RUSSIA NEWS & INFORMATION – Johnson’s Russia List contents & links :: JRL 2021-#143 :: Friday, 16 July 2021

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2021-#143 :: Friday, 16 July 2021
A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. The contents do not necessarily represent the views of IERES or The George Washington University.
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1. The Guardian: Luke Harding, Julian Borger and Dan Sabbagh, Kremlin papers appear to show Putin’s plot to put Trump in White House. Exclusive: Documents suggest Russia launched secret multi-agency effort to interfere in US democracy.
2. Irrussianality: Paul Robinson, LATEST RUSSIAGATE ALLEGATION – irrussianality.wordpress.com/2021/07/16/latest-russiagate-allegation/
3. rt.com: Paul Robinson, The Guardian plumbs new depths: Inside the latest wild claims from its resident ‘Russiagate’ fanatics that Putin got Trump elected – rt.com/russia/529358-guardian-putin-trump-election/
4. Consortium News: Joe Lauria, RUSSIAGATE: Luke Harding’s Hard Sell. The only interests this leak serves — if it was a leak — are those of Harding and U.S. intelligence, who were hung out to dry by the collapse of the Russiagate narrative. – consortiumnews.com/2021/07/15/luke-hardings-hard-sell/
5. Washington Post: Philip Bump, A blockbuster document purportedly from the Kremlin raises lots of questions — about itself
6. www.rt.com: Bryan MacDonald, ‘Russiagate’ redux: The Guardian’s spooky anonymous ‘sources’ claim Putin put Trump in power, but there’s still no hard evidence – rt.com/russia/529318-guardian-sources-putin-trump-power/
7. Moscow Times: Mark Galeotti, Blockbuster Guardian Leaks Cannot yet Either Be Discounted nor Accepted. Boring as it may be, I’ll neither take the Guardian’s blockbuster story as gospel truth nor cynical fake. I’ll just wait and see how this plays out.
8. Boston Globe: Stephen Kinzer, What’s the harm in visiting Russia? The State Department is discouraging Americans from traveling there and making it harder for Russians to come here.
9. Russia Reviewed: How should Russia’s garden grow? Paul Robinson’s Russian Conservatism – russiareviewed.wordpress.com/2021/07/16/how-should-russias-garden-grow-paul-robinsons-russian-conservatism-100th-review-400th-post/
10. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, Russians say Marvel’s ‘Black Widow’ is ‘klyukva.’ That’s not flattering. Marvel’s latest blockbuster is about former Soviet superheroes in Russia trying to deal with their past. But for Russian filmgoers, “Black Widow” doesn’t capture much of their culture or worldview.
11. TASS: Kremlin clarifies foreign agent status ‘not equal to work ban’ for journalists – tass.com/society/1314693
12. Financial Times: Russian authorities signal US financier will avoid jail. Prosecutors suggest suspended sentence for Michael Calvey accused of embezzlement.
13. Financial Times: Slow train across Siberia offers glimpse of Russia’s rail ambitions. Redevelopment of a 4,300km Soviet-era rail line aims to propel the network into the 21st century.
14. Kennan Institute: Michael Corsi, Kennan Cable No. 69: How the Urals Might Answer Russia’s 21st-Century Economic Crisis: A Pivot to the East?
15. Russia Matters: Simon Saradzhyan, Russia’s New Security Strategy: Deter US, Ignore EU, Partner with China and India
16. American Committee for US-Russia Accord: John Pepper, The Absence of Humility in US-Russia Policy Circles.
17. Wall Street Journal: Russia Emerges as Key Backer of Myanmar’s Military Post-Coup. Moscow’s support is giving the country’s generals recognition and counterbalancing a reliance on Beijing.
18. Intellinews: Biden and Merkel fail to find common ground over Nord Stream 2 pipeline at Washington summit.
19. TASS: Imposing sanctions on Nord Stream 2 project did not make sense — Biden – tass.com/economy/1314489
20. The National Interest: Matteo Fumagalli, Can Ostpolitik Survive in a Post-Merkel Germany? The key challenge for whoever ends up taking the helm from outgoing Chancellor Merkel after sixteen years in power is two-fold: decide what to do with that bilateral relationship and figure out how to square it with the oftentimes divergent priorities of other European partners and especially the United States.
21. rt.com: 20 years after the Russo-Chinese friendship treaty, relationship between two nations at ‘unprecedented heights,’ says Moscow – rt.com/russia/529371-beijing-good-relations-lavrov/
22. Valdai Discussion CLub: Ulugbek Khasanov, Central Asia: Regional Security as a Process – valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/central-asia-regional-security-as-a-process/
23. New York magazine: T.A. Frank, ‘The Steele Dossier Was a Case Study in How Reporters Get Manipulated’. There is a shady underworld of spies for hire whose objective is to spin the information received by the American public. Usually, it works.

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