RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2017-24 :: Wednesday, 1 February 2017

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2017-#24
Wednesday, 1 February 2017
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1. Interfax: Attacks cut water supply to Donetsk.
2. Russia Insider: Mark Nicholas, Kiev Has Restarted the War in East Ukraine With “Creeping Offensive” Tactics. Kiev is clearly behind the recent escalation, but why now? It has everything to do with Trump.
3. www.rt.com: Kiev admits advancing on rebels in east Ukrainian town ‘meter by meter’
4. Awful Avalanche: Ukrainian Army Repulsed At Avdeevka – 78 Killed, 76 Wounded.
5. Russia Beyond the Headlines: A sudden burst of fighting in Donbass leaves dozens dead. Devastating shelling, dozens dead and an emergency meeting in Austria – the conflict in eastern Ukraine has flared up again as experts try to understand why.
7. Washington Post editorial: Trump is sworn in, rockets fall on Ukraine. Moscow once again steps up aggression in what may be a test for the new president.
8. Russia Insider: Hard-Hitting Russian Analyst: US-Russia Détente Won’t Happen, Trump Will Try to Break Sino-Russian Ties (video). [DJ: Must see. Fyodor Lukyanov, the top expert on Russia-US relations in my view.)
9. http://jackmatlock.com: Jack Matlock, What Vladimir Putin Could Explain to Donald Trump.
10. The National Interest: Andranik Migranyan, What Russia Expects from the Trump Administration. A new Congress of Vienna could strengthen U.S. leadership by sharing responsibility for global order.
11. Russia Direct: Russia reacts to Trump’s first days in the Oval Office. Russian media roundup: The first week of Donald Trump’s presidency attracted a great deal of attention from the Russian media, as journalists tried to understand the implications of Trump’s moves for Russia and the world.
12. The National Interest: Nikolas Gvosdev, Why Russia Might Not Want a Deal with Trump. The Russian political system is more than just Putin.
13. Reuters: Andrew Osborn, The Art of the Deal: Why Putin Needs One More Than Trump.
15. Gazeta.ru: Russian business readies investment proposals for USA – expert.
16. Reuters: Russian economy may have recovered at year end.
17. Moscow Times: How Can Russia Reverse its Negative Demographic Trend?
18. Paul Goble: Moscow Counting on Russians Passively Accepting Raising Pension Age beyond Male Life Expectancy.
19. Moscow Times: Russian Government Starts Free Land Giveaway in Country’s Far East.
20. Stratfor.com: Payback Time for Russia’s Federal Government. Facing mounting debt and growing financial obligations, some of the country’s cash-strapped regions are pushing back against the Kremlin’s economic policies.
21. Wall Street Journal: Russia Deploys Chechens to Win Hearts and Minds in Aleppo. Moscow sends forces from Muslim region to Syrian city; ‘defending the civilian population.’
22. Intellinews.com: Russia makes big play for Iranian trade.
23. Sputnik: CIA Plays No Part in Russia’s FSB Information Security Center Detentions.
24. http://theduran.com: Alexander Mercouris, Russian media reports cyber spies charged with working for CIA. Reports circulate in Moscow that detained cyber spies are being charged with passing on information to the CIA, strengthening suspicions that Moscow arrests are connected to the Clinton leaks scandal.
25. www.rt.com: Moscow charges ex-FSB & Kaspersky staff with treason ‘in interests of US’ – lawyer.
26. Novaya Gazeta: Arrested FSB officer’s alleged links to USA viewed.
27. Consortiumnews.com: Robert Parry, Dangers of Democratic Putin-Bashing. As national Democratic leaders continue to blame Russian President Putin for their 2016 defeat, they’re leading their party into a realignment with the neocons and other war hawks.
28. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Why is the Russian language so difficult? RBTH is pleased to present “Why Russia,” a series of articles based on the most widely searched for topics relating to the country. Today’s topic is the Russian language, which is beautiful but also very difficult to learn.
29. Paul Goble: ‘Extreme Individualism’ of Russians Makes Cooperation with Others, Even the State, Problematic, Sociologist Says.
30. The Unz Review: Anatoly Karlin, Nutria & Witte.
31. Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Top security official gives wide-ranging interview. (Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev)
32. Russia Reviewed: A moment of idealism. “The time may yet come when Russia will be studied not as a threat, but as a country with all the complexity of its problems, aspirations, failures, and accomplishments.”