Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#151 :: 19 August 2013

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Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#151 :: 19 August 2013
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POLITICS

1. Interfax: Most Russians say politics makes them feel “depressed” – poll.
2. Russia Beyond the Headlines Asia Pacific: Larisa Smirnova, Post-Soviet Russia: reforms driving change for the better. There is ongoing debate in China about the consequences of the Soviet Union’s fall. This debate continues to rage in Russia as well.
3. Paul Goble: Window on Eurasia: ‘There is No State in Russia,’ Gontmakher Says.
4. Carnegie Moscow Center: Dmitri Trenin, Follow the Flag.
5. www.russiatoday.com: Russia’s ‘Black Monday’: 15 years on, ruble risks much reduced.
6. Valdai Discussion Club: Valery Fyodorov, Russian Identity and the Challenges of the Time.
7. Moscow TImes/BBC Monitoring: What the Papers Say, Aug. 19, 2013 .
8. Interfax: Putin to meet with members of human rights council – newspaper.
9. Novaya Gazeta: Mikhail Vinogradov, Gubernatorial Elections 2013: Manageability Versus Legitimacy.
10. BBC Monitoring: Russian election debate: socioeconomic issues – municipal, environment, migrants.
11. Moscow Times: Navalny Won’t Participate in Future Debates.
12. BBC Monitoring: Russian experts say Moscow mayoral election campaign hit by ‘ratings war’
13. Paul Goble: Window on Eurasia: Navalny Seeks Votes from Non-Russian Diasporas in Moscow.
14. ITAR-TASS: Interior Ministry looks in financials of Moscow mayoral candidate Navalnyy.
15. www.opendemocracy.net: Anastasia Valeeva, Scenes from an election campaign.
16. Moskovskiy Komsomolets: Mikhail Rostovskiy, Navalnyy Today is Like Yeltsin Yesterday — They are Trying to Make Mincemeat out of the Opposition Figure But They are Making a Teflon Politician.
17. Moscow Times: Vladimir Frolov, How Navalny Has Cut Sobyanin Down to Size.
18. Moscow Times: Victor Davidoff, The Many Myths About Navalny.
19. ITAR-TASS: RUSSIAN PRESS REVIEW. Law banning civil servants from having foreign accounts comes into effect in Russia.
20. Moscow TImes: Investigators Won’t Charge Serdyukov With Graft, Report Says.
21. ITAR-TASS: Russian Academy of Sciences has seen several reorganization attempts in its history.
22. Moscow Times: LGBT Controversy Takes Spotlight at Moscow Athletics Championships.

ECONOMY

23. Forbes.com: Mark Adomanis, Russia’s Economy Really Is Slowing Down: Unemployment Ticked Up In Q2 2013.
24. Bloomberg: Russian Recession Risk Worsened as Banks Skimp on Loans.
25. Russia Beyond the Headlines/Vedomosti: Central Bank predicts stagnation for Russian economy.
26. Moscow Times”: Russian Investors Flock to Virgin Islands After Cypriot Crisis.
27. Wall Street Journal: Russian Beer Fest Goes Flat for Brewers. Kremlin’s crackdown on alcoholism saps life out of the party.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

28. ITAR-TASS: Peace Mission: Russia, China in new context of relations.
29. Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Vladimir Mukhin, Technical Progress Is Creating New Military Threats That Are Drawing Russia Into an Arms Race .
30. The New Times: Dmitriy Trenin, Goodbye America? Why Putin Has Fallen Out of Love with the United States.
31. Izvestia: Russian Commentator Calls For ‘Pause’ in US-Russian Relations After Snowden Case. (Andranik Migranyan)
32. Washington Post: Dan Zak, To Russia, with loathing? Just how do we feel about the country that is harboring Snowden, locked up Pussy Riot and trampled gay rights?
33. Wall Street Journal: Angela Stent, Putin’s Hostility to the U.S. Goes Beyond Asylum for Snowden. Obama is learning what Presidents Bush and Clinton learned about the Kremlin in their second terms.
34. RIA Novosti: Snowden Not Interrogated by Russian Security Services – Assange.
35. Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs: David Speedie, No, the Sky is Not Falling.
36. www.huffingtonpost.com: Deana Arsenian, Beyond Snowden and Summits: Expanding the U.S.-Russia Discourse.
37. Russia Beyond the Headlines/Kommersant: NATO-Russia cooperation stalls at Ulyanovsk reverse transit hub.
38. Russia Direct: Tatyana Karasova, Middle East peace talks lose their Russian voice. Why has Washington decided to go it alone without Russia and the other members of the Middle East Quartet? Does this improve the chances for success of the peace talks?
39. AFP: Russia and Japan launch territorial row talks.
40. ITAR-TASS: RUSSIAN PRESS REVIEW. Moscow explains reasons for customs problems with Uk
41. Business New Europe: Molly Corso, Georgia’s PM – should he stay or should he go?