RUSSIA & UKRAINE: JRL 2015-#6 table of contents with links :: Friday 9 January 2015

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Johnson’s Russia List
JRL 2015-#6 :: Friday 9 January 2015
E-Mail: davidjohnson@starpower.net
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Russia

1. CNBC.com: Falling ruble? Say ‘da!’ to good deals on travel to Russia.
2. The Guardian (UK): Richard Sakwa, Plunging oil prices have rocked Russia, but Putin may yet surprise us. The crisis may encourage the president to allow the economic and political rejuvenation of a system made for inertia.
3. RIA Novosti: Rostislav Ishchenko, 2015: Year of a Fundamental Turnabout.
4. Wall Street Journal: Potential Rating Downgrade Looms Large for Russia.
5. Washington Post: Brittany Holom, Russian health-care protests continue despite Putin’s popularity.
6. Yezhednevnyy Zhurnal: Anton Orekh, Review of the year. The sleep of reason produced monsters.
7. www.project-syndicate.org: Anders Aslund, Putin in Denial.
8. Russia Direct: The Russian energy sector gears up for a critical year ahead. The new RD Quarterly report, “Russian Energy Sector: Beyond Sanctions,” offers a detailed look at the current state of the Russian energy sector and includes an extensive overview of Russia’s energy ambitions in both Europe and Asia.
9. Russia Direct: Ivan Tsvetkov, How will the terror attack in Paris influence Russia’s anti-terror policy? The Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in Paris, with its brazen challenge to Western values, has the potential to shift Russian domestic and foreign policy. Will it unite the Kremlin and the West – or alienate them even further?
10. Moscow Times: New Russian Regulation Says Transgender People Unfit to Drive. (DJ: I trust you have noted the role of the World Health Organization’s classifications in this story.)
11. www.opendemocracy.net: Polina Nikolskaya, Educating Russians abroad.
12. Financial Times: Kathrin Hille, Russia: Dangers of isolation. Cracks exposed in Vladmir Putin’s dream of building a Eurasian economic powerhouse.
13. Eurasianet.org: Joshua Kucera, Kremlin Talks Up ISIS Threat To Central Asia, Russia.
14. Reuters: Leader of Latvia’s Russian-speakers fears sanctions backfiring.

Ukraine

15. Reuters: More than one million flee, Ukraine close to ‘humanitarian catastrophe’
16. German Council on Foreign Relations: The Minsk Cease-fire Agreement is Still a Viable Solution. Prime Minister Yatsenyuk’s keynote address at the DGAP stresses the importance of EU support for Ukraine.
17. Fort Russ: Yatsenyuk: “I will not allow the Russians to march across Ukraine and Germany, as they did in WWII”
18. Sputnik: Yatsenyuk Rewrites History: ‘USSR Invaded Germany’
19. The UN Refugee Agency: Displaced families in Ukraine rely on the kindness of strangers.
20. www.rt.com: Situation in Ukraine ‘nearing humanitarian catastrophe’ – Amnesty Intl.
21. Business New Europe: EU to provide €1.8bn extra funds for foundering Ukraine.
22. The Economist: Ukraine’s Economy. No Christmas presents.
23. Russia Insider: Alexander Mercouris, West Will Hang Ukraine out to Dry. West is all talk. Its financial support is too little, slow in coming and comes with strings. Russia at least is doing something concrete.
24. Sputnik: Contact Group on Ukraine Holds Video Conference Call: DPR Negotiator.
25. The Guardian: EU leaders raise hopes of Putin breakthrough over Ukraine. Foreign policy coordinator points to ‘limited but positive’ signals from Russia and raises possibility of sanctions relaxation.
26. Kyiv Post: Ukrainian wartime glossary: Ukrop, Vatnik and more.
27. New Statesman: David Patrikarakos, Meet the ordinary Ukrainians arming the country against Russian separatists.In Ukraine’s battle against Russian-backed separatists, civilians keep the army equipped.
28. Fair Observer: Gordon Hahn, Still No Way Out in Ukraine. Fear and miscalculation are stalling the peace process in Ukraine.
29. The Huffington Post: David Kearn, Two Cheers for Obama’s Ukraine Policy.
30. www.rt.com: Ukrainians name Donbass deaths ‘event of the year,’ ignore EU deal – poll.