RUSSIA & UKRAINE: JRL 2014-#248 table of contents with links :: Tuesday 2 December 2014

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Johnson’s Russia List
JRL 2014-#248 :: Tuesday 2 December 2014
E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net
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Ukraine

1. www.foreignpolicy.com: Samuel Charap, Why Ukraine Must Bargain for Peace With Russia. The “let’s make a deal” moment has arrived for Kiev and Moscow. But by pushing a hard-line agenda against Putin, the United States and Europe are only making things worse for Ukraine.
2. Forbes.com: Doug Bandow, The Battle For Ukraine: U.S. And Russia Must Find An Exit If Not Stage A Reset.
3. The National Interest: James Carden, Beware of the New Cold War Consensus. “That the United States is now engaged in a fresh Cold War should not really be in doubt.”
4. Reuters: Ukraine agrees ceasefire ‘in principle’ with Luhansk rebels.
5. TASS: Luhansk Republic leader confirms agreement with Kiev to observe ceasefire.
6. TASS: Withdrawal of military hardware in Donetsk region may begin next week – DPR official.
7. Reuters: Ukraine president stands by foreign and defense chiefs.
8. Reuters: Foreign technocrats given Ukrainian citizenship before cabinet vote.
9. Reuters: Russia’s South Stream pipeline falls victim to Ukraine crisis, energy rout.
10. Wall Street Journal: EU to Seek South Stream Pipeline Solution With Russia. Gas Pipeline to Proceed Despite Moscow’s Decision to Abandon the Project.
11. TASS: Termination of South Stream pipeline project to hit Europe really hard.
12. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Pat Davis Szymcza, The US, Ukraine and shale. If relations between Russia and the EU break down over Ukraine, the US will be ready to step in to provide it with energy.
13. Paul Goble: Window on Eurasia: Ukrainians Cannot Count on Sanctions or Falling Oil Prices to Stop Putin, Illarionov Says.
14. Moscow Times: Jeff Schubert, China Benefits From Ukraine Turmoil.
15. Russia Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Remarks by Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the OSCE Andrei Kelin at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council on the situation in Ukraine and violation by its central authorities of the Minsk agreements, Vienna, 27 November 2014.
16. Counterpunch.org: Michael Brenner, Washington Post-Cold War Containment Strategy. Obama, Putin and Ukraine.

Russia

17. Moscow Times: Alcohol Kills 500,000 Russians Annually.
18. Sputnik: Russia Revises Forecasts for Main Economic Parameters Downward.
19. Reuters: Russia expects recession in 2015 as sanctions, oil prices bite.
20. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Western sanctions could cost Russia up to $170 billion, say analysts. Russia’s overall losses due to Western sanctions over Ukraine amount to $40 billion, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has said. A further $90-100 billion will be lost because of the 30-percent drop in oil prices. According to Russian experts, rising inflation and a falling ruble could be considered to be indirect consequences of the sanctions too.
21. Sputnik: Khodorkovsky to European Parliament: Anti-Russian Sanctions ‘Huge Mistake’
22. The Guardian (UK): Larry Elliott, Why the collapse in the Russian rouble matters to the global economy. The Russian central bank is right to intervene to stop the toxic currency falling further.
23. Carnegie Moscow Center: Yuval Weber, OPEC Cuts Into Russian Coffers, But Will Expensive Grand Strategy Live On?
24. Financial Times: Timothy Ash, Can Russia Ride Out Cheap Oil and the Falling Rouble.
25. Russia Beyond the Headlines: ‘Propaganda cannot be considered effective.’ Media and Theory of Communications in the Journalism Department of Moscow State University, spoke to RBTH about the current state of the Russian media.
26. New York Times: Once Celebrated in Russia, Programmer Pavel Durov Chooses Exile.
27. Interfax: U.S. Department of Agriculture raises Russian grain harvest forecast to 102 mln tonnes.
28. www.opendemocracy.net: Georgy Borodyansky, The battle for the Siberian harvest. President Putin’s special envoy to the Urals, recently praised the region’s farmers for their heroic efforts to save the harvest. But it won’t save them.
29. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Press Digest: Pro-Russian party ousted from Moldovan parliamentary election.
30. RFE/RL: Crash Course: The Ruble’s Volatile Two Decades.
31. Wall Street Journal editorial: The Ruble of Discontent. Russia’s falling currency could create political trouble for Vladimir Putin.
32. Moscow Times: Vladimir Ryzhkov, Putin Must Change Direction or Face a Coup.
33. Washington Post: Karoun Demirjian, Russian youths find politics as their pop icons face pressure.
34. Russia Direct: Volkan Özdemir, Moscow gets ready to woo Ankara with gas. With Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Turkey, Moscow and Ankara are expected to discuss future bilateral relations and common economic interests. Will they be able to team up politically?
35. www.rt.com: ‘Turkey and Russia split politics from economics.’ (interview with Martin McCauley)
36. Interfax: Former Russian CGS says war with NATO possible.
37. The National Interest: Nikolas Gvosdev, Russia’s Massive Military Modernization Might Be in Big Trouble. “Too much spending, too little effect” could end up being the epitaph for Russia’s military modernization program if it is not careful.
38. Valdai Discussion Club/Gazeta.ru: Fyodor Lukyanov, Where the Mistral Blows.
39. Carnegie Moscow Center: Pavel Sharikov, Russian-American Confrontation in the Age of the Internet.
40. The Economist: Moldova’s elections. Moldovans choose Europe, barely. An ambiguous election in a tiny country stuck between Russia and the EU.
41. Washington Post editorial: Moldova says no to Mr. Putin. Will he listen?
42. Russia Insider: Dmitry Babich, US Press Now Hysterical about…Moldova?
43. http://reconsideringrussia.org: Pietro A. Shakarian, The Russo-Abkhaz Treaty and Russo-Georgian Relations.
44. Moscow Times: Historian on Spies and ‘Sosedki’ in Soviet 1960s. (re Sheila Fitzpatrick)
45. New York Times: What Makes the Russian Literature of the 19th Century So Distinctive? Francine Prose and Benjamin Moser discuss the great Russian writers and their approach to the human heart and soul.
46. John Helmer: Reply to Edward Lucas.