RUSSIA NEWS & INFORMATION – Johnson’s Russia List contents & links :: JRL 2020-#211 :: Wednesday, 25 November 2020

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2020-#211 :: Wednesday, 25 November 2020
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1. TASS: Kremlin notes anxiety and pessimism in Russian society due to COVID-19.
2. Interfax: Russia registers 23,675 new Covid-19 cases, another all-time high of 507 deaths – HQ.
3. Wall Street Journal: Russia Looks to Undercut Rivals With Cut-Price Covid-19 Vaccine. Phase 3 trials showed the jab was 91.4% effective in protecting people from Covid-19.
4. Moscow Times: Russia Should Extend Coronavirus Crisis Support – IMF. Its economy fared better than most but headwinds remain and recovery could be weak, the organization warned.
5. Moscow Times: Moscow Plans Expanded Social Credit-Style Tracking System – Open Media.
6. rt.com: Paul Robinson, Is Russia less religiously tolerant than Saudi Arabia? ‘Freedom’ lists beloved of US state media reach new level of absurdity – rt.com/russia/507751-muslim-community-tolerance-bias/
7. Meduza: Open warfare among Russia’s siloviki.
8. Meduza: Anna Temkina, Neither harmless nor distant . How Russian state conservatism combines emancipation and tradition to undermine women’s rights and suppress sexual awareness.
9. Carnegie Moscow Center: Andrei Kolesnikov, How Biden Will Impact Russian Domestic Policy. What action the Russian authorities take largely depends on the early actions and statements of the Biden administration. If Biden’s team shows a rational approach to possible areas of cooperation, that will at the very least delay any large-scale anti-American propaganda campaign.
10. Kennan Institute: Igor Zevelev, Kennan Cable No. 61: Russia in the Changing Post-Soviet Space.
11. RFE/RL: Putin Discusses Nagorno-Karabakh With Armenian, Azerbaijani Leaders.
12. RFE/RL: Armenians See Russia As ‘Savior’ Not ‘Scapegoat’ In Nagorno-Karabakh War.
13. Antiwar.com: Doug Bandow, Nagorno-Karabakh is Tragic but Not America’s Problem. Let Other Governments Try To Resolve the Intractable Conflict – original.antiwar.com/doug-bandow/2020/11/24/nagorno-karabakh-is-tragic-but-not-americas-problem/
14. Southfront.org: LESSONS LEARNED FROM SECOND NAGORNO-KARABAKH WAR – southfront.org/lessons-learned-from-second-nagorno-karabakh-war/
15. Indian Punchline: M.K.Bhadrakumar, Russia, China reinvent their moorings in Central Asia – indianpunchline.com/russia-china-reinvent-their-moorings-in-central-asia/
16. Valdai Discussion Club: Timofei Bordachev, Do Empires Have Allies? Great powers create alliances as formal institutions only to the extent necessary, to ensure their own interests. For example, the ability to deploy forces and assets in the event of a military conflict. But as such deployments become unnecessary, as technical capabilities increase or threats decrease, the value of allies becomes increasingly insufficient. – valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/do-empires-have-allies/
17. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s answers to media questions following the presentation of foreign ambassadors’ letters of credence in the Kremlin, Moscow, November 24, 2020. – mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/4458813
18. Financial Times: Letter: Obama’s reset of Russia ties offers lesson for Biden. From Geoffrey Roberts, Emeritus Professor of History, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
19. Russian International Affairs Council: Andrey Kortunov, Joe Biden vs. Henry Kissinger. Biden’s harsh anti-Russian rhetoric should not be taken literally – russiancouncil.ru/en/analytics-and-comments/analytics/joe-biden-vs-henry-kissinger/
20. The Times (UK): Roger Boyes, Putin’s mobster regime is running out of time. The Russian president’s power to influence events at home and abroad looks increasingly weak.
21. Commentary: Noah Rothman, Whatever Happened to ‘Russia, Russia, Russia’?
22. The Interpreter: Ian Hill, A Biden presidency and US-Russia relations. The new US administration will certainly push back harder on the Kremlin, but there may also be chances for engagement.