RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#176 :: Thursday 10 September 2015

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2015-#176
Thursday – 10 September 2015
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. Ivan Katchanovski: The “Snipers’ Massacre” on the Maidan in Ukraine. (excerpt)
2. The Guardian (UK): Volodymyr Ishchenko, Ukraine’s government bears more responsibility for ongoing conflict than the far-right. The question of autonomy in the Donbass has fractured the fragile coalition, but the government must start thinking of solutions – not point fingers at paramilitaries.
3. Moscow Times: Tanya Lokshina, Donbass Is Clinging to Illusion of Peace.
4. Irrussianality: Paul Robinson, Deep settlement.
5. Kyiv Post: After months of deadlock, some progress made on Minsk II peace accords.
6. TASS: Kiev’s policy leads to further separation of Donbas – Russian Foreign Ministry.
7. http://gordonhahn.com: Gordon Hahn, Minsk 3: Keep It Simple Stupid.
8. Carnegie Moscow Center: Denis Volkov, Supporting a War that isn’t: Russian Public Opinion and the Ukraine Conflict.
9. Business New Europe: Chris Weafer, BOOK REVIEW: Six ‘must-read’ books on Russia from last 25 years.
10. Sarah Lindemann-Komarova: Running for Office in Siberia: Part V: Let the Games Begin. A series on the District #35 Election for Novosibirsk City Council.
11. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, No flowers for teacher on the first day? Russians feel the pinch. School costs – uniforms, notebooks, gym clothes – are soaring in recession-hit Russia, and pupils and parents are griping over the unwelcome changes in their classrooms.
12. TASS: Pro-Kremlin movement criticizes state of Russia’s health care system.
13. Kremlin.ru: Vladimir Putin answered Russian journalists’ questions. The President answered journalists’ questions on current issues, in particular, the Russian economy’s development outlook, oil prices, Russia’s social policy, the situation in Ukraine, Europe’s response to the flood of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa, and the fight against terrorism.
14. War on the Rocks: Michael Kofman, PUTIN’S STRATEGY IS FAR BETTER THAN YOU THINK.
15. Russia Insider: Boris Pankin, USSR Foreign Minister: NATO Broke Its Promise. Russia Did Not ‘Lose’ the Cold War. It was the USSR which liberated Europe from the Cold War, not NATO, Europe is profoundly ungrateful for this. Russia didn’t lose the Cold War, it ended it. By the end of the Gorbachev era, Russia was a free and open country. Yeltsin was a catastrophe for Russia. Today there is a vacuum of strategic thinking in the West.
16. Russia Direct: Should the US worry about closer Russia-China cooperation? RD Interview: Russia Direct sat down with Fyodor Lukyanov, head of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, to understand whether the Moscow-Beijing partnership presents a challenge for American foreign policy makers, as well as how it might impact the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.
17. Moscow Times: No Reason for Russia to Deploy Troops to Syria, Experts Say.
18. The Independent (UK): Patrick Cockburn, Only a US-Russian agreement can spur a settlement in Syria. Russia is Assad’s main arms supplier and has so far prevented all-out Western intervention.
19. www.rt.com: Pepe Escobar, Make bombs, not refugees.
20. Fort Russ/Reseau International: Refugees out of Ukraine: Migrants that they don’t want to see. But Russia welcomes refugees. Without cameras, without staging, because it must respect the real pain of those fleeing, fleeing the bombs dropped by the army of their own country.
21. Dances With Bears: John Helmer, FOLLOWING THE IMF BILLIONS IN AND OUT OF UKRAINE.
22. Wall Street Journal: Garry Kasparov, The Rewards of the Obama Doctrine. Offering a helping hand to America’s enemies in Iran, Russia and Cuba will ruin lives and many more will die.
23. Washington Post editorial: Mr. Putin makes moves in Syria, exploiting America’s inaction.
24. Reuters: Andrei Kolesnikov and Andrew S. Weiss, Why do Vladimir Putin and his Kremlin cronies look so nervous?
25. Paul Goble: Putin Can’t Annex Donbas, Two Russian Analysts Say.
26. Eurasian Geopolitics: Edward Walker, A response to Tim Ash’s “The big call on Ukraine” in the Kyiv Post.
27. Kyiv Post: Harvard’s Ukrainian Research Institute shapes US view on Ukraine.