RUSSIA & UKRAINE: JRL 2015-#62 table of contents with links :: Johnson’s Russia List – Monday 30 March 2015

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Johnson’s Russia List
JRL 2015-#62 :: Monday 30 March 2015
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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RUSSIA

1. Forbes.com: Mark Adomanis, 10 Charts That Explain Russia.
2. Moscow Times: Government: Russians Smoking, Drinking Less Thanks to Putin.
3. Fort Russ: Russians believe that Putin’s team consists of professionals.
4. Reuters: Russia’s rich forego some luxuries but still back Putin.
5. BBC: Sarah Rainsford, Brand Putin: Russia’s president still in fashion 15 years on.
6. Moscow Times: New Report Names and Shames Russia’s Worst Regional Governors.
7. The Guardian: Shaun Walker, How Nemtsov’s murder could force Putin into a big decision. A month after the politician’s killing in Moscow there are signs of a Kremlin power struggle – and Russia’s president may soon have to take sides
8. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Report: Euphoria over ‘return’ of Crimea has passed among Russians. A new report suggests that the number of Russians who see the acquisition of Crimea in 2014 one year ago as a positive achievement is decreasing. The authors of the report believe that the reason for that is the fading of the initial euphoria over the “Crimean Spring.” But political analysts say that this is a trend-a reassessment of last year’s action by the authorities is underway in the country
9. Business New Europe: INTERVIEW: Crimean Tatar leader urges West to step up sanction pressures on Russia.
10. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Crimea: Do Amnesty International claims of ‘climate of fear’ have any basis?
11. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Expats in Russia: No longer a boom – but not all doom and gloom.
12. AFP: Ruble gain brings hope to Russian economy.
13. CNN.com: Now might be the time to buy Russia. Yes, really.
14. Moscow Times: Predicting the Future With Russia’s Economic Nostradamus. (Mikhail Dmitriyev)
15. Sputnik: Investigators Identify Mastermind Behind Nemtsov’s Murder.
16. New York Times: Russian Theater Director Fired for Offending Christians.
17. www.rt.com: ‘Forced measure’ – theater boss sacked after church row over Tannhauser opera.
18. www.opendemocracy.net: Anna Alekseveva, The Russian politics of multiculturalism. The relationship between religion and ethnicity on the one hand, and civic assimilation on the other, is far less harmonious than Putin’s magniloquence asserts.
19. Russia Insider: Alexander Mercouris, The BBC on Putin: It’s Not the USSR He Hankers after – It’s East Germany! A lengthy article in the BBC magazine accompanying a documentary claims the fall of East Germany was a formative experience for Putin. It probably was but not in the way the article says.
19a. BBC: Vladimir Putin’s formative German years.
20. Paul Goble: Putin’s Collapse Could Spark Russia’s Violent Disintegration, Kasparov Says.
21. http://readrussia.com: Mark Adomanis, How Not to Influence People. Russia’s “tough” posturing just makes it look ridiculous.
22. Financial Times: Andrei Nekrasov, Russia looks to its history in search for a new ideology. Its nationalistic hue is supplied by what Russians see as an external threat.
23. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, Grounded? Russia’s answer to US next-gen fighter hits the skids. The Kremlin is cutting its initial production of the Sukhoi T-50 fighter by 75 percent amid cost overruns and rumored technical concerns – the same kind of issues that have plagued US development of the F-35.
24. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Russia forging new acquaintances in Latin America.
25. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Online film festival offers chance to view little-known Russian movies.
26. Moscow Times: Russian Souvenirs Make Up to 500% Profit Online Despite Political Faceoff.

UKRAINE

27. Central European Policy Institute: CEPI Ukraine Watch.
28. Ukraine Today: Residents of eastern Ukrainian frontline town of Shchastya living in fear.
29. TASS: Ukrainian state-run companies to have foreign managers – PM Yatsenyuk.
30. Moscow Times: Vladimir Frolov, What Will the Kremlin Do Next in Ukraine?
31. Interfax: Ukrainian opposition plans to form shadow government.
32. Moscow Times: Pyotr Romanov, Ukraine’s Power Struggles Are Just Beginning.
33. Moscow Times/Vedomosti: Boris Grozovsky, Ukraine’s Oligarchs at War.
34. Kyiv Post: Kolomoisky speaks of his inner tug-of-war and patriots from the Opposition Bloc.
35. Fort Russ: Dmitry Yarosh to Poroshenko: “We toppled Yanukovich, and can topple you”. Interview.
36. Sputnik: Ukraine’s Right Sector Leader Wants Donbas Residents Deported.
37. http://rusvesna.su: Right Sector fighters want to be the part of Secret Service.
38. Fort Russ: Right Sector blamed for bus tragedy near Artemovsk. (Dmitriy Tymchuk)
39. http://gordonhahn.com: Gordon Hahn, Coopting Neo-Fascism: Yarosh, Poroshenko, and the State’s Monopoly on the Organs of Coercion.
40. Russia Insider: Ricky Twisdale, Ukraine – In the Grip of Propaganda. In a dysfunctional and stagnant Ukraine one sector nonetheless works extremely well – the lying oligarch-controlled media. The overthrow of Yanukovich was its greatest triumph yet.
41. www.rt.com: Pepe Escobar, Donbass: ‘The war has not started yet’
42. New York Times: Andrew Kramer, Residents in Eastern Ukraine City Rally Against Separatism.
43. Russia Direct: Phil Butler, When Billionaires Ruled Ukraine and Planet Earth. When only the headline counts for understanding foreign policy, news from even the best sources devolves. A recent New York Times piece misinforms out of pure neglect in revealing what’s underneath Ukraine’s insidious war.
44. Business New Europe: Ben Aris, IMF ties itself into knots over status of Russia’s loan to Ukraine.
45. The Unz Review: Anatoly Karlin, Yemen, Ukraine, and “Legitimacy”
46. www.rt.com: ‘Reuters lied’: MH17 witness says reporter falsified testimony.
47. Sputnik: What if Ukraine’s Euromaidan Had Never Happened?
48. AP Interview: Ukraine PM: Russia could spark new offensive.
49. Washington Times: Paula Dobriansky and Blaise Misztal, Russia’s grab for its neighbors. ‘Europe whole and free’ should be more than a slogan.
50. http://www.i24news.tv (Israel): Efraim Zuroff (Wiesenthal Center), One man’s journey to the heartland of fascism. Hostility to minorities and attempts to rewrite Holocaust history in Baltics – but no one cares, except Russia’