Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#209 :: Wednesday, 20 November 2013

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Johnson’s Russia List :: 2013-#209 :: 20 November 2013
E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net
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POLITICS

1. ITAR-TASS: Russia makes foreign policy gains but looks less successful at home.
2. Interfax: Mood of Russians does not improve over past year – poll.
3. Interfax: Number of patriots in Russia falls by almost 10% in six years – poll.
4. New York Times editorial: Vladimir Putin Clings to the Past.
5. Forbes.com: Mark Adomanis, The New York Times Editorial Board To Russia: ‘Do As We Say, Not As We Do’
6. Interfax: MP Pushkov blames “unbridled capitalism” for frequent plane crashes in Russia.
7. Barents Observer: Medvedev: “Russia is a weakening oil autocracy”
8. Bloomberg: Brian Bremner, Russia’s 21st Century Malaise in Five Grim Charts.
9. The Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy: Russia’s Fiscal Gap. (excerpt)
10. Moscow Times/BBC Monitoring: What the Papers Say, Nov. 20, 2013.
11. Interfax: Putin inclined to have dialogue with entire range of political forces – Peskov.
12. Gazeta.ru: Russian Expert Sees Move for Wider Appeal in Putin Meeting With Party Leaders.
13. ITAR-TASS: Putin concerned about environmental situation in Russia.
14. Svobodnaya Pressa: Experts Think Medvedev Unlikely To Lose Job Over Spat With Putin.
15. Business New Europe/Dozhd: Medvedev’s Seven Main Losses as Prime Minister.
16. ITAR-TASS: Duma leaves unchanged presidential version of courts merger bill.
17. RIA Novosti: Russian Lawyers Protest Putin’s Court Reform.
18. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Navalny’s party preparing for 2014 Moscow City Duma elections.
19. BBC Monitoriing: Russian state TV talk show discusses corruption, air disaster.
20. Moscow Times: Georgy Bovt, On the Path to a State Ideology.
21. Interfax: Astakhov Criticizes Western Juvenile Justice, Nontraditional Families.
22. Interfax: Unlawful arrests become common when prosecutors lose oversight functions – Prosecutor.
23. Interfax: Hearing of Memorial, Golos Complaints Against Prosecutors Postponed Until February.
24. Amnesty International: Russia: A year on, Putin’s ‘foreign agents law’ choking freedom
25. Interfax: Most migrants come to Russia in visa-free travel regime, many don’t speak Russian.
26. Russia Direct: Dominic Basulto, The Sochi Olympics are too big to fail. Russia may have spent $50 billion to host the Olympics, but there’s another number you should be focused on, and that’s the billions of dollars that media companies, investors and sponsors have spent on the Olympics.
27. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Sochi Olympics will be Instagram-friendly. Contrary to previous media reports, journalists at the Sochi Games will be allowed to use mobile phones to photograph sportspeople and spectators during the Olympics.
28. Moscow Times: Exhibition Shows Russian Leaders, From Romanovs to Putin.

ECONOMY

29. The Taipei Times: Sergei Guriev, Russia is open about regime’s economic woes. The Russian government’s campaign pledges for economic growth are almost certain to fail. However, the admission of this failure could help in the future.
30. Moscow Times: Alexander Teddy, Changing Corporate Behavior From Within.
31. Oilprice.com: The Next Shale Revolution­–Probably Russia.
32. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Russian governmental start-up strategy is likely to fail. The Russian government has established a foundation to support startups. Experts, however, are skeptical that such an idea will be successful
33. RIA Novosti: Russia Publishes Draft Law Restricting Foreign Land Ownership – Paper.
34. ITAR-TASS: ‘Shadow’ funerals estimated at 60% of Russia’s ceremonial services market.
35. ITAR-TASS: Risk of dollar ban stirs fears in Russian society.
36. Wall Street Journal: Reform in Central, Eastern Europe Has Stalled, Report Says. European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Warns Incomes May Never Match Western Europe

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

37. Wall Street Journal: Meet the Syrian Rebel Commander Assad, Russia and the U.S. All Fear. Tarkhan Batirashvili is an ethnic Chechen whose warring skills were learned in the U.S.-funded Georgian army
38. South China Morning Post: Paranoia from Soviet Union collapse haunts China’s Communist Party, 22 years on. Party cadres made to watch documentaries on failure of Russian communism, by new leader determined not to see history repeat
39. Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Russian Ex-Foreign Minister: Expanded Russian-American Relations Agenda Needed. (Igor Ivanov)
40. Reuters: U.S.-Arab strains hand Russia chance to regain some Mideast clout.
41. Moscow Times: Browder Expects Broader Magnitsky List Sanctions for Russian Officials in U.S., Europe.
42. Forbes.com: Mark Adomanis, Azerbaijan Is Absolutely Not A Model For Political Reform .
43. BBC Monitoring: Lavrov denies Russia pressures countries to not to join EU’s Eastern Partnership.
44. Interfax: Association with EU may limit Ukrainian cooperation capacities – Moscow.
45. Russia Direct: Nikolay Pakhomov, Ukraine’s dangerous balancing act. For Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, the case for integration with the EU is not as clear as it might seem. And that’s assuming that the EU is actually ready to integrate these new members.
46. Yezhednevnyy Zhurnal: “Restraints” Seen on Ukraine’s ‘Drift’ Toward the West Despite EU Association Agreement. (Arkadiy Moshes)