RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2016-236 :: Friday, 23 December 2016

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2016-#236
Friday, 23 December 2016
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1. Sarah Lindemann-Komarova: The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming: Holiday Film Recommendation and 50th Anniversary Tribute…Deja vous all over again.
2. The Independent (UK): Mark Dejevsky, Instead of asking Russia to change its ‘bad behaviour’, America should try to understand it a little more. The prime cause of Russia’s aggrieved response to what it sees as Western encroachment is not innate Russian belligerence, but the experience of loss and the birth pangs of a post-Soviet national identity
3. Kremlin.ru: Vladimir Putin’s annual news conference. (partial transcript)
4. www.rt.com: Putin’s Q&A with media 2016 LIVE UPDATES
5. Washington Post: David Filipov, Putin to Democratic Party: You lost, get over it.
6. Politico.com: Leon Aron, Don’t Be Putin’s Useful Idiot. In Donald Trump, the Kremlin sees not a fellow dealmaker, but an easy mark. Trump shouldn’t be fooled.
7. Center for American Progress: Moscow on the Potomac. Trump’s Worrisome Ties to Russia.
8. Bloomberg: Leonid Bershidsky, Why I Still Don’t Buy the Russian Hacking Story.
9. Russia Matters: Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, A Strategic Response to the Russian Hacking Affair.
10. Interfax: Kremlin spokesman denies Trump is “Putin’s man”
11. Interfax: No quick change in US policy expected under Trump – Kremlin.
12. TASS: Kremlin: It is easier for US to demonize Russia than to consider presidency results.
13. TASS: Kremlin spokesman calls Putin ‘liberal by nature’
14. TASS: Kremlin: USSR can’t be restored but need for new integration exists.
15. RIA Novosti: Putin still sees USSR break-up as catastrophe – spokesman.
16. TASS: Russians’ confidence in Putin above 61% – poll.
17. Russia Beyond the Headlines: 2016 in review: Top 5 economic results. RBTH has compiled a preliminary list of the key 2016 events in the Russian economy. The official economic analysis of the year is usually announced in February, when information about key statistical indicators becomes available.
18. Marketwatch.com: Russia: No. 1 market performer in 2016 could roar higher in 2017 too.
19. Moscow Times: Russian Families Spend 80% of Income on Essentials.
20. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Real income in Russia falls by over 12% in 2 years. Labor in Russia is now paid for only slightly higher than in India and Bulgaria, according to a study by a Russian state academy.
21. Intellinews.com: Ben Aris, Russia’s retail economic engine is sputtering.
22. Financial Times editorial: Russia’s politics blights its economic outlook. Real reform could boost growth but would threaten Putin’s power.
24. Russia Beyond the Headlines/Rosbalt: Why didn’t Russia’s slain ambassador have Russian bodyguards? Speaking on condition of anonymity, an employee of the Russian special forces explains why no one was able to save the Russian ambassador in Turkey. For more than 10 years Ankara has not allowed Russia’s Zaslon Foreign Intelligence Service special squad to guarantee armed protection for Russian diplomats in Turkey, an employee of the squad told Rosbalt.
25. Russian International Affairs Council: Alexander Yakovenko, Why the Elites Blame Post-truth Politics for Their Failures.
26. Russia Direct: Oleg Barabanov, What to expect from Russia-EU relations in 2017. While EU-Russia relations have no real basis for improvement, Russia’s bilateral relationships with particular EU member states do have the potential for improvement.
27. Valdai Discussion Club: Yuexin Rachel Lin, IS RUSSIA A EUROPEAN OR AN ASIAN COUNTRY?
28. RFE/RL: Brent Scowcroft: ‘Gorbachev Was Doing Our Work For Us’
29. New York Times: Room for Debate. Since the Fall of the Soviet Union. In the 25 years that have passed since Dec. 25, 1991, what opportunities to redefine world order were missed by the United States? (with Kathryn Stoner and Stephen Sestanovich)
30. AP: Nataliya Vasilyeva, A post-Soviet generation endures poverty, chaos, opportunity.
31. Foxnews.com: Legal scholars claim new evidence shows Ethel Rosenberg was innocent in infamous spy case.
32. Washington Post: Russia’s popularity among Americans sinks to 30-year low, new poll finds.