RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents & links :: JRL 2019-#56 :: Wednesday, 3 April 2019

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2019-#56 :: Wednesday, 3 April 2019
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1. Bloomberg: Leonid Ragozin, Russia and Ukraine Fight, But Their People Seek Reconciliation, Thousands have died in five years of war, and a recent poll shows citizens in both countries are ready to move on.
2. Moscow Times: Indoor Plumbing Still a Pipe Dream for 20% of Russian Households, Reports Say.
3. Moscow Times: Andrei Kolesnikov, Elections in Ukraine and Slovakia Offer a Glimpse Into Russia’s Future. Will Russia equally fall for a political outsider? Only time will tell.
4. Dances With Bears: John Helmer, THE CAT IS OUT OF THE BAG – PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN HAS LOST CONTROL – johnhelmer.net/the-cat-is-out-of-the-bag-president-vladimir-putin-has-lost-control/#more-20639
5. Moscow Times: Russia’s Massive Infrastructure Overhaul, in 5 Examples.
6. Meduza: Navalny’s labor union demands higher pay for civil servants, in accordance with Putin’s May 2012 executive order. Here’s why that’s impossible.
7. Wall Street Journal: Channeling China, Russia Eyes Its Own Great Firewall. New law would give the Kremlin the power to shut down websites and view all online traffic.
8. Intellinews.com: Browder says Russia investors are risking their lives and clients’ money.
9. Washington Post: Daniel Drezner, China and Russia are not breaking up anytime soon. The biggest strategic misread in Washington is about the other great powers.
10. Bear Market Brief: INF Missiles.
11. The National Interest: David Cooper, Could a U.S.-Russian Deployment Ban Avoid a Nuclear Arms Race in Europe? Having pulled the plug on the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty, President Donald Trump now faces two fraught choices.
12. Valdai Discussion Club: Timofei Bordachev, Russia and Europe: A Problem of Strategic Intentions. – valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/russia-and-europe-problem-of-strategic-intentions/
13. www.rt.com: Russia an ‘existential threat’ to US, top Army general tells Congress.
14. Valdai Discussion Club: Igor Istomin, Déjà Vu All Over Again? NATO Rediscovers Its Roots. The ambivalence of the NATO position is actually increasing compared to during the 2000s, when the organisation focused on the military operation in Afghanistan. The alliance has turned out to be a military bloc, but lacks proper military tasks. – valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/deja-vu-all-over-again-nato/
15. Sputnik: US Ex-War Planner Reveals Why NATO Broke Promise to Gorbachev Not to Expand East.
16. TASS: Kommersant: Netanyahu to seek success with Putin in talks on Syria.
17. Interfax: Saakashvili’s words that he negotiated deployment of Russian bases in Georgia need to be investigated – Burjanadze.
18. TASS: Kiev bans all direct flights to Russia.
19. TASS: Ukrainian elections: Zelensky scores 30.23%, Poroshenko – 15.95% with 99.88% votes counted.
20. Washington Post: Henry Olsen, Old fissures reemerge in Ukraine. That’s a big problem.
21. Irrationality: Paul Robinson, ABUSING HUMAN RIGHTS. (re Ukraine)
22. TASS: Opposition branch calls on supporters to disavow both Poroshenko and Zelensky.
23. Vedomosti: Editorial criticises Russian media mockery of Ukrainian election.
24. Interfax: Lavrov neutral about Ukrainian elections.
25. Moscow Times: Michele Berdy, Let’s Talk About Ukraine.
26. Russia Beyond: Non-political relations of Vladimir Putin and Eastern leaders. – rbth.com/lifestyle/330184-putin-and-asian-leaders
27. Intellinews.com: Karena Avedissian, Armenia is a Russian ally and EEU member, so how did it pull off a democratic revolution?
28. Reuters: U.S. Senators Want Stiff Sanctions to Deter Russia Election Meddling.
29. AP: Trump Urges Even More Defense Spending by NATO Allies.
30. Rolling Stone: Matt Taibbi, On Russiagate and Our Refusal to Face Why Trump Won. Faulty coverage of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign later made foreign espionage a more plausible explanation for his ascent to power. (excerpt)
31. New York: Jonathan Chait, I Wrote an Article Suggesting Trump Was Compromised by Russia. I Was Right. (excerpt)
32. Alternet.org: Journalists Matt Taibbi and Aaron Maté explain how the Russiagate narrative helped Trump. (excerpt)
33. www.rt.com: Bryan MacDonald, Reality check: CNN’s claim that Trump has been unwilling to confront Putin is total bulls**t. – rt.com/op-ed/455398-cnn-trump-putin-russia/
34. Medium.com: Kevin Gosztola, It’s Time To Reckon With Clinton Democrats Who Pushed Russiagate.