RUSSIA NEWS & INFORMATION – Johnson’s Russia List contents & links :: JRL 2021-#146 :: Wednesday, 21 July 2021

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2021-#146 :: Wednesday, 21 July 2021
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1. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, Russia worries: Will US exit from Afghanistan bring back bad old days? Afghanistan was the Soviet Union’s Vietnam War, and its effects on the Russian psyche still linger. So the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan brings more than just strategic concerns to the Kremlin.
2. Valdai Discussion Club/www.rg.ru: Fyodor Lukyanov, A Fuse for the Future. The preceding period has clearly confirmed one thing: the assumption that it’s possible to arrange the post-Soviet space in a way which contradicts Russian interests is illusory. This fact may be good or bad, but there is nothing you can do about it. – valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/a-fuse-for-the-future/ ….. rg.ru/2021/07/20/lukianov-sosediam-rossii-predlagaetsia-vmeste-dumat-nad-novymi-formami-sosushchestvovaniia.html
3. Valdai Discussion Club: Timofei Bordachev, Ukraine’s Chance for Rational Behaviour. Vladimir Putin’s article attaches such great importance to the common historical experience of Russia and Ukraine because it is important for him personally. But those who were just starting their lives at the time of the collapse of the USSR are hardly likely to see things the same way. To sum up, as long as the aggregate power capabilities of Russia are maintained, our neighbours can expect unpleasant news. – valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/ukraine-s-chance-for-rational-behaviour/
4. Moscow Times: Climate Change Is ‘Main Cause’ of Siberia’s Wildfires, Regional Head Says
5. TASS: Over 45,000 candidates nominated for Russian elections in September — CEC’s head – tass.com/politics/1316201
6. Paul Goble: Russians are Poor, Don’t Trust Officials or Fear the West, but Want Putin Kept in Office, Academy of Sciences Survey Shows.
7. rt.com: Paul Robinson, Russia’s targeting of some opposition groups & media seems to be about links to hostile foreign states, not their support at home – rt.com/russia/529803-targeting-opposition-foreign-states/
8. Moscow Times: Andrei Soldatov, Why Is Russia Not Using Pegasus Spyware? Pegasus spyware leak appears to vindicate FSB’s paranoia concerning foreign-made surveillance technology.
9. Bloomberg: Price Surge Pits Bank of Russia Against Old Inflation Fears.
10. The Unz Review: Many Interesting Developments in Russia – unz.com/tsaker/many-interesting-developments-in-russia/
11. RFE/RL: A Cosmonaut Is Demoted And Russia’s Star-Crossed Space Agency Lurches. Again
12. TASS: Izvestia: Russia not to return to the Open Skies Treaty.
13. Wall Street Journal: U.S.-German Deal on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 Pipeline Expected Soon. The U.S. and Germany have reached an agreement allowing completion of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, officials from both countries say.
14. TASS: Sanctions could not prevent Nord Stream 2 construction — Department of State – tass.com/economy/1316045
15. Politico: U.S. urges Ukraine to stay quiet on Russian pipeline. The Biden administration is asking an unhappy Ukraine not to make waves, as it nears Russia-Germany pipeline agreement.
16. Carnegie Moscow Center: Liana Fix, Is There a New Status Quo in Russia-West Relations? The Biden-Putin summit has elicited hopes for a new status quo in relations between Russia and the West, marked by guardrails and the prevention of further destabilization. Yet this momentum will be short-lived if it is not backed up by coordination between the United States and Europe, and commitment from Moscow.
17. Asia Times: Pepe Escobar, Checkmate fighter puts Russia ahead of the game. While the dogs of demonization bark, Russia’s newfangled armaments are flat out beating the competition.
18. TASS: Russia’s hypersonic missiles are response to US missile shield near its borders — Kremlin – tass.com/defense/1315787
19. Reuters: Russia sees security upside in Taliban’s north Afghanistan gains – Ifax.
20. Antiwar.com: Johanna Ross, Luke Harding Proves He Is the Western Security Establishment’s ‘Useful Idiot’ – original.antiwar.com/Johanna_Ross/2021/07/20/luke-harding-proves-he-is-the-western-security-establishments-useful-idiot/
21. Salon Why the revelations about Trump and the Kremlin are true (even if the documents are fake). What did we learn from the alleged Kremlin documents published by the Guardian? Only what we already knew.
22. Dances With Bears: John Helmer, THE DUTCH INVASION PLAN OF DONBASS BEFORE THE DOWNING OF MH17 ON JULY 17, 2014. – johnhelmer.net/the-dutch-invasion-plan-of-donbass-before-the-downing-of-mh17-on-july-17-2017/print/
23. Paul Goble: West Using Ukraine to Undermine Russian National Identity and Dismember Russia, Markov Says.
24. Washington Post: Daniel Dresser, Can sanctions change the behavior of Belarus? Why imposing them might lead to perverse outcomes.
25. Washington Post editorial: Reformers just won a rare victory in Russia’s backyard. Biden should help them.

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