RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents & links :: JRL 2019-#201 :: Friday, 13 December 2019

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2019-#201 :: Friday, 13 December 2019
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1. TASS: Putin says outgoing year was quite strenuous for him.
2. Moscow Times: Russia’s Natural Population Decline to Hit 11-Year Record in 2019.
3. Russia Matters: Ben Aris, Russia’s Stock Market Rallies But Still Not a Source of Long-Term Capital.
4. Oilprice.com: Russia’s Economy Is Signaling An Oil Price Rally.
5. Russia Insider/Vesti.ru: Russia Is Income Tax Paradise – Self-Employed Pay Flat 4%, Others, Flat 10% (Russian TV News)
6. TASS: Izvestia: Russian twenty-somethings tend to save for a rainy day.
7. Carnegie Moscow Center: Olga Ramanova, Moscow Protest Cases Show Public Opinion Can No Longer Be Ignored. Something has obviously changed in the legal system, and that something is the logic of repression. Despite all the skepticism, it seems that public opinion does play a role in the degree of repression in each particular case.
8. Moscow Times: Yegor Zhukov Wants to Be Russia’s President One Day. The figurehead of the crackdown on Moscow’s summer protests says he’s just getting started.
9. Awful Avalanche: Who is Egor Zhukov? – Part IV.
10. NYU Jordan Center: Alexander Herbert, What About Tomorrow? An Oral History of Russian Punk from the Soviet Era to Pussy Riot.
11. Vesti.ru: Minister of Finance Siluanov: US Senate to Punish Russia For Fighting ISIS in Syria With Sanctions.
12. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, ‘I am with WADA on this one.’ Russian athletes blame state for doping ban. From the outside, Russia seems to have only one response to the latest doping bans: defiance. But now it is hosting a broad debate – including key athletes who blame the government for not doing more.
13. Financial Times: Climate change raises the geopolitical temperature. Great Power rivalry and unwieldy institutions exacerbate conflict over resources.
14. The Hill: MICHAEL O’HANLON AND ADAM TWARDOWSKI, An alliance between Russia and China is the next military threat.
15. Alaska Public Media (PBS): Russia’s military dominance over Arctic grows while US treads water, security experts tell Senate panel.
16. TASS: US to bolster dialogue with Russia after new envoy’s arrival in Moscow, embassy says.
17. New York Times: Senate Confirms John Sullivan as U.S. Ambassador to Russia. Mr. Sullivan, a close ally of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who had been serving as deputy secretary of state, was confirmed by a vote of 70 to 22.
18. Washington Times: Edward Lozandky, How to build trust between U.S. and Russia. A proposal to Putin, Trump and Ukraine’s Zelensky.
19. TASS: Senator expects anti-Russian rhetoric will subside after UK election
20. In Moscow’s Shadows: Mark Galeotti, What does Boris Johnson’s win mean for…Russia?
21. Bloomberg: Leonid Bershidsky, U.S. Sanctions a Russian Pipeline Too Late to Stop It. The move against Nord Stream 2 will help Ukraine in gas talks with Moscow, while irritating Germany.
22. Infobrics.org: Washington’s Proposed New Sanctions Against Turkey also Aimed Against Russia.
23. The Economist: Vladimir v Volodymyr. An awful week for Vladimir Putin. Russia’s autocrat fails to mend ties with Europe or isolate Ukraine.
24. Intellinews.com: Ukraine to propose amendments to the Minsk Accords.
25. The Guardian: Olga Oliker, Could peace in eastern Ukraine finally be at hand?
26. Valdai Discussion Club: Hans-Joachim Spanger, The Normandy Format and the Story of the Hamster Wheel.
27. Wall Street Journal: Kimberly Strassel, The FBI’s Fusion Fiasco. Christopher Steele has little credibility left after the inspector general’s report.
28. New York Times: Charlie Savage, We Just Got a Rare Look at National Security Surveillance. It Was Ugly. A high-profile inspector general report has served as fodder for arguments about President Trump. But its findings about surveillance are important beyond partisan politics.
29. The Intercept: Glenn Greenwald, The Inspector General’s Report on 2016 FBI Spying Reveals a Scandal of Historic Magnitude: Not Only for the FBI but Also the U.S. Media. (excerpt)