JRL Digest - July 16, 2012 ... The Pulse of Russia
7.16.12 - addressing JRL 2012-128

Russia has called for a ceasefire and troop withdrawal in Syria, while accusing the West of inviting civil war ... Russia has criticized the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia, spawning diplomatic tensions with the desert kingdom ... Russia's Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) partners Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are looking for increased rent for Russian military bases, while Uzbekistan continues to vacillate between closer ties with the United States or with Russia ...

file photo... today's JRL also touches on the London Olympics and calls by Dmitry Medvedev for athletes to focus on their training rather than local travel and recreation while in England ... Vladimir Putin is forming a new Economic Council ... The Moscow Times is undertaking an effort to summarize news stories from Russian-language print sources ... political reform efforts are stalling in the Russian State Duma ... commentators analyze Putin power and its limits ... a recent poll demonstrates Russian dissatisfaction with corruption peaking, and touches upon other citizen concerns ... there are feelings of fatalism or quietism expressed by some commentators in the face of corruption ... United Russia and the Duma reportedly are planning to apply the "foreign agent" label to media as well as nonprofit NGO's ... Russian human rights official Mikhail Fedotov is calling for revisions to the latest laws or legislation addressing protests, nonprofit NGO's, and speech (libel law) ... meanwhile journalists and opposition leaders are condemning the new libel law ... accusations fly about Russia sabotaging probes into the assassination of human rights activist Natalya Estemirova ... human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin is now weighing in on new laws on nonprofits and libel, along with the plight of jailed oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and the Magnitsky Bill springing from the suspicious prison death of whistleblower corporate lawyer Sergei Magnitsky... more information has been determined about the brutal murder of the Romanov royal family by the Bolsheviks ... the recent flood disaster is prompting demands for emergency warnings, and the need for additional relief in flood-ravaged areas; while some commentators note that Russia's hesistating welcoming of large numbers of Russian volunteers to the disaster areas is a departure from Soviet ways, nevertheless new government regulations governing volunteers reportedly has drawn suspicions from the volunteers themselves, whom one source says are "to be taken under control" apparently by the State Duma and other government sources of power ... one observer is callinf for Runet to be "net neutral" ... a Russian pundit weighs in on treatment of Russia's opposition by the government ... meanwhile, the opposition reportedly is keying hopefully on local elections in Ryazan ... half of Russia's Far East is unhappy about about their lack of economic opportunity ... concerns are being raised about migrants integrating into Russian society more adequately ... commentators ask if Russia is hearkening back to Soviet attitudes with its new laws on nonprofits and libel ... Russians are fearing an economic downturn according to poll numbers ... the Russian cabinet is modifying agricultural subsidies due to WTO accession ... concern is raised for Russia to strengthen Russian business schools ... Russia is turning to more "online diplomacy" utilizing social media, particularly facebook, twitter and youtube ... visa reform might result in foreigners belonging aloud to spend three days in Moscow without a visa ... Putin's policy toward NATO countries is being labeled as self-contradictory by some voices ... Congress seems poised to push forward with the Magnitsky Bill despite protests by a visiting delgation of Russian lawmakers ... a Russian nonprofit NGO operating in the United States protests that it is not an agent of the Kremlin ...

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Keywords: Russian News - Russia - Johnson's Russia List

Russia has called for a ceasefire and troop withdrawal in Syria, while accusing the West of inviting civil war ... Russia has criticized the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia, spawning diplomatic tensions with the desert kingdom ... Russia's Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) partners Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are looking for increased rent for Russian military bases, while Uzbekistan continues to vacillate between closer ties with the United States or with Russia ...

file photo... today's JRL also touches on the London Olympics and calls by Dmitry Medvedev for athletes to focus on their training rather than local travel and recreation while in England ... Vladimir Putin is forming a new Economic Council ... The Moscow Times is undertaking an effort to summarize news stories from Russian-language print sources ... political reform efforts are stalling in the Russian State Duma ... commentators analyze Putin power and its limits ... a recent poll demonstrates Russian dissatisfaction with corruption peaking, and touches upon other citizen concerns ... there are feelings of fatalism or quietism expressed by some commentators in the face of corruption ... United Russia and the Duma reportedly are planning to apply the "foreign agent" label to media as well as nonprofit NGO's ... Russian human rights official Mikhail Fedotov is calling for revisions to the latest laws or legislation addressing protests, nonprofit NGO's, and speech (libel law) ... meanwhile journalists and opposition leaders are condemning the new libel law ... accusations fly about Russia sabotaging probes into the assassination of human rights activist Natalya Estemirova ... human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin is now weighing in on new laws on nonprofits and libel, along with the plight of jailed oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and the Magnitsky Bill springing from the suspicious prison death of whistleblower corporate lawyer Sergei Magnitsky... more information has been determined about the brutal murder of the Romanov royal family by the Bolsheviks ... the recent flood disaster is prompting demands for emergency warnings, and the need for additional relief in flood-ravaged areas; while some commentators note that Russia's hesistating welcoming of large numbers of Russian volunteers to the disaster areas is a departure from Soviet ways, nevertheless new government regulations governing volunteers reportedly has drawn suspicions from the volunteers themselves, whom one source says are "to be taken under control" apparently by the State Duma and other government sources of power ... one observer is callinf for Runet to be "net neutral" ... a Russian pundit weighs in on treatment of Russia's opposition by the government ... meanwhile, the opposition reportedly is keying hopefully on local elections in Ryazan ... half of Russia's Far East is unhappy about about their lack of economic opportunity ... concerns are being raised about migrants integrating into Russian society more adequately ... commentators ask if Russia is hearkening back to Soviet attitudes with its new laws on nonprofits and libel ... Russians are fearing an economic downturn according to poll numbers ... the Russian cabinet is modifying agricultural subsidies due to WTO accession ... concern is raised for Russia to strengthen Russian business schools ... Russia is turning to more "online diplomacy" utilizing social media, particularly facebook, twitter and youtube ... visa reform might result in foreigners belonging aloud to spend three days in Moscow without a visa ... Putin's policy toward NATO countries is being labeled as self-contradictory by some voices ... Congress seems poised to push forward with the Magnitsky Bill despite protests by a visiting delgation of Russian lawmakers ... a Russian nonprofit NGO operating in the United States protests that it is not an agent of the Kremlin ...