RUSSIA & UKRAINE: JRL 2015-#19 table of contents with links :: Tuesday 3 February 2015

[David Johnson still amidst distant travels, issues intermittent]

Johnson’s Russia List
JRL 2015-#19 :: Tuesday 3 February 2015
E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net
A project of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs: www.ieres.org
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1. The Guardian (UK): Shaun Walker, Donetsk opera house: tanks on the street but the show must go on. The city’s opera house remains open despite the dangers posed by the conflict between local separatists and Ukrainian forces.
2. Reuters: Bravado, resentment and fear as Ukraine calls men to war.
3. Global Post: Dan Peleschuuk, Ukraine’s war is getting worse, and not everyone wants to fight. Whether out of fear or political frustration, some Ukrainians are dodging the draft.
4. TASS: Number of Ukrainians of conscription age seeking refuge in Russia up by 20,000 in a week.
5. TASS: Over third of draftees in southern Ukraine’s Odessa refuse to serve in army.
6. Russia Insider: Alexander Mercouris, The Ukrainian Army Is Bleeding to Death. Western weapons supplies cannot change a situation caused by poor leadership and political division
7. Kyiv Post: Ukraine throws reinforcements at Debaltseve, separatists vow to escalate war.
8. RussEurope: Jacques Sapir, News from the Donbass.
9. TASS: Far-right nationalist paramilitaries in Ukraine determined to make war, not peace.
10. www.rt.com: ‘Sustainable Ukraine demarcation line must reflect realities on the ground’
11. Moscow Times: Most Russians Think Moscow’s Ukraine Policy Is Fine Despite Sanctions.
12. www.rt.com: More Russians expect full scale war with Ukraine, poll shows.
13. Moscow Times: Georgy Bovt, Forget Minsk Protocol, Ukraine Needs New Deal.
14. Russia Beyond the Headlines: How Russians are surviving the crisis.
15. Reuters: Against the odds, Russian oil output seen near record this year.
16. TASS: Russian businesses need available credit, incentives, tax breaks, analysts say.
17. New York Times: Russia Outlines Prescription to Bolster Its Ailing Economy, but Experts Scoff.
18. Russia Direct: Experts consider whether there’s any substance behind Kremlin’s hype. Russian think tank review: In January, Russian experts discussed the further deterioration of relations between Russia and the West, as well as the results of the parliamentary elections in Greece and the Charlie Hebdo tragedy.
19. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Victory for Memorial in court ruling but survival battle is only half-won.
20. Russia Direct: Eugene Bai, The information war between the US and Russia is just getting started. Russian propaganda efforts could soon run up against greater competition from the United States, which is looking for new ways to reach Russia’s population and counter the Kremlin’s ability to control the news cycle.
21. Russia Direct: Alexei Fenenko, After Ukraine: The potential for conflict between Russia and NATO. The conflict in Ukraine has demonstrated how both Russia and NATO are using the post-Soviet space as a new geopolitical battleground to resolve issues left unsettled after the conclusion of the Cold War.
22. Christian Science Monitor: Fred Weir, Oligarchs out, ‘siloviki’ in? Why Russia’s foreign policy is hardening. Western sanctions on Russia have mostly targeted business elites close to President Vladimir Putin. But experts say the military-security establishment, or siloviki, have Putin’s ear now.
23. Business New Europe: Murdered Russian dissident Litvinenko’s deathbed interviews undermine police case.
24. Financial Times: Battle for Ukraine: How the west lost Putin.
25. The National Interest: James Carden, Bretton Woods: The Real Threat to Ukraine’s Sovereignty? Tom Friedman and George Soros believe Russia is the greatest threat to Ukraine. History suggests the IMF may be far more dangerous.
26. Ukraine Today: Yatsenyuk: Militants put explosives in children’s toys, books and boxes of sweets.
27. Politico.com: Mikheil Saakashvili, The West Must Back Ukraine. The cost of inaction is only growing.
28. Washington Post editorial: Raise the stakes for Russia to deter its aggression in Ukraine.
29. New York Post: Rich Lowry, The rape of Ukraine: America stands by.
30. Brookings Institution: Steven Pifer, Strobe Talbott, Ambassador Ivo Daalder, Michele Flournoy, Ambassador John Herbst, Jan Lodal, Admiral James Stavridis and General Charles Wald, Preserving Ukraine’s Independence, Resisting Russian Aggression: What the United States and NATO Must Do.
31. www.nato.int: Prospects for NATO-Russia relations. Keynote address by NATO Deputy Secretary General Ambassador Alexander Vershbow at the 2015 Leangkollen Conference, Oslo.
32. Reuters: U.S. taking ‘fresh look’ at weapons for Ukraine: officials.
33. Sputnik: US Training for Ukrainian Military Underway.
34. Kyiv Post: Lawmakers, experts hope that US gives Ukraine lethal weapons
35. Sputnik: US Unlikely to Supply Arms to Ukraine Over Fears of Direct Involvement.
36. AFP: U.S. military aid to Ukraine dangerous move, experts warn.
37. Russia Insider: Paul Robinson, ‘Responsibility to Protect’ Was Not Valid in Kosovo and Isn’t Valid in Ukraine. The same arguments used to justify a western ‘humanitarian intervention’ in Kosovo in 1999 could be used to support a Russian intervention in Ukraine
38. http://rocksolidpolitics.blogspot.ca: Brad Cabana, Why Russia should Invade Ukraine.
39. Reuters: Exclusive: Russia, Ukraine in indirect talks over key Black Sea air corridor – sources.