Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#150 :: 16 August 2013

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Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#150 :: 16 August 2013
E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net
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POLITICS

1. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Why young Russians are leaving the country. Russians have become more relaxed about emigration ­ yet contrasting opinions still exist. While some people are willing to abandon their native country in search of a better life, others find it difficult to think of leaving their families and friends behind.
2. BBC Monitoring: Putin may soon get personal guard – press.
3. RIA Novosti: Kremlin Funds Regions Based on Their Loyalty ­- Study.
4. Russia! Magazine: Sean Guillory, The Russian Opposition: Between Despair and Vanguard.
5. Paul Goble: Window on Eurasia: Muscovites Somewhat More Xenophobic than Russians Elsewhere, Polls Show.
6. Kennan Institute: “We Have Not Given Enough Thought to How Painful the Soviet Union’s Collapse Was.” Interview with Pilar Bonet, Chief Correspondent in Moscow, El País.
7. Moscow Times/BBC Monitoring: What the Papers Say, Aug. 16, 2013.
8. Moscow Times: Sobyanin Support Falls 11% in Latest Poll.
9. Interfax: Russian public observers will invite foreign experts to September 8 elections.
10. Politkom.ru: Apartment Raid Seen as Part of Campaign To Undermine Support for Navalnyy. (Tatyana Stanovaya)
11. Novaya Gazeta: Kremlin Seen Facing Dilemma Over Navalnyy, Khodorkovskiy. (Vladimir Pastukhov)
12. Kommersant: Kudrin Commttee Monitors Refusals To Register Candidates for Regional Elections.
13. Moscow Times: Politkovskaya Suspect Shot in Central Moscow.
14. Interfax: No political will to find rights activist Estemirova’s real murderers – activists.
15. Interfax: Lack of funds threatens Russian church’s charity projects.
16. The National Interest: Andrew Bowen, Sochi 2014: The Terrorist Threat.
17. New York Times: Wild Applause, Secretly Choreographed. Designated Cheering Spectators Thrive at the Bolshoi Theater.

ECONOMY

18. Vedomosti: New Russian Economic Development Minister’s Plans for Promoting Small Businesses Assessed.
19. Moscow Times: State Monopolies May be Forced to Publish Investment Information.
20. ITAR-TASS: RUSSIAN PRESS REVIEW. Alternative trade unions threaten with nationwide action.
21. Russia Beyond the Headlines/Vedomosti: 100 jobs of the future listed by Skolkovo. Elevator operator, mail carrier and seamstress are professions that will most likely die out over the next few years, replaced by new ones. The Skolkovo School of Management predicts which jobs will become essential in a few years’ time – and which will disappear.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

22. Interfax: Russia, China prepare for presidents’ meeting at G20 summit.
23. Valdai Discussion Club: Alexander Rahr, Does Russia need a new western policy?
24. Politkom.ru: President Obama’s Russia Policy Seen as More Rhetoric Than Substance. (Nikolay Pakhomov)
25. Vedomosti: Russian Commentator Sees Obama Comment on Putin as Expression of Western Leaders’ Frustration. (Maksim Glikin)
26. RIA Novosti: Simon Saradzhyan, Obama-Putin: Now It’s Personal?
27. Institute of Modern Russia: Donald Jensen, US and Russia After the “Reset”
28. Moscow Times: Michael Bohm, Snowden Doomed to Dreadful Life in a Capsule.
29. Forbes.com: Mark Adomanis, The Debate We Should Be Having About Russia’s Ban On ‘Gay Propaganda’
30. The Daily Beast: Garry Kasparov, Boycott Putin, Not the Sochi Olympics.
31. Kennan Institute: “It’s Not the Task of History to Prove Someone’s Ambitions.” Interview with Alexander Okun, Associate Professor, International Relations, Samara State University, upon the completion of his grant, “Russia in American Political Thought and Public Opinion, 1895-1905.”
32. RIA Novosti: ‘Crazy Russian Girls’ Bring Russian Old World Flavor to US Heartland.
33. Russia! Magazine: Nostalgia in the Time of Abundance: Russian Food Lovers Rejoice In America.
34. RIA Novosti: Russia Welcomes Accord on Syria Chemical Arms Probe.
35. Business New Europe: Russia steps up trade war with Ukraine.
36. AFP: Russia denies waging ‘trade war’ against Ukraine.
37. Carnegie Moscow Center: Dmitri Trenin, “Integrate or Else” Means No Integration.
38. ITAR-TASS: Rumours of Russian Customs’ boycott of Ukrainian goods groundless.
39. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Sergei Markedonov, Reviewing loyalties in Greater Caucusus. Putin’s visit to Baku appears to have ended the cooling with Azerbaijan observed in 2012. But what motivates the change of strategy?
40. The Messenger (Georgia): Five years since Medvedev-Sarkozy cease-fire agreement.
41. Michael Herzen: Litvinenko, yet again.
42. William Dunkerley: Re: Litvinenko/Epstein.