Analysis

On the campaign trail and in his appointments, Donald Trump has been suggesting a very different U.S. policy toward Russia than his White House predecessors have had. Instead of attempts to contain Russia’s territorial ambitions, Trump has been suggesting much more accommodation, admiration and even possibly cooperation.

U.S.-Russia relations are in disarray, with talk of a new Cold War pervasive. Fortunately, framing the conflict in terms of national interests points to a way forward.

Russia’s military has found a mass grave of Syrians, allegedly killed by rebel groups ahead of last week’s evacuation. An independent monitoring group could not confirm how they died.

Harsh political rhetoric, combined with the vulnerability of the nuclear command-and-control system, has made the risk of global catastrophe greater than ever.

The gravest crisis facing America and the West is also the most unnecessary: the ominous deterioration in relations with Russia.

Panel discussion held in Washington last week featuring:Kevin Ryan, Belfer Center’s Defense and Intelligence Project Director;
Fiona Hill, National Intelligence Officer for Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council; Simon Saradzhyan, Belfer Center’s Russia Matters Project Director; and Dimitri Simes, The Center for the National Interest President.

…to some in Washington, beating up on Russia is a conditioned reflex dating to the Cold War. For others in the media and the front groups called think tanks, Russophobia is in their DNA.

I’m willing to believe that Russia sought to hack the U.S. election, but I still find the evidence lacking. That skepticism applies to the latest sensation — a report that Russian proxies in Ukraine are employing the same malicious software used on the U.S. Democratic National Committee.

… as the Greeks knew very well, the eventual consequence of hybris is nemesis – downfall. Those who insist on practising the politics of condemnation should beware.

ACEWA Board Member and Professor Emeritus Stephen F. Cohen talks with Fox News host Tucker Carlson about the inherent and impending dangers of the new cold war and as well as accusations of Russian interference in the US election.

…we can name the fatal flaw in American foreign policy and the reply of those dedicated to an alternative: Exceptionalism is the problem, multipolarity the solution.

For someone who has served in war, Sen. John McCain is easily shocked. He has joined the chorus in Washington protesting Russia’s alleged hacking of the Democrats. He and his colleague Sen. Lindsey Graham are pressing for an investigation by a newly-constituted select congressional committee.

Nation Contributing Editor Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor continue their weekly discussions of the new US-Russian Cold War. Cohen argues that the real enemies of US national security are the American senators (McCain, Graham and their bipartisan allies in Congress) and mainstream media waging a campaign against Trump’s proposed cooperation with Russia, presumably first and foremost against terrorists in Syria and elsewhere.

Allegations of Russian interference in the U.S. election campaign become a tool to limit, if not cripple, President Trump’s attempts to change the downward course of U.S. and Western relations with Russia.

ON WEDNESDAY, THE NEW YORK TIMES ran a front-page article on the DNC hack. Despite the implications of its lurid headline (“The Perfect Weapon: How Russian Cyberpower Invaded the U.S.”), the article is, for the most part, a tale of American incompetence and negligence.

President Obama has ordered a review of Russia’s role in influencing the presidential election.  Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, and Stephen Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian studies and politics at New York University and Princeton University debate.

Tucker Carlson interviewed Prof. Robert McElvaine, a history professor at Millsaps College in Jackson, who wrote in the Huffington Post said that Russia influenced the election.

After four years of internecine violence, the fighting has now almost come to an end. Peace is returning to Aleppo. Let’s not listen to those who want to unleash the dogs of war all over again, but instead do what we can to see that the cosmopolitan Aleppo of old is reborn from the rubble.

Russia described the fall of Aleppo as a victory against terrorists and jihadists. But the United States has decried the Russian-backed offensive. We host a debate between Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, and Stephen Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian studies and politics at New York University and Princeton University.

Western politicians, “experts” and journalists are going to have to reboot their stories over the next few days now that Bashar al-Assad’s army has retaken control of eastern Aleppo.