RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2017-117 :: Thursday, 22 June 2017

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2017-#117
Thursday, 22 June 2017
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1. TASS: Poll reveals every second Russian sees no real external military threat.
2. Sputnik: Putin: Preserving Identity in Russia Important, But Isolation May Cause Harm.
3. Russia Beyond the Headlines{ Expert: Tillerson’s plan is a dud, but Russia offers no alternative. The State Department initiative won’t fix Russian-U.S. ties, experts believe. Washington, however, must not be blamed for this.
4. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Vladimir Mikheev, Should Moscow put a brake on rapprochement with Washington? Three areas of cooperation with Russia outlined in a leaked U.S. State Department document might suffice initially for an amelioration of the currently dismal bilateral relationship. Yet, doubts persist that the Trump administration has enough dry powder to get a modest “reset” kick-started.
5. Pavel Koshkin: Summer 2017 reading on Russia: 5 must-read books for those who seek to understand the country’s past and its present.
6. TASS: Putin warns loss of patriotism may be first step to global catastrophe.
7. Kremlin.ru: Meeting with Government members.
9. Interfax: Putin says stopped learning physics, chemistry to become intelligence officer.
10. Moscow Times: Mikhail Fishman, Putin, Depersonalized: What Does Oliver Stone’s Film Reveal About Russia’s Leader? In “Putin Interview”, the ordinary and casual moments are the most compelling.
11. RFE/RL: Brian Whitmore, Natural Born Liar.
12. Raam op Rusland (Netherlands): Anna Arutunyan, Why Navalny should stop protesting.
13. Meduza: ‘There are always more than enough idiots and nutjobs.’ Historical reenactors talk about getting caught in the mayhem of Moscow’s June 12 anti-corruption protest.
15. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Will a vast new Russian Arctic offshore oil field impact global prices. Rosneft, Russia’s largest oil company, has discovered the first major oil field in the Eastern Arctic, and it could possibly be the largest on the shelf. The oil field has already ignited great expectations for a boom when extraction begins in four years. What changes will it bring, especially regarding global oil prices?
16. Consortiumnews.com: Robert Parry, Russia-gate Flops as Democrats’ Golden Ticket. The national Democrats saw Russia-gate and the drive to impeach President Trump as their golden ticket back to power, but so far the ticket seems to be made of fool’s gold.
17. www.realclearpolitics.com: Dem Sen. Chris Murphy: Russia Issue Is Becoming A “Distraction” That Is Hurting Democrats.
18. Valdai Discussion Club: Andrew Kuchins, NEW SANCTIONS BILL LEAVES TRUMP WITH FEWER OPTIONS ON RUSSIA.
19. Vox.com: Alex Ward, Don’t look now, but the US-Russia relationship is getting very bad. Trump wanted better ties with Russia. He isn’t getting it.
20. Sputnik: Final Reshuffle: How New State Department Nominations Alter US Foreign Policy.
21. The Nation: Stephen Cohen, Was a Cuban Missile Crisis Averted in Syria, the Trans-Atlantic Alliance Ruptured, and Intelgate Exposed? Though briefly noted by the mainstream media, we may have witnessed three essential truths about the new Cold War
22. Russia Matters: Sen. Sam Nunn: ‘We Have a Choice Between Cooperation or Catastrophe’
23. The Guardian (UK): Mary Dejevsky, As Syria’s war enters its endgame, the risk of a US-Russia conflict escalates.Competition between Washington and Moscow for a say in any pe ace deal is increasing the danger of a wider war starting by accident.
24. www.rt.com: US attack on Syrian plane in Syrian sky is act of war – Russian senator. (Aleksey Pushkov)
25. http://usforeignpolicy.blogs.lalibre.be: Gilbert Doctorow, Syria: Seedbed of WWIII. If the U.S. military continues to run amok, it is hard to see how armed conflict with Russia in Syria can be avoided.
26. Stratfor.com: In Eurasia, a New Generation Challenges Russia’s Dominance.
27. www.rt.com: Russian MoD declassifies docs on Soviet Union’s preparedness for 1941 Nazi invasion.
28. www.opendemocracy.net/Colta.ru: Maria Kuvshinova, The rise of Andrei Zvyagintsev. The recent successes of Russian film director Andrei Zvyagintsev is a reminder of how artists are pigeon-holed into national frames – and how Russian culture has become all-too parochial.
29. Awful Avalanche: International Ballet Competition in Moscow – Warning Signs – Part I.
30. Atlantic Council: Experts Urge Congress and Trump to Arm Ukraine.
31. Washington Post editorial: The Trump administration has expanded sanctions on Russia. Here’s what it should target next.