RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-44 :: Thursday, 8 March 2018

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#44
Thursday, 8 March 2018
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. SRAS (The School of Russian and Eurasian Studies): Josh Wilson, The State of Study Abroad in Russia and Ukraine. An update on safety concerns and educational opportunities.
2. Valdai Discussion Club: Timofei Bordachev, PEACE THROUGH BALANCE OF POWER: STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF NEW RUSSIAN WEAPONS. Vladimir Putin’s presidential address on foreign and defense policy met both the reality of modern international life and the requirements that this reality sets to states. And if some of its points may have seemed frightening to susceptible observers, they are as frightening as the world we live in.
3. The National Interest: George Beebe, Why We Need to Pay Attention to Russia’s Elections. The election will help Russia’s elites gauge how much power Putin really has.
4. Intellinews.com: Russian President Vladimir Putin’s popularity in large cities tumbled by 12 points in February.
5. Bear Market Brief: We’ve hit the homestretch.
6. www.rt.com: Bryan MacDonald, Your guide to the 2018 Russian presidential election candidates: 2. Vladimir Putin (Independent)
7. Viable Opposition: Vladimir Putin’s Popularity – Is it Real? (excerpt) [Full text with charts: https://viableopposition.blogspot.ca/2018/03/vladimir-putins-popularity-is-it-real.html]
8. Daily Beast: Amy Knight, Vladimir Putin’s Re-Election Strategy: Nukes and Assassins. Emboldened by Trump’s weak response, Putin and his cronies are saying: ‘You know we did it, and you know and we know you’re not going to do anything about it.’
9. Bloomberg: Putin Won’t Lose the Election, But He’s Losing Russians. With incomes stagnant and growth tepid, Moscow plans to spend trillions of rubles to boost the economy.
10. AP: Putin praises Trump, says U.S. political system eating itself.
11. www.rt.com: US ‘rudely and insolently cheated Russia’ during Ukraine coup – Putin. [Interview film: https://vk.com/vrsolovievtv?w=wall369668349_14007]
12. www.rt.com: Key to Russia’s greatness is strong economy & innovation – Putin.
13. Eurasianet.org: David Szakonyi, What Another Six Years of Putin Spells for Russia’s Economy. No level of debt-fueled spending can overcome the stagnation caused by the state’s continued domination of the economy.
14. NYU Jordan Center: Event Recap. Post-Soviet Political Theater. (with Jessica Pisano)
15. Intellinews.com: Ben Aris, INTERVIEW: Making Russia’s stock market predictable. (Max Lapin, the CFO of Moscow Exchange)
16. Inc.com: Like It or Not, Startups Are Soaring in Russia. Here’s Why. Even as the nation negotiates its fraught relationship with the U.S. government, more Russian startups are prospering than ever. [Text with links https://www.inc.com/zoe-henry/inc-5000-europe-moscow-startup-ecosystem.html]
17. Dances With Bears: John Helmer, WHEN YOU ARE THE SON OF GOD, NEPOTISM DOESN’T APPLY – HOW GERMAN GREF USES SBERBANK TO ENRICH HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN. http://johnhelmer.net/when-you-are-the-son-of-god-nepotism-doesnt-apply-how-german-gref-uses-sberbank-to-enrich-his-wife-and-children/#more-18803
18. Russia Beyond: Iskender Mokenov, Cultural differences in business: Russia vs. the U.S.
19. Kremlin.ru: ASI Supervisory Board meeting.
20. AP: Russian lawmaker accused of sex harassment apologizes.
21. Meduza editorial: Leonid Slutsky must resign from the State Duma. https://meduza.io/en/feature/2018/03/07/leonid-slutsky-must-resign-from-the-state-duma
22. Bear Market Brief: Women report discrimination at workplaces.
23. Russiafeed.com: Paul Goncharoff, The numbers are in – Russian women FAR outpace western counterparts in workplace achievements. Western-style feminism is largely absent from Russia, yet it has around double the female scientists and business executives.
24. Vesti.ru: Is Russia Ready for Internet Isolation? Alternative Network in the Works in Case of Western Shutdown. [TV news https://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=2993743&cid=4441]
25. Valdai Discussion Club: Konstantin Truevtsev, THE WEST AND HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IN EASTERN GHOUTA: CARE OR FALSEHOOD?
26. Russian International Affairs Council: Georgy Toloraya, Korea after the Olympics: Temporary Truce or Permanent Peace?
27. www.rt.com: ‘Why would we want a world without Russia?’ Putin on Moscow’s nuclear doctrine. [Interview film: https://vk.com/vrsolovievtv?w=wall369668349_14007]
28. The Nation: Stephen Cohen, How Washington Provoked-and Perhaps Lost-a New Nuclear-Arms Race. Putin declares that the long US attempt to gain nuclear superiority over Russia has failed and hopes Washington will “listen now.”
29. The Unz Review: Anatoly Karlin, Putin’s Wunderwaffe. [Text with links http://www.unz.com/akarlin/putins-wunderwaffe/]
30. AP: US envoy hopeful Russia will seek peace in eastern Ukraine.
31. Kyiv Post editorial: Poroshenko is afraid.
32. www.opendemocracy.net: Brian Milakovsky, What does the flight of a controversial news editor tell us about press freedom in Ukraine? After the editor-in-chief of a controversial (and anonymously funded) website flees for Vienna, there’s questions to answer – both for Ukraine’s authorities and the editor.
33. The Daily Mail (UK): Russian cyber attacks ‘could cripple UK’: Intelligence chief warns Kremlin agents have the capacity to shut down power supplies, hijack air traffic control and even disable air conditioning.
34. The Mirror (UK): Spy chiefs ‘suspect Russia targeted ex-double agent with poison so rare military scientists still don’t know what it is’ 
35. The Mirror (UK): ‘He was involved in something’: McMafia writer ‘doesn’t buy’ story spy Sergei Skripal was poisoned in Russian revenge hit. Misha Glenny wrote the book the BBC drama McMafia says it would be a “big deal” for Russia to try to kill a ex spy in the UK and suggests an ‘economic actor on the dark side’ might be involved. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/he-involved-something-mcmafia-writer-12141220
36. The Independent (UK): Mary Dejevsky, Sergei Skripal is not Litvinenko – and this is what that really means.
37. Washington Post editorial: Trump finally says he’ll protect elections. We’ll believe it when we see it. The administration is sitting on its hands instead of countering Russian propaganda.
38. Moon of Alabama: No, Russians Do Not Hack The FCC’s Public Comments. http://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/03/no-russians-did-not-hack-the-fcc-comments.html#more
39. Politico.com: Howard Axelrod, We’re All Russian Bots Now. Americans don’t need help from Moscow to tear each other apart on social media.
40. Sic Semper Tyrannis: The Intel Community Lie About Russian Meddling. http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2018/03/the-intel-community-lie-about-russian-meddling-by-publius-tacitus.html#more