RUSSIA & UKRAINE: JRL 2014-#181 table of contents with links :: Wednesday 20 August 2014

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Johnson’s Russia List
JRL 2014-#181 :: Wednesday 20 August 2014
E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net
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Ukraine

1. RIA Novosti: US Department of State Ignores All Information on Ukraine Coming From Russia – Moscow.
2. Reuters: Ukraine maternity ward nurtures new life as the shells fall.
3. Business New Europe: Vera Graziadei, COMMENT: Civilians are paying the price for the fighting in east Ukraine.
4. www.rt.com: Underground life: E.Ukraine civilians pushed to basements by constant shelling (VIDEO).
5. Mashable.com: Oliver Carroll, 24 Hours in ‘Happiness’: A Battle-Scarred Town in Ukraine.
6. Interfax: Post-war rebuilding of Donbas will cost billions of dollars – Yatsenyuk.
7. Interfax: Russian Red Cross explains delay with lack of safety guarantees.
8. RIA Novosti: Red Cross Instructing Russian Humanitarian Convoy Drivers at Ukrainian Border Checkpoint.
9. ITAR-TASS: Four-minus-one format talks on Ukraine in Berlin end inconclusively.
10. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, Is the Kremlin’s two-avenue ‘diplomacy’ in Ukraine paying off?
11. Bloomberg: Ukraine Gains Against Rebels as Diplomacy Intensifies.
12. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Press Digest: Donetsk without water and power; Kiev plans ‘victory parade’
13. Wall Street Journal: Fighting Rages in Eastern Ukraine Ahead of Meeting Between Russia’s Putin and Poroshenko.
14. New York Times: Plenty of Room at the Top of Ukraine’s Fading Rebellion.
15. Reuters: Ukraine rebel movement faces uncertain future.
16. Interfax-Ukraine: Defense Ministry: More than 1,000 Ukrainian troops captured.
17. ITAR-TASS: Servicemen’s mothers accuse Kiev of concealing heavy casualties.
18. Euromaidan Press: Donbas battalion suffers heavy losses, withdraws from battle.
19. UNIAN (Kyiv): Russian border guards shoot fleeing militants – Ukrainian unit commander.
20. ITAR-TASS: Russia remains Ukraine’s main trade partner in first quarter of 2014.
21. ITAR-TASS: Russia remains largest market for Ukrainian goods – statistics.
22. CNBC.com: Ukraine may have an energy problem besides nat gas.
23. Business New Europe: Graham Stack, Ukrainian industry ravaged by war.
24. Bloomberg: Leonid Bershidsky, Ukraine’s Revolutionaries Surrender to Corruption.
25. Reuters: Ukraine conflict is draining economy, hampering reforms – PM Yatseniuk.
26. Moscow Times: Struggling With Sanctions, Russia Faces Oil Price Crash.
27. ITAR-TASS: Sectoral financial sanctions start to be felt in Russian economy – deputy minister.
28. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Russian consumers hardest hit by sanctions. Economists point out that the Russian government’s recent food ban is likely to backfire as restaurants and consumers look for new sources for favorite products.
29. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Ukrainian sanctions on Gazprom could threaten European economy.
30. Moscow Times: Dmitry Trenin, The Only Winner in Ukraine Is China.
31. Bloomberg: NATO to Shun Major Eastern Footprint in Nod to Russia.
32. Carnegie Moscow Center: Thomas de Waal, Shevardnadze’s Lessons For Ukraine.
33. Interfax-Ukraine: Turchynov: Russia needs war with Ukraine to divert attention from crisis in Russia itself.
34. Washington Post: David Ignatius, Crafting a strategy for deterring Putin.

Russia

35. Interfax: Poll: Russians say Aug 1991 events are tragedy, not triumph of democracy.
36. Levada.ru: Russians don’t see failed August 1991 coup as democratic revolution – poll.
37. Paul Goble: Window on Eurasia: Opposition Must Admit Most Russians Were Deceived about What 1991 Meant, Eidman Says.
38. Reuters: Russia economic funk ripples out through ex-Soviet states.
39. Moscow Times: Million-Man Army of Programmers Won’t Free Russia From Western Software.
40. Facebook: Alexander Mercouris, “NOT AN INCH EAST” – NATO AND THE BROKEN PROMISE.
41. Carnegie Moscow Center: Alexei Arbatov, Missile Seasoning Spices Up the Ukrainian Dish.
42. Russia Direct: Will the ISIS threat help to reset US-Russia anti-terrorism cooperation? With the Islamic State gaining ground in northern Iraq and now representing a common threat for Russia and the U.S., is it possible that Moscow and Washington will find a way to collaborate despite the lingering crisis in Ukraine? RD interviewed experts to find out.
43. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Andrew Weiss, The Dangers of Inflexibility.
44. ITAR-TASS: Chinese investments on the rise, Russia ready for broader cooperation.
45. Russia Direct: Olek Buklemishev, The Russia-Iran energy deal may be a losing proposition. The Russia-Iran deal might bring Russia more problems than benefits. The economies of the two countries are just too similar for the deal to make sense.
46. www.rt.com: Pepe Escobar, Energy ballet: Iran, Russia and ‘Pipelineistan’
47. www.opendemocracy.net: Ivan Safronov, Can Russia stage a comeback in space? Fifty years ago, the USSR was in the lead in the proxy war that was the space race, but now Russia is better known for rockets that either fail to launch or crash when they do.
48. Moscow Times: Maria Snegovaya, Putin Is Replaceable.
49. Politico.com: Strobe Talbott, The Making of Vladimir Putin. (DJ: I welcome comments on this piece.)