RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents & links :: JRL 2019-#171 :: Thursday, 24 October 2019

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2019-#171 :: Thursday, 24 October 2019
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1. Christian Science Monitor: Who is Putin? Even to Russians, a mystery (audio). Is Vladimir Putin really the Lex Luthor type character the U.S. makes him out to be? Our Moscow correspondent shares how Russians view their leader. (with Fred Weir)
2. Atlas Obscura: How Vodka Became a Currency in Russia. Since the 16th century, the spirit has been the country’s gold standard – atlasobscura.com/articles/vodka-currency-russia
3. The National Interest: Lyle Goldstein, Slavic Studies Becomes a Mandatory Course for All Americans. The Washington foreign-policy establishment’s ill-advised obsession with Russia and Ukraine are propelling an arms race that will cost Americans and the planet dearly.
4. The National Interest: Hunter DeRensis, The Blob Strikes Back. As William Taylor’s testimony about Ukraine creates shock waves in Washington, a self-anointed mandarin class or, if you prefer, deep state, that has largely operated unmolested until the advent of Trump now appears to believe that it can foil, or even subvert, the policies of a president it deems unfit for office, a development that should worry Democrats and Republicans alike.
5. Valdai Discussion Club: Timofei Bordachev, The Anarchy of Russia and the Anarchy of China – valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/the-anarchy-of-russia-and-the-anarchy-of-china/
6. Carnegie Moscow Center: Alexey Arbatov, A New Era of Arms Control: Myths, Realities and Options. Only the continuation of nuclear arms control can create the political and military conditions for eventual limitations of innovative weapons systems and technologies, as well as for a carefully thought through and phased shift to a multilateral format of nuclear disarmament. (excerpt)
7. Russian International Affairs Council: Andrey Kortunov, The Post-INF Treaty world: Cutting Сosts and Reducing Risks – russiancouncil.ru/en/analytics-and-comments/analytics/the-post-inf-treaty-world-cutting-sosts-and-reducing-risks/
8. TASS: Kremlin: Putin’s ‘successor’ not on the agenda, everyone engaged in hard work.
9. Interfax: Thirty-four Russians subjected to administrative liability for insulting state symbols – Prosecutor General’s Office.
10. Consortiumnews.com: Russian Pride and US Exceptionalism. Riva Enteen reports on a recent citizens’ delegation to Russia and the chance to consider the country and its recent turbulent history from the vantage point of people living there – consortiumnews.com/2019/10/23/russian-pride-and-us-exceptionalism/
11. Moscow Times: Russia Rises in World Bank’s Business Rating.
12. TASS: Russia should boost business climate to keep its spot in Doing Business ranking – minister.
13. Moscow Times: Ben Aris, Renewables Drive Accelerates as Enel Russia Sells its Largest Coal Power Station. The sale could be a turning point for Russia’s utilities sector as companies respond to environmental concerns of the government and investors.
14. Wall Street Journal: On Russia’s Vast Frontier, Lots of Free Land and Few Takers. Ambitious plan to repopulate Far East falls short of expectations in region drawing interest from Chinese investors.
15. Institute of Modern Russia: Abandoning Russia’s Imperial Pursuit. Historian Dmitry Shlapentokh reviews Boris Akunin’s recent books-a novel and a historical treatise-that reflect the writer’s thinking about Russian history and thinly-guised allusions to the present and future. Seeing no good model for the Russian state in both the national and the European tradition, Akunin ponders the question: is Russia doomed?
16. TASS: Media: Russian military police play key role in Putin-Erdogan deal.
17. www.rt.com: ‘Thanks Russia!’: Kurdish military chief welcomes Russian peacekeeping patrols.
19. Bloomberg: Leonid Bershidsky, The Putin-Erdogan Deal Poses a Challenge to the West. The Kremlin offers authoritarians a brokerage service based on cynical principles of mutual gain rather than values and allegiances.
20. TASS: Media: Kremlin sets sights on Africa.
21. Oilprice.com: Oil, Military And Nuclear Tech: Russia’s Influence In Africa.
22. The Duran: Adomas Abromaitis, Dilemma for the Baltic States: prosperity or defence. U.S. experts insist on strengthening the Baltic States defence by using all possible means: both at their own expense and by attracting other sources of financing – theduran.com/dilemma-for-the-baltic-states-prosperity-or-defence/
23. TASS: Political expert: Remarks by Kiev’s envoy confirm that Ukraine won’t abide by Minsk deal.
24. Immigrants as a Weapon: Yasha Levine, Ukraine: A Short History of Meddling. American meddling in Ukraine goes a lot deeper than Trump’s crude attempt to squeeze kompromat from the country’s new president – yasha.substack.com/p/ukraine-a-short-history-of-meddling
25. Immigrants as a Weapon: Yasha Levine, America Sponsors Far-Right Holocaust Revisionist Exhibit in Kiev, Part I. Why is a major federal agency funded by Congress helping push this bile on the Ukrainian people? – yasha.substack.com/p/america-sponsors-far-right-holocaust-000
26. TASS: Izvestia: ‘Ukrainegate’ not affecting Trump’s rating.
27. New York Times: As Putin Era Begins to Wane, Russia Unleashes a Sweeping Crackdown. A wave of arrests against journalists, opposition activists, doctors and religious believers raises a question: Is this a police state in the making or just a highly dysfunctional one?