Category: United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
NEWSLINK: “New NYT scoop on Russia raises questions about old NYT story on Russia” – Washington Post/ Erik Wemple
NEWSLINK: “How the Russia Inquiry Began: A Campaign Aide, Drinks and Talk of Political Dirt” – New York Times/ Sharon LaFraniere, Mark Mazzetti, Matt Apuzzo
NEWSLINK: “The KGB Playbook for Turning Russians Worldwide Into Agents; A KGB manual showed how valuable-and how treacherous-Russian émigrés could be. Did KGB veteran Vladimir Putin learn those lessons?” – Daily Beast/ Michael Weiss
“This is the third and last article in a series based on never-before-published training manuals for the KGB, the Soviet intelligence organization that Vladimir Putin served as an operative, and that shaped his view of the world.”
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Trump is right about the FBI” – CNN/ Paul Callan
NEWSLINK: “In surprise, Trump maintains many Obama-era Russia policies” – The Hill/ Katie Bo Williams
NEWSLINK: “The Left’s Fear Of Criticising Russia Is Cowardice; If you can blame everything on one group, you don’t have to ask questions of the other. And that really is the problem when it comes to the left and Russia” – Huffington Post (UK)/ Rabbil Sikdar
NEWSLINK: “There’s still little evidence that Russia’s 2016 social media efforts did much of anything” – Washington Post/ Philip Bump
NEWSLINK: “Kremlin trolls burned across the Internet as Washington debated options; Russian threat went uncontested by U.S. as it metastasized” – Washington Post/ Adam Entous, Ellen Nakashima, Greg Jaffe
NEWSLINK: “Russia never stopped its cyberattacks on the United States” – Washington Post/ Michael Morell, Mike Rogers
NEWSLINK: “A Christmas Encounter With the ‘Russian Soul’; The man who found my wallet demanded an ‘honorarium.’ He learned a lesson when I stood firm.” – Wall Street Journal/ David Satter
“As tension with Russia deepens, it may seem as if Americans have little in common with those living under Vladimir Putin’s dictatorship. But I have witnessed the triumph of good over evil in Russia many times, including on one striking occasion 25 years ago this month, when an expression of the ‘Russian soul’ defused a dangerous situation and gave me […]
» Read moreU.S. Policy Toward Russia Toughens, Despite Trump Talk
(Article ©2017 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – RFE/RL News Analysis: Mike Eckel – December 20, 2017 – also appeared at rferl.org/a/russia-us-trump-putin-tough-policy-despite-talk/28929575.html) Statements from the Kremlin and the White House last weekend about thwarting a purported terrorist attack in St. Petersburg seemed to suggest that the United States and Russia were entering a new era of comity and […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “Kennan Cable No. 29: U.S. Sanctions Law and Western Coordination on Russia Policy” – Kennan Institute/ Dominik Tolksdorf
“The United States and the European Union have coordinated their sanctions against Russia for more than three years. In July 2017 the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly passed additional sanctions against Russia, Iran, and North Korea that were signed into law by President Trump on August 2. The legislation was drafted in the context of the alleged Russian interference in the U.S. […]
» Read moreMoscow does not rule out U.S.’s plans to secede from INF Treaty, pledges instant mirrored response
MOSCOW. Dec 19 (Interfax) – Moscow believes that the United States is looking for a pretext to quit the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and is pledging an instant mirrored response, the Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Department, Mikhail Ulyanov, told Interfax in an interview on Tuesday. “The stubborn reluctance [of Washington] to support its […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “They’re back! Must-read paper on ‘The Return of Global Russia,’ a new Carnegie project, is avail online and explains the Kremlin’s increasingly expansive foreign policy paradigm …” – Andrew S. Weis/ Carnegie Endowment/ Twitter
(Andrew S. Weiss, Vice President for Studies, Carnegie Endowment Russia and Eurasia Program – Twitter – @andrewsweiss) “They’re back! Must-read paper on ‘The Return of Global Russia,’ a new Carnegie project, is avail online and explains the Kremlin’s increasingly expansive foreign policy paradigm http://ceip.org/2C5ksHh via @pstronski and Richard Sokolsky …” [embedded live feed of tweet should load below; tweet also […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Russia’s Relations With the West One Year After the U.S. Presidential Elections” – NYU Jordan Center/PONARS Eurasia
“On Wednesday November 8th, the NYU Jordan Center and PONARS Eurasia hosted a joint conference entitled, “Russia’s Relations with the West one Year after the US Presidential Elections.” Taking place on the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump’s election as U.S. president, the panel brought together scholars from a range of countries to consider the current state of U.S.-Russian/Eurasian relations and […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Could a U.S.-Russia Oil Showdown be Coming?” – Council on Foreign Relations/ Amy Myers Jaffe
NEWSLINK: “In FBI Agent’s Account, ‘Insurance Policy’ Text Referred to Russia Probe; Agent’s text was meant to convey the FBI needed to aggressively investigate allegations of collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia” -Wall Street Journal/ Del Quentin Wilber
NEWSLINK: “What We Know About the Trump Campaign’s Collusion With Russia; Look at the public record. Reality diverges sharply from the president’s vehement denials” – Wall Street Journal/ Adam B. Schiff
NEWSLINK: “Senate intel committee investigating Jill Stein campaign for possible collusion with the Russians” – Washington Post/ Karoun Demirjian
RUSSIALINK: “[Putin] Telephone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump” – KremlinRu
Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of the United States Donald Trump. Vladimir Putin thanked Donald Trump for the information passed on by the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that helped detain the terrorists who plotted to set off explosions at Kazan Cathedral in St Petersburg and other public places in the city. The information received from […]
» Read moreRe: Freedom of speech in rusology
Subject: Freedom of speech in rusology Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2017 From: GORDON HAHN <gordon-hahn@sbcglobal.net> The following seems to be a rather ominous development for freedom of speech in academia and journalism an attempt to discredit all dissenters from the Washington consensus on Russia. If there are people in academia willing to sign on to such a ‘brief,’ we can […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “U.S. Military and NATO May Now Target Russia With Cyber Weapons, Marking Huge Policy Change” – Newsweek/ Tom O’Connor
“… NATO’s recent decision to integrate cyber warfare into its command … represents a stark 21st-century warning to foes, especially Russia …. Capitalizing on the multinational coalition’s recognition of cyberspace as a theater of operations at last year’s Warsaw Summit, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced … the creation of Cyber Operations Center as part of an overall effort to update and […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH VIDEO: “How Putin’s emotional reactions drive Russian strategy” – PBS Newshour
(PBS Newshour – December 13, 2017) “What motivates President Vladimir Putin, the man accused of ordering Russian interference in the 2016 American election? Special correspondent Nick Schifrin talks with Julia Ioffe, who has written a new cover story for The Atlantic about what he really wants. …” [Click here for transcript and original posting of video: pbs.org/newshour/show/how-putins-emotional-reactions-drive-russian-strategy]
» Read more‘Russian Lessons for Reagan’ Launch at Gorbachev Foundation Reunites Old Friends; Author Suzanne Massie meets with old friends and fellow optimists
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Justin Lifflander – December 13, 2017) Tuesday’s event at the Gorbachev Foundation was supposed to be a typically mundane book launch. But the presentation of the Russian language version of Suzanne Massie’s “Trust But Verify: Russian Lessons for Reagan” turned out to be an unofficial meeting of the multi-generational club of peace-makers and optimists. Ronald […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “ORDER FROM CHAOS; U.S.-Russia arms control was possible once – is it possible still?” – Brookings/ Strobe Talbott
“Thirty years ago last week, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, resulting in the elimination of some 2,700 U.S. and Soviet ground-launched intermediate-range missiles. …”
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “The West must prepare for a wounded Putin to become even more aggressive” – Washington Post editorial
Jack Matlock: Current tension in U.S.-Russia relations is result of political mistakes on both sides
(Interfax – November 7, 2017) Famous diplomat and political analyst, last U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union Jack Matlock has given an interview to Interfax in which he speaks about the first year of U.S. President Donald Trump in power and relations between Russia and the United States. Question: Mr. Ambassador, you have been following Russia-U.S. relations for almost 60 […]
» Read moreU.S. Consulates Resume Visa Services in Russia
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – December 11, 2017) U.S. consulates in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok have resumed processing applications for travel visas, after suspending their work this summer as relations between Washington and Moscow soured. The U.S. Embassy has warned consulate services might still be affected by low staff numbers. The consulates temporarily suspended processing non-immigrant visas in August […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “What Putin Really Wants; Russia’s strongman president has many Americans convinced of his manipulative genius. He’s really just a gambler who won big.” – The Atlantic/ Julia Ioffe
NEWSLINK: “After the INF Treaty: An Objective Look at US and Russian Compliance, Plus a New Arms Control Regime” – Russia Matters/Kevin Ryan
“… The 1987 INF Treaty attempted to eliminate a threat by prohibiting the sides from developing and deploying certain kinds of offensive missile systems, much like the ABM Treaty attempted to prevent development and deployment of missile-defense systems. These agreements proved brittle under the pressure of new technologies and threats. Many in the U.S. and Russia have come to believe […]
» Read moreTrump was ‘Russia’s Friend’ in Russian Media for Only a Very Brief Period, New Study Says
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, December 7, 2017) Many assume that Donald Trump was portrayed in the Russian media as Russia’s friend until last summer when it became clear that he would not be willing or at least able to deliver any improvement in Russian-American relations; but that view is incorrect, according to two scholars at Moscow’s […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Is Russia Souring on Donald Trump? Jacob Heilbrunn interviews Andranik Migranyan about Trump and U.S.-Russia relations” – The National Interest/ TNI Staff
“… National Interest editor Jacob Heilbrunn interviews Andranik Migranyan, a professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (an academic institution run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia) …”
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Flynn Flipped. Who’s Next?” – New York Times editorial
“… Flynn pleaded guilty to one count of lying to the F.B.I. about his communications with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, during the transition period in December 2016. … The president has repeatedly denied that he or his campaign had any involvement with Russia, and he has mocked the investigation as a ‘witch hunt.’ …”
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “BOOK REVIEW: COLLUSION [re Luke Harding]” – Irrussaianality/ Paul Robinson
“… evidence of direct collusion between Trump and the Russians is looking a little thin, to say the least. Now, into this maelstrom steps Guardian reporter Luke Harding … * * * I wish I could say that this book was a joke. If you were going to write a parody of the collusion story, this is perhaps what it would look like. […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Rename the block in front of the Russian Embassy; Name it after the dissident Boris Nemtsov, as a D.C. Council measure proposes.” – Washington Post Editorial
NEWSWATCH: “Red mist; How the Russia investigation looks from Moscow; Hyperventilating about Vladimir Putin infuriates Russian liberals, but it has led to a better Russia policy” – The Economist
“Buzzfeed recently broke an explosive story about Russia’s meddling in America’s elections. On August 3rd 2016, it reported, just as the presidential race was entering its final phase, the Russian foreign ministry wired nearly $30,000 through a Kremlin-backed bank to its embassy in Washington, DC, with a remarkable description attached: ‘To finance election campaign of 2016’. … only one of 60 […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “For Some Russian Oligarchs, Sanctions Risk Makes Putin Awkward to Know” – Reuters
“The threat of new U.S. sanctions has spread anxiety among Russia’s wealthiest people that their association with … Putin could land them on a U.S. government blacklist …. drawn up by early next year … part of a sanctions bill passed overwhelmingly by Congress …. Although those included on the list would not automatically be sanctioned, six people … part of the […]
» Read moreWorld more peaceful when Russia, U.S. work together – Ambassador Huntsman
ST. PETERSBURG. Nov 28 (Interfax) – United States Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman is convinced that Russia and his country should work together to preserve peace in the world. Speaking at the opening of the U.S. artist Susan Swartz’ exhibition at the Marble Palace of the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg on Tuesday, Huntsman expressed his hope for an improvement […]
» Read moreRussia’s new media law: expanding the field of uncertainty; Russia’s new legislation is not only aimed at foreign media. It’s another step in the process of blurring legal definitions – until they’re useless.
(opendemocracy.net – Sergey Lukashevsky – November 29, 2017) Sergey Lukashevsky is the director of the Sakharov Center, Moscow. The Russian state currently lives for two problems – its relations with the US, and the upcoming presidential elections. Society is worried about something slightly different – the state of the healthcare system, rising taxes and reducing incomes. But it’s the authorities […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “A Mafia State Within a Totalitarian Society; Reflections on Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin from the writer Masha Gessen, whose new book about Russia won the 2017 National Book Award for nonfiction” – The Atlantic
Dysfunction in U.S.-Russia Relations
(Kennan Institute – wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute – Matthew Rojansky – November 27, 2017) Matthew Rojansky is Director of the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C I am an American expert on Russia. It is my job to pay close attention to the ups and downs of the U.S.-Russia relationship, with the goal of helping U.S. policymakers, the press, […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Trump and Russia Seem to Find Common Foe: The American Press” – New York Times/ Michael M. Grybaum
How did 1917 change the west? Failed utopias lead to the death of idealism, and the likes of Putin and Trump are symbols of this process. As we watch Russia struggle with history, the U.S. and U.K. cannot afford to pretend that this history doesn’t affect us too.
(opendemocracy.net – Sam Greene – November 22, 2017) Samuel A. Greene is Reader in Russian Politics and Director of the Russia Institute at King’s College London Revolutions – and their centenaries – are best dealt with in the first person. That, of course, creates a certain awkwardness for an academic, whose stock in trade is meant to be distance from […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “Putin in the Boot; New sanctions are about to bite, and Russia’s elite are spooked; The personal sanctions against regime cronies are especially tough” – The Economist
“… CAATSA moderately increases the pressure …. It extends the restrictions on investing in new Russian oil and gas projects to the operations of Russian firms in third countries. … the effectiveness of these new sanctions, which the administration is allowed to pause until late January, is undermined by the fact that European firms have been ring-fenced from their effects. Gazprom … has […]
» Read moreNEWSLINK: “Eric Schmidt Says Google News Will ‘Engineer’ Russian Propaganda Out of the Feed; ‘It’s basically RT and Sputnik,’ he said on Saturday.” – Motherboard/Justin Ling
“Eric Schmidt, Executive Chariman of Alphabet, says the company is working to ferret out Russian propaganda from Google News after facing criticism that Kremlin-owned media sites had been given plum placement on the search giant’s news and advertising platforms. …”
» Read moreRussian Studies is Thriving at ASEEES
(PONARS Eurasia – ponarseurasia.org – Sarah Wilson Sokhey, Assistant Professor, University of Colorado Boulder – November 20, 2017) [Article also appeared at ponarseurasia.org/article/russian-studies-thriving-aseees] Timothy Frye’s assertion last month in The National Interest that Russian studies are thriving, not dying was soundly confirmed at the annual ASEEES conference this past weekend. More than 3,000 area studies specialists-many of them experts on […]
» Read moreNEWSWATCH: “Beware the Russian Elephant” – The American Interest/ Peter Pomerantsev
“As the West considers how to respond to the Kremlin’s use of bots, trolls, fake news, and hacks as tools of foreign policy, the way we describe things will define whether we prevail. The most insidious element of Moscow’s information war could be the very idea of information war itself. In ‘Don’t Think of an Elephant’ the cognitive linguist George […]
» Read moreTips from the Experts: Bridging the Scholarship-Policy Divide
(PONARS Eurasia – ponarseurasia.org – Regina Smyth, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and Law, Indiana University – November 16, 2017) How can scholars make significant contributions to policy making? Reflecting on a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York to strengthen regional studies training at U.S. universities, Indiana University’s Russian Studies Workshop organized a roundtable at last week’s ASEEES […]
» Read moreVIDEO: US Envoy to Russia Slams Moscow’s Pending Curbs on US-funded News Outlets
(Voice of America – VOA’s Daniel Schearf contributed to this report – WASHINGTON – November 20, 2017) [Video and article also appeared at voanews.com/a/us-ambassador-to-russia-attacks-on-us-funded-agencies/4125489.html] The U.S. ambassador to Russia has attacked Moscow’s move toward forcing nine United States government-funded news operations to register as “foreign agents” as “a reach beyond” what the U.S. government did in requiring the Kremlin-funded RT television network […]
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