RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2017-159 :: Wednesday, 16 August 2017

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2017-#159
Wednesday, 16 August 2017
A project sponsored through the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs
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1. TASS: More than one-third of Russians claim they do not drink alcohol – poll.
2. New York Times: Penn Bullock, When Russia Owned Part of America.
3. www.rt.com: Putin: Masterminds of ‘death groups’ are no different from murderers.
4. Moscow Times: Russian Translator Censors Putin Questions at Game of Thrones Q&A.
5. RIA Novosti: Putin announces cuts to defence spending in 2018.
6. Kremlin.ru: Meeting on developing Northwest Russia’s transportation infrastructure.
7. Intellinews.com: Ben Aris, Propensity to protest spikes as Russians worry over wages and family.
8. Project Syndicate: Robert Skidelsky, A Trip Through Putin Country.
9. Vedomosti: Regional laws get tougher before polls – Russian think tank. (Kudrin)
11. Russiafeed.com: Russian Presidential candidate Vladimir Zhirinovsky releases election platform.
12. Paul Goble: Only an Anti-War Movement Can Shatter the Putin Regime, Yakovenko Says.
13. Intersection: Vladimir Gelman, The plight of Russia’s technocrats. Why technocratic reforms fail in contemporary Russia.
14. Wall Street Journal: Russian Ex-Minister Accuses Rosneft Chief of Entrapment. Alexey Ulyukayev is accused of taking a $2 million bribe to approve recent deal.
15. www.rt.com: Ex-Economy Minister Ulyukayev calls bribery case ‘set-up,’ trial adjourned till September.
16. Russiafeed.com: Alexander Mercouris, CONFIRMED: Russia’s economy markedly accelerated April to June. Faster growth in output against a background of rapidly falling inflation and higher saving.
17. Intellinews.com: Nearly two-thirds of Russians choose ruble as their preferred savings currency.
18. Sputnik: Major ‘De-Dollarization’ Trend Seen in Russian Economy, Minister Says.
19. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Why do foreign companies still invest in Russia? The economic crisis and sanctions have not made life easier for international corporations working in Russia. But there’s still a way to reap the rewards of changing economic conditions. One potential strategy is to localize.
https://www.rbth.com/business/2017/08/16/why-do-foreign-companies-still-invest-in-russia_823324
20. Moscow Times: U.S. Religious Freedom Report Names Russia ‘Country of Concern’
21. TASS: US criticism of religious freedom in Russia groundless – analyst.
22. Pravda.ru: Vatican’s Secretary of State to come to Russia to change course of history?
23. Moscow Times: Why a Russian Rap Battle Has More Than 10 Mln YouTube Views. Is Pushkin rolling in his grave?
24. Carnegie Moscow Center: Igor Denisov, Why China Censored Material About Putin on Social Media. China’s brief ban on social media posts mentioning Putin sheds light not only on Chinese Internet regulation but also on broader elements of Xi Jinping’s political system.
25. Financial Times: US sees opportunity in closer Russia-North Korea ties. Washington frustrated with Chinese reluctance to use leverage on Pyongyang.
26. Gazeta.ru: Moscow stance on N Korea may help dialogue with US, website says.
27. Russian International Affairs Council: Igor Timofeev, In Search of Russian Meddling. (Re Washington Post)
28. Russian International Affairs Council: A Roadmap for U.S.-Russia Relations. A Report of the CSIS Russia and Eurasia Program and the Russian International Affairs Council Editors: Andrey Kortunov, Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council, RIAC member, and Olga Oliker, CSIS.
29. TASS: Russia-US cooperation in space must be pragmatic and without sanctions – senior official.
30. The National Interest: Dave Majumdar, America and Russia Will Square off over New Sanctions. There is little Russia can do economically in retaliation to the U.S. sanctions, but Moscow can act against American interests geopolitically.
31. Indian Punchline: M K Bhadrakumar, US-Russia ties poised to take incredible turn.
32. Interfax: Moscow has no info that Pyongyang acquired missile technologies from Ukrainian territory – Rogozin.
33. National Public Radio: Trump And Russia: Lots Of Talk, But Critics Say There’s No Clear Strategy.
34. The National Interest: Zalmay Khalilzad, The Path to U.S.-Russia Cooperation. For the United States, managing Russian decline requires pursuing a balance-of-power approach to minimize the risk of escalation.
35. New York Times: Ivan Krastev, Why Are American Liberals So Afraid of Russia?
36. http://theduran.com: Alexander Mercouris, More Russiagate: The New Yorker, Julian Assange and Guccifer 2.0. Massive article in New Yorker asserting Guccifer 2.0 was a Russian intelligence front and the source of the DNC and Podesta emails published by Wikileaks is riddled with unwarranted claims and assumptions and fails to convince.

More Russiagate: The New Yorker, Julian Assange and Guccifer 2.0

37. New Book: Richard Sakwa, Russia Against the Rest: The Post-Cold War Crisis of World Order.