RUSSIA NEWS & INFORMATION – Johnson’s Russia List contents & links :: JRL 2021-#55 :: Tuesday, 16 March 2021

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2021-#55 :: Tuesday, 16 March 2021
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1. Politico: Leon Aron, Could Putin Launch Another Invasion? The same factors that led up to his incursion into Ukraine are in place again, including domestic protests, a struggling economy and a desire for glory.
2. Paul Goble: Putin’s New Authoritarianism Existential Threat to Russia and the West, Skobov Says.
3. Intellinews: Russian life expectancy falls for first time in two decades
4. TASS: Russia’s infant mortality rate hits all-time low.
5. Russia Beyond: Why hasn’t Putin taken the Covid-19 vaccine yet? – rbth.com/lifestyle/333536-why-hasnt-putin-taken-covid-19-vaccine-yet
6. Moscow Times: Explainer: Sputnik V’s Road to the European Market.
7. Reuters: Unthinkable? EU considers getting a vaccine boost from Russia’s Sputnik
8. Meduza: Nikolai Petrov, A democratic simulation but not democracy – theins.ru/opinions/nikolai-petrov/240028
9. Postsocialism; Jeremy Morris, Russian activism through a micro-scale and social media lens – postsocialism.org/2021/03/12/russian-activism-through-a-micro-scale-and-social-media-lens/
10. New York Times: Navalny Greets Supporters From Prison: ‘Our Friendly Concentration Camp.’ In an Instagram post, the Russian opposition leader says he is well and has not been subject to violence, but described a dystopian existence in the prison camp where he will likely spend the next two years.
11. The National Interest: Mark Episkopos, World War III: If Russia Invaded the Baltics NATO Couldn’t Stop Them. But if the Baltics have really been so vulnerable for so many years, why is it that the Russians have yet to attack?
12. rt.com: Russia to BLOCK Twitter within a month if US tech giant continues to evade orders to delete illegal content, media regulator warns – rt.com/russia/518242-block-twitter-month-regulator/
13. The Cipher Brief: Kristin Wood, Russia’s Climate Problem and Opportunity – thecipherbrief.com/article/arctic/russias-climate-problem-and-opportunity
14. rt.com: Owning a stake in Washington: Russia buying up more US debt amid pandemic downturn & growing political tensions with White House – rt.com/russia/518221-pandemic-downturn-political-tensions/
15. Washington Post: Katrina vanden Heuvel, Biden’s foreign policy team can’t handle new threats with old strategies
16. Washington Times: Edward Lozansky, Leading not by force but by example – really, Tony Blinken? Apology and humanitarian help are a better start.
17. TASS: Top Armenian diplomat says Armenian heritage destroyed in Nagorno-Karabakh district – tass.com/world/1266535
18. Carnegie Moscow Center: Konstantin Skorkin, Merge and Rule: What’s In Store for the Donetsk and Luhansk Republics. Donbas should brace itself for a long time in the role of a Russian military protectorate like Transnistria or South Ossetia. Local elites will have to deal with Moscow’s efforts to optimize the region’s administration, while the people there will see the creeping integration of the republics with Russia.
19. TASS: Kremlin says referendum on Crimea’s status in 2014 was absolutely legitimate – tass.com/politics/1266409
20. Intellinews: Ben Aris, Belarusian opposition proposes draft text of a new constitution. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the Kremlin, and opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya are all looking to break the mass demonstration stalemate by changing the country’s constitution.
21. The Unz Review: Anatoly Karlin, Opinion Poll: Belorussians Favor Union State with Russia Over EU – unz.com/akarlin/belorussians-support-union-state/
22. Antiwar.com: Dave DeCamp,. War Erupts Inside the Atlantic Council Over Article Questioning Washington’s Hostile Approach to Moscow – original.antiwar.com/Dave_DeCamp/2021/03/15/war-erupts-inside-the-atlantic-council-over-article-questioning-washingtons-hostile-approach-to-moscow/
23. Russia in Global Affairs: Andrei Tsyganov, Pavel Tsygankov, and Haley Gonzales, PUTIN’S “GLOBAL HYBRID WAR”: U.S. EXPERTS, RUSSIA, AND THE ATLANTIC COUNCIL – eng.globalaffairs.ru/articles/putins-global-hybrid-war/