RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2017-41 :: Monday, 27 February 2017

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2017-#41
Monday, 27 February 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. Irrussianality: Paul Robinson, INFAMOUS PUTINPHILE.
2. Russia in Global Affairs: Fyodor Lukyanov, The President of Our Dreams.
3. Consortiumnews.com: Gareth Porter, How ‘New Cold Warriors’ Cornered Trump. The U.S. intelligence community’s extraordinary campaign of leaks claiming improper ties between President Trump’s team and Russia seeks to ensure a lucrative New Cold War by blocking detente.
4. www.foreignpolicy.com: Mark Galeotti, Advice to Trump: Beware of Russian Trolls.
5. www.rt.com: ‘I’m surprised Russians not blamed for bad weather’ – former UK Ambassador to Moscow. (Tony Brenton)
6. Politco.com: Liberal group launches ‘Moscow Project’ to pressure Trump. The “Moscow Project” represents a significant outside effort to move forward on the investigations of President Donald Trump, which Democrats have been eager to pursue.
7. Arizona Daily Star: Rachel Wilson, Our democracy and Trump, as seen through Russian eyes.
8. Souciant: Rachel Wilson, Resisting Russiaphobia.
9. Russia Beyond the Headlines: What happened to Russia’s political protests? The largest opposition protest of the past 12 months, the Nemtsov March, took place in Moscow on Feb. 26. However, independent experts and even the demonstrators themselves say Russia’s protest potential is on the wane.
10. Russia Direct: Igor Rozin, Slain Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov brings together Russian opposition. Two years after the murder of Russian opposition activist Boris Nemtsov, Russians took to the streets to commemorate him and remind the world that the real perpetrators are still not punished.
11. www.rt.com: March held in Moscow to commemorate Boris Nemtsov 2 years since his murder (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
13. AP: Russian Opposition Struggles 2 Years After Nemtsov Killing.
14. Russia Insider: Repeat After Us: ‘There Is No Free Speech in Russia.’ Not on the internet. Not in the schools. Not in the streets. It’s a giant country full of silenced sad people.
15. Reuters: Russian Opposition Activist Leaves Jail After Court Scrapped Conviction. (Ildar Dadin)
16. TASS: PM Medvedev stresses Russia braved crisis, decline in GDP halted.
17. TASS: Medvedev says Russia should not rely on anybody’s help.
18. www.bearmarketbrief.com: Putin Pushes Increased Spending Oversight.
19. Seeking Alpha: Oleh Kombaiev, Russia: The Economy Is Strengthening.
20. www.rt.com: Russian economy to grow 2% this year – economic development minister.
21. TASS: Gazprom reveals oil price that ‘suits everyone’
22. TASS: Ex-finance minister does not rule out income tax hike for boosting Russia’s budget revenue. (Kudrin)
23. New Statesman (UK): David Clark, Russia’s economy won’t be fixed by the removal of sanctions. It is the country’s capacity to change from within that will determine its economic prospects.
24. Russia Direct: Pavel Koshkin, Is new US National Security Advisor McMaster good or bad for Moscow? Debates: Flynn is seen as a lobbyist of Russia’s interests and an advocate of lifting the anti-Kremlin sanctions, but McMaster has an image of a pragmatic realist who has no illusions about Russia. What does it mean for the Kremlin?
25. Wall Street Journal: Michael O’Hanlon, An Alternative to NATO Expansion That Won’t Antagonize Russia. ‘Permanent neutrality’ would offer countries like Ukraine and Georgia the protection they need.
26. The Unz Review: Anatoly Karlin, Churkin’s Secret Blog.
27. New York Times: Samantha Power, My Friend, the Russian Ambassador.
28. The Independent (UK): Patrick Cockburn, With the US distracted by Trump and the UK by Brexit, they’re about to see a decline in their global power. One need only look to Yeltsin’s Russia to see how great powers fall. Both Trump and Yeltsin won power as demagogic anti-establishment leaders who won elections by promising reform. The result in Russia was calamitous national decline and the same thing could now happen in America.
29. The American Interest: Walter Russell Mead, MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE?. Trump Isn’t Sounding Like a Russian Mole. Trump’s core global strategy is intended to destroy any illusions in Moscow that Russia is a peer competitor of Washington’s.
30. TASS: Senate speaker clarifies main goal of Moscow’s Middle Eastern policy.
31. Sputnik: No Grandmaster Standoff: Russia and China ‘Pursue Same Goals’ in Central Asia. (Alexander Lukin)
32. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Power Play: Russia searches for bases in the Pacific. The Russian Pacific Fleet needs overseas military bases in order to become a true blue water force – and expand Moscow’s global influence.
33. www.rt.com: WADA admits McLaren’s ‘doping’ evidence against Russian athletes insufficient.
35. New Statesman (UK): David Reynolds, What caused the Russian revolution? Look to the powder keg of Petrograd. How unrest exploded in 1917 – with help from Russia’s Terrible Twins.
36. http://theduran.com: Alexander Mercouris, Fighting in Donbass, coal blockade, and infighting in Kiev, as Ukraine’s crisis deepens. Crisis deepens in Ukraine as far right militants seize and are then driven out of water filtration plant and mount coal blockade threatening country with energy emergency.
37. Bloomberg: Leonid Bershidsky, Why Everybody Suddenly Has a Ukraine Plan.
38. Sputnik: Despite Talk of ‘Diplomacy’, Kiev is Likely to Continue Fuelling War in Donbass.
39. The National Interest: Douglas Macgregor, The Art of the Deal: Can Trump Reach Agreement on Ukraine with Putin?
40. Washington Post: Michael O’Sullivan, ‘Bitter Harvest’: Ukrainian famine is rendered as heavy-handed melodrama.
41. Kyiv Post: Tares Kuzio, Conflict in eastern Ukraine is war of national liberation.
42. Russia in Global Affairs: Sergei Karaganov, 2016 – A Victory of Conservative Realism. Russia Won, Because It Was Resolved to Win.

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