RUSSIA & UKRAINE: JRL 2014-#226 table of contents with links :: Friday 31 October 2014

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Johnson’s Russia List
JRL 2014-#226 :: Friday 31 October 2014
E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net
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Ukraine

1. Interfax-Ukraine: Pyatt: US to train Ukrainian military and supply high technology to Ukraine.
1a. Interfax-Ukraine: Obama may decide to supply arms to Ukraine without senate approval.
2. Business New Europe: New Lugansk governor says 80-95% of region pro-Russian.
3. Reuters: East Ukraine separatists hold vote to gain legitimacy, promise normalcy.
4. Euromaidan Press: In Russia, a large-scale recall of soldiers from leave has begun, while in Donbas the terrorists are fortifying their artillery systems.
5. The XX Committee: John Schindler, Poland Prepares for Russian Invasion.
6. Reuters: Gazprom to resume gas supply after Ukraine pays $2.2 billion.
7. www.rt.com: Stockholm arbitration to decide on settlement of Ukraine’s gas debt – Gazprom head.
8. Business New Europe: Russia, Ukraine and EU sign gas deal.
9. Bloomberg: Ukraine President Tells Party to Back Yatsenyuk for PM.
10. Patrick Armstrong: RUSSIAN FEDERATION SITREP.
11. Business New Europe: Ben Aris, CONFERENCE CALL: In Ukraine hope springs eternal.
12. Wall Street Journal: Ukraine’s Economy Shrinks Despite Military Spending
13. www.rt.com: ‘Europe to pay for the whole mess in Ukraine.’ (interview with Michael Hudson)
14. The Nation: Nicolai Petro, Is Ukraine Slipping Into Illiberal Democracy? The terms “pro-European” and “anti-European” no longer serve as useful reference points in Ukrainian politics-the real issue in this election was war or peace.
15. The Economist: Ukraine’s election. Good voters, not such good guys. The poll results were promising, but the future for Ukraine is dauntingly difficult.
16. Russia Insider: Alexander Mercouris, Western Media Get Ukraine Elections Wrong. There’s Big Trouble Ahead.
17. Kyiv Post: Friends For Now: Can Poroshenko, Yatsenyuk work together?
18. Kyiv Post: Residents in buffer zone of Donbas feel abandoned.
19. Transitions Online: Tatiana Kozak, Promises, Promises. A majority in Ukraine’s new parliament has signed on to reforms, but activists are holding their breath.
20. Pando.com: Mark Ames, Omidyar-funded candidate takes seat in new Ukraine parliament.
21. Russia Insider: Where the rebels find their weaponry. Often, right under their feet.
22. Novaya Gazeta: Aleksandr Lebedev, Crimea. Russia. Ukraine. Europe – on the need for a new Yalta conference.

Russia

23. TASS: Russia not to drift into confrontation forced on it by international community – Putin.
24. Levada.ru: Russians happy with foreign policy, less so about economy, corruption – poll.
25. Politkom.ru: Svetlana Samoylova, Putin’s Rating: A Correction or a Long-term Fall?
26. RIA Novosti: Russian pundits link Putin’s high ratings to Valdai speech, external pressure.
27. Bloomberg: Putin’s Colossus Will Crumble, Kremlin Foe Navalny Says.
28. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Victims of Stalinist repressions remembered at Moscow ceremony.
29. Moscow Times: Russians Burdened by Less Debt Compared With U.S.
30. Russia Beyond the Headlines: The spread of Ebola: Fears and reality. What is the likelihood that these factors could come into play in Europe and Russia? To answer that question, it is necessary to take a closer look at the conditions that caused Ebola to take hold in West Africa and how these conditions compare to those in Russia and Europe.
31. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Preventing nuclear threats trumps political fray. Russia and U.S. reaffirm nuclear security as priority over politics.
32. TASS: Russia focuses efforts on expanding presence in Arctic.
33. www.rt.com: We will never play by US rules – State Duma chief.
34. http://readrussia.com: Mark Galeotti, Is This a War of Values? I Hope Not.
35. Vedomosti: Kirill Kharatyan, Vladimir Putin Between Sochi and Valday. How To Understand Russian President’s Speech.
36. Valdai Discussion Club/Lenta.ru: Andrei Sushentsov, Valdai Signals. The main result of the Valdai Club meetings was the documentation of the gap between the West’s exaggerated self-perception and the actual situation in the world.
37. The Economist: Russia and the West. Hard talk. What lies behind Vladimir Putin’s latest anti-American rant.
38. Institute of Modern Russia: Donald Jensen, A Cold Peace?
39. New York Times: Serge Schmemann, Blaming the West for Things Gone Wrong, Mr. Putin Sings an Old Tune.
40. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, Russia’s flights over Europe: How much bark, how much bite? NATO says it has seen an ‘unusual level of air activity over European airspace,’ involving 19 Russian bombers and fighters on Wednesday alone. But the flights are more message than menace, experts say.
41. New York Times: New Russian Boldness Revives a Cold War Tradition: Testing the Other Side.
42. Foreign Affairs: Joshua R. Itzkowitz Shifrinson, Put It in Writing. How the West Broke Its Promise to Moscow.
43. www.opendemocracy.net: Sergei Markedonov, What does Russia really want with Abkhazia? Will the new treaty being discussed between Abkhazia and Russia provide a blueprint for cooperation or something more like annexation?