RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2018-98 :: Thursday, 31 May 2018

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2018-#98 :: Thursday, 31 May 2018
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1. New York Times editorial: Whatever It Was, We Didn’t Do It.
2. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, As world watches ‘murdered’ reporter case, Ukraine media crackdown grinds on In the West, Ukraine usually draws attention for its conflict with Russia, or most recently, the “murder” of Arkadiy Babchenko. But it has also been quietly cracking down on media, both foreign and domestic.
3. Atlantic Council: Q&A: “Dead” Russian Journalist Arkady Babchenko Is Alive and Well. Does Faking His Murder Help or Hinder Ukraine’s Credibility?
4. Moon of Alabama: Propaganda Killing Kills Propaganda – First The Skripals, Now Arkady Babchenko Come Back From The Dead. (excerpt) [Full text: moonofalabama.org/2018/05/propaganda-killing-kills-propaganda-first-the-skripals-now-arkady-babchenko-come-back-from-the-dead.html#more]
5. Antiwar.com: Justin Raimondo, The Babchenko Deception: Kiev’s Masters of Deceit. Ukraine faked a Russian “dissident” death – just because they could.
6. www.rt.com: Bryan MacDonald, Death and Resurrection in Kiev: You couldn’t make this sh*t up, but Ukraine did.
7. Interfax: Zakharova tells West to wake up from ‘sweet dreams’ about Ukrainian democracy.
8. Foreign Affairs: Andrei Soldatov, Putin’s Secret Services. How the Kremlin Corralled the FSB. (excerpt)
9. Bear Market Brief: Presidential Administration reshuffled ahead of Putin’s new term.
10. Interfax: Moscow City Court upholds Navalny spokesman Yarmysh’s sentence.
11. Intellinews.com: Chris Weafer, Going Cold Turkey, Russia wants an end to OPEC production cuts.
12. Reuters: World Cup to Have Little Impact on Russia’s Economy: Moody’s.
13. Asia Times: M.K.Bhadrakumar, Russia’s World Cup blues are only to be expected. While the US may only be a bystander at one of the world’s biggest sporting events, it will not sit on the sidelines if a number of other issues arise.
14. The Daily Telegraph (UK): Alec Luhn, British fans could face whips when Vladimir Putin’s ‘storm troopers of the tsar’ patrol the World Cup.
15. TASS: Kommersant: State Duma puts off criminalizing compliance with anti-Russia sanctions.
16. TASS: Arctic seas are the planet’s cleanest, say Russian scientists.
17. Russia Matters: Morena Skalamera, Transformed Gas Markets Fuel US-Russian Rivalry, But Europe Plays Key Role Too. (excerpt)
18. The Independent (UK): Robert Fisk, In the Middle East, Putin has a lot to thank Trump for right now. Once it was the State Department which called for ‘restraint on all sides’ – usually when the Israelis were invading or bombing Lebanon or Gaza – but now it’s the Kremlin which calls for ‘restraint’ between Israel and Iran. Putin is fast becoming a friend to all.
19. www.rt.com: Russia ready to extend world’s longest railway from Siberia through Korean peninsula.
20. Reuters: Lavrov invites Kim to Russia as Moscow makes Pyongyang play.
21. Valdai Discussion Club: Evgeny Korendyasov, RUSSIA – AFRICA: MILITARY PARTNERSHIP.
22. The Guardian (UK): Marc Bennetts, Kaliningrad: the Russian enclave with a taste for Europe. It’s a European-leaning city cut off from Russia – but are recent moves to focus on Kaliningrad’s Prussian past a step too far for the Kremlin?
23. Transitions Online: Maxim Stratan, The Hand That Feeds. Despite a flow of funds from the EU, Gagauzia’s citizens still pine for Russia.
24. Reuters: Ahead of Elections, a Risky Battle for Ukraine’s Soul.
25. www.rt.com: Funding NGOs & stirring dissent: Russian special commission exposes election meddling by US.
26. The Nation: Stephen Cohen, Debasing US Policy Discourse About Russia. Is Putin really a “pariah” and Russia “isolated from the international community”?
27. Consortiumnews.com: Daniel Lazare, Spooks Spooking Themselves. As the role of a well-connected of group of British and U.S. intelligence agents begins to emerge, new suspicions are growing about what hand they may have had in weaving the Russia-gate story. [Text with links: consortiumnews.com/2018/05/31/spooks-spooking-themselves/]
28. Vox.com: Sean Illing, Former top spy James Clapper explains how Russia swung the election to Trump. “It stretches credulity to conclude that Russian activity didn’t swing voter decisions.”