RUSSIA NEWS & INFORMATION – Johnson’s Russia List contents & links :: JRL 2021-#189 :: Friday, 24 September 2021
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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2021-#189 :: Friday, 24 September 2021
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1. rt.com: Russia’s official Covid-19 death toll hits record daily high with 828 dying of virus, as Kremlin says no plans for new lockdown – rt.com/russia/535727-covid-kremlin-no-plans-lockdown/
2. TASS: Kommersant: Social media beats legacy media in the battle for voters’ hearts and minds.
3. Intellinews: Russia’s Duma elections statistics: the comet effect and the Moscow blob. A statistical study of voting patterns in Russia’s Duma elections show a “comet effect” and a “Moscow blob” that testify to large scale vote rigging.
4. The Economist: The conjuror in the Kremlin. How Russia’s election was fixed. As if by magic, Vladimir Putin has another new, obedient parliament.
5. No Yardstick: András Tóth-Czifra, A mirror, a rehearsal, a vote.
6. rt.com: Paul Robinson, The Church of Navalny: Western media fan club are damaging Russia’s opposition with their religious-like faith in jailed activist – rt.com/russia/535709-church-of-navalny-election/
7. New York Times: Navalny to the Russian Opposition: ‘Be Discouraged, a Little Bit’. Emblematic of the beleaguered state of the opposition, a forlorn group of volunteers maintains a 24-hour vigil at the spot where a prominent democracy advocate was killed in 2015.
8. Novaya Gazeta: Decoding the 2021 vote: 10 Key Takeaways. Why Communists are on the rise?
9. Bloomberg editorial: The Real Message From Russia’s Disputed Election. Vladimir Putin had to scramble to get the result he wanted. His efforts leave Russia a darker place than it has been for decades.
10. Foreign Policy: Jeff Hawn and Sim Tack, Putin’s Party Is Preparing for a Post-Majority Future. Slow shifts in the Russian electorate are making dominance harder—so United Russia is changing the rules.
11. Russia Matters: Expert Survey: Will the Outcome of Russia’s Elections Impact Its Foreign Policy? (With Andrei Kolesnikov, Tatyana Stanovaya, Angela Stent, Denis Volkov)
12. Moscow Times: Michael Kofman, Zapad 2021: What We Learned From Russia’s Massive Military Drills. Zapad is not just military theater, it affirms that years of defense modernization and reform have made the Russian military a force with increased capability, readiness, and mobility.
13. rt.com: Scott Ritter, Will US Congress’ anti-Russia posturing result in increased American military presence in eastern Europe? – rt.com/op-ed/535662-congress-russia-troops-us/
14. TASS: Izvestia: New US sanctions unlikely to deal major blow to Russian bond market.
15. rt.com: Fitch upgrades Russia’s economic outlook, citing impressive cash cushion from oil revenues – rt.com/business/535638-russia-economy-fitch-outlook/
16. Bloomberg: Gazprom Says Accusation of Withholding Gas Is Absurd.
17. Wall Street Journal: Russian Movies in Space: The Final Frontier?. Moscow plans to win the cinematic space race, even outgunning Tom Cruise.
18. TASS: US leadership was aware of real situation in Afghanistan, says Russia’s intel chief – tass.com/politics/1342025
19. Responsible Statecraft: Doug Bandow, US continues to push China and Russia together at its own peril. It’s called institutionalizing hubris, and it’s taking U.S. global foreign policy nowhere fast.
20. Russian International Affairs Council: Andrey Kazantsev, Prospects and Scenarios for Afghanistan: Russian and Chinese Interests – russiancouncil.ru/en/analytics-and-comments/analytics/prospects-and-scenarios-for-afghanistan-russian-and-chinese-interests/
21. strategic-culture.org: Philip Giraldi, Putin the Poisoner? More Doubts Over Attempts to Delegitimize Russia’s Leader. Attempts to delegitimize President Putin by making him an international poisoner is tragedy elevated by its absurdity to the level of farce – strategic-culture.org/news/2021/09/23/putin-poisoner-more-doubts-over-attempts-to-delegitimize-russia-leader/
22. Meduza: ‘We all support Putin, tell your friends’. Meduza’s dispatch from Russia’s Rostov region, where residents of Ukraine’s separatist territories cast ballots in the State Duma elections.
23. Twitter: Dean O’Brien, Donbass reporting.
24. rt.com: Ukraine passes sweeping new ‘anti-oligarch’ law, critics say restrictions will be used to target Zelensky’s political opponents – rt.com/russia/535657-ukraine-anti-oligarchs-law/
25. Financial Times: There Is Nothing for You Here by Fiona Hill — memoir from Trump White House. Reflections from a senior U.S. official with a working-class British background makes for a valuable and riveting historic read.
