.org: William Partlett. Judicial Backsliding in Russia.
40. Kremlin.ru: Security Council meeting.
41. Russia Direct: Oleg Demidov, Does Russia really want a fragmented Internet? The Russian government is serious about protecting the Runet from external threats, but it is hardly likely to take the radical step of making the Runet completely autonomous from the global Internet.
42. RFE/RL: Explainer: Can Russia Disconnect From The Internet?
43. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Upgrade of Russia’s strategic potential will be completed by 2020. The military threat of NATO expanding eastward is forcing Russia to modernize its strategic nuclear weapons. New types of ballistic missiles have been created, strategic aviation is being perfected, submarines are being built and its outer space monitoring system is being upgraded.
44. Moscow Times: ‘Same-Sex Adoption’ Killed U.S.-Russian FLEX Exchange Program.
45. Wall Street Journal: Why Russia’s President Is ‘Putin the Great’ in China. Like Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin Is Seen as a Strong Leader Who Isn’t Afraid to Confront the West.
46. Interfax: Expansion of Russian cooperation in China not end of relations with Europe – Putin.
47. www.realcleardefense.com: Virginia Marantidou and Ralph A. Cossa, China, Russia & the Great Game in Central Asia. Fears of a Russia-China condominium are exaggerated.
48. Valdai Discussion Club/Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Yevgeny Primakov, The Islamic State Is a Formidable Threat.
49. www.thedailybeast.com: Anna Nemtsova, ISIS Is Putin’s Problem, Too, and This Chechen Is One Reason Why. Abu Omar served with the U.S.-trained Georgian army, spent time in jail, and emerged a jihadi. Now at the top of the ISIS leadership, he wants to take the war to Russia.
50. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Mikhail Butov, Political poetry in Russia: 1990s – 2000s. Since the collapse of the USSR, Russia has seen the publication of various kinds of political poetry: from cutting satires to unsophisticated rants against the status quo. Some poets have turned their focus outwards, writing about world events, while others have steadfastly criticized – or praised – the Russian government itself.
51. Moscow Times: John Freedman, Solzhenitsyn Spat Sees Mironov Attack Putin Ally.
52. AP: Musical of ‘Doctor Zhivago’ coming to Broadway.