RUSSIA NEWS & INFORMATION – Johnson’s Russia List contents & links :: JRL 2021-#253 :: Wednesday, 29 December 2021

To inquire about a subscription to the full Johnson’s Russia List e-mail newsletter, e-mail David Johnson at davidjohnson@starpower.net

Support the JRL: russialist.org/funding.php
Donate Online: click here for direct link at GWU

[check back for updates, including more links; some links also posted to facebook and twitter]

Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2021-#253 :: Wednesday, 29 December 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.
JRL Home: russialist.org – JRL on Facebook: facebook.com/russialist – JRL on Twitter: @JohnsonRussiaLi
Support for JRL is provided in part by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York to the George Washington University and by voluntary contributions from readers.

1. Interfax: Coronavirus pandemic may be over in 2022 – RDIF head.
2. rt.com: NGO Memorial closed by Russian court over ‘foreign agent’ breaches. The controversial decision has effectively barred the NGO from operating in the country – rt.com/russia/544676-memorial-group-moscow-court/
3. AP: Court shuts down another human rights group in Russia.
4. Meduza: ‘We never counted on love from the state’. Meduza talks to Memorial’s Yan Rachinsky immediately after Russia’s Supreme Court shuttered this prominent rights organization.
5. Moscow Times: Rachel Denber, In Closing Memorial, Russia Heralds a New, Grimmer Era of Repression. Try as it may, Russia can’t wipe out historical memory or force people to stop working to protect their rights.
6. Washington Post editorial: Putin wants to shut down Russia’s Memorial, but he can’t erase the past.
7. Meduza: Better off without Russia. Putin says the U.S. planned Russia’s partition in 1918. It’s true. (And Lenin was on board!)
8. Russia Matters: Fact-Check: Is Russia’s Economy ‘Nuclear Weapons and Oil Wells and Nothing Else,’ as Biden Claimed?
9. Valdai Discussion CLub: Pandemic and Climate, History and Values: Results of the Valdai Club Expert Programme. In 2021, the coronavirus pandemic continued to be one of the most important events. Naturally, its influence on world politics and society remained the main focus of the Valdai Discussion Club experts. – valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/pandemic-and-climate-history-and-values-results/
10. Interfax: Mikhail Gorbachev: We, not the West, are responsible for our country – interfax.com/newsroom/exclusive-interviews/73475/
11. Irish Examiner: Geoffrey Roberts, Russians’ regret over passing of USSR into history. Nationalism, ultimately that of the Russian variety, led to the break-up of the Soviet Union. To this day, it is the Russians, ironically, who have come to regret the USSR passing into history the most. – irishexaminer.com/opinion/commentanalysis/arid-40767711.html
12. Intellinews: DEATH OF THE SOVIET UNION: BOOK REVIEW — Reassessing the causes of the Soviet demise.
13. TASS: US, West betrayed Moscow’s trust after Soviet Union’s breakup — diplomat – tass.com/politics/1382119
14. rt.com: Is Russia choking Europe amid gas crisis? – rt.com/business/544534-russian-gas-europe-energy-crisis/
15. Moscow Times: ‘The Sounds of Science’ Where Composers and Scientists Meet. What is the music of a vaccine or a carbon-cleansing forest?
16. New York Times: U.S. and Russia Agree to Talks Amid Growing Tensions Over Ukraine. The Biden administration has not said who will lead the U.S. delegation next month as Russian officials demand commitments from NATO.
17. Responsible Statecraft: Ted Galen Carpenter, Four Western provocations that led to U.S.-Russia crisis today. The one-sided indictments of Moscow’s behavior invariably ignore numerous missteps that took place, beginning with President Clinton.
18. Consortium News: Patrick Lawrence, Putin Speaks. As the Russian president’s year-end presser helped underscore, Europe will increasingly understand itself as the western end of Eurasia rather than the eastern shore of the Atlantic.
19. Indian Punchline: M.K. Bhadrakumar, Putin hints at military options in Ukraine.
20. TASS: Poroshenko might become Ukrainian president again in early election — poll.
21. Truthout: Volodymyr Ishchenko, Ukrainians Are Far From Unified on NATO. Let Them Decide for Themselves.
22. Awful Avalanche: Shoigu’s Warning May Have Averted Chemical Attack.
23. Asia Times: Turkish drones may not be gamechanger for Ukraine. Previous successes in Azerbaijan, Syria and Libya may not accurately predict similar wins in Ukraine.
24. The American Conservative: Douglas Macgregor, Washington Prepares To Fail In Ukraine. This chapter will not end well for President Biden or Washington’s political class.
25. rt.com: Tarik Cyril Amar, Ignorance of Russia among Western elites is dangerous. A belligerent new intervention reveals just how far removed from reality many Western hawks are.
26. Russia in Global Affairs: Alexander Lukin, The Right to Insanity: A New Ideology of “Woke” Western Elites and Its Consequences. (excerpt)
27. Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry:Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with Solovyov Live YouTube channel, Moscow, December 27, 2021. (continued)