As the Ukrainian civil war heated up in summer 2014 a slew of articles began appearing claiming that Putin was ‘erratic’, ‘unstable’ etc. None of these were claims were based on anything approaching sound evidence. A classic example is Brian Whitmore “Putin’s Plan or Kremlin Chaos,” RFERL, 28 August 2014, www.rferl.org/content/putins-plan-or-kremlin-chaos/26556263.html.
PODCAST: Trump-Putin Détente Partnership Begins as ‘Russiagate’ Attacks on It Grow (Stephen F. Cohen)
Princeton and NYU Professor Emeritus Stephen F. Cohen argues that a new détente—cooperation in place of conflict—with Russia is imperative due to the unprecedented dangers of the new Cold War, with conflicts from Ukraine and the Baltic region to Syria fraught with real dangers of direct military action between the two nuclear superpowers.
Investigative Reporter Robert Parry to receive I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence
Since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis, Robert Parry’s Consortium News has been among only a few reliable resources regarding the US government’s role in fomenting the civil war that has racked Ukraine for over 18 months. Consortium has never shied away from reporting on some of the more troubling aspects of post-Maidan Ukraine.
As such, the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard will present Robert with the 2015 I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence during a ceremony in Cambridge, Mass., on Oct. 22, 2015.
The American Committee for East-West Accord wishes to congratulate Bob on this well deserved honor.
Trump’s Low-Level Russian Connection (Leonid Bershidsky)
The lawyer who met Donald Trump Jr. was no Kremlin power broker.
Israel, Russia agreed to consult on military operations over Syria
Israel and Russia agreed Monday to set up a mechanism to avoid inadvertent confrontations between their air forces over Syria in the latest measure of the growing complexity of the crisis in Syria.
The accord reached in Moscow between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin came as the Kremlin’s military buildup in the war-torn country showed no sign of slackening. At least two dozen Russian aircraft capable of supporting Syrian army ground operation arrived in Syria over the weekend.
PODCAST: Reconsidering Russia #12: Volodymyr Ishchenko Talks With Pietro Shakarian
Volodymyr Ishchenko, Senior Lecturer at the Sociology Department at the Kiev Polytechnic Institute in Kiev, Ukraine, discusses Ukrainian politics. Topics include the privatization in Ukraine in the 1990s, the Orange Revolution, the Maidan, Crimea, the rise of the far-right, the fortunes of the Ukrainian Communist Party, the state of the Ukrainian left in general, the state of the Ukrainian economy, and the prospects for socialist democracy in Ukraine, Russia, and the former USSR.
Russia says ready to restart anti-terrorist cooperation with USA: RIA
Russia is ready to restart anti-terrorist cooperation with the United States, RIA news agency quoted the Russian foreign ministry on Thursday as saying.
Most U.S.-Russia security cooperation has been frozen amid chilly bilateral ties over the conflict in Ukraine but, worried about growing threats posed by Islamic State in the Middle East, Moscow and Washington this month reopened some defense contacts on Syria.
VIDEO: Trump Tells Russia to Stop ‘Destabilizing’ Ukraine, But What’s Really Going On? (Nicolai Petro)
Western powers fuel the Ukrainian conflict — and wider tensions with Russia — by treating Ukraine as a strategic prize, says Nicolai Petro, Silvia-Chandley professor of Peace Studies and Nonviolence at the University of Rhode Island.
Ukraine and the postcolonial condition
The question of whether Ukraine is postcolonial may seem an abstruse matter, one best left to scholars. Yet it raises some fundamental issues about the nature of Ukrainian politics.
These issues include Ukraine’s self-identity and its relationship with Europe, its potential relationship with Russia, as well as Russia’s own relationship with Europe – as a subaltern, as the core of an alternative ‘Eurasian’ identity, or as part of a new more plural postcolonial identity.
PODCAST: Stephen F. Cohen Talks Trump-Putin Summit
Radio host John Catsimatidis talks to NYU and Princeton Professor Emeritus Stephen F. Cohen about the meeting of presidents Trump and Putin on Friday and the various controversies surrounding US-Russia relations.
No Peace in Syria Without Working With Russia
There can be no peace in Syria without Russia. Alongside Iran, Russia has been the most loyal and steadfast supporter of the Assad regime. No American or other initiative will succeed if the Russian bear is ignored or snubbed. All other options have failed.
The Syrian Test of Trump-Putin Accord (Ray McGovern)
The U.S. mainstream media remains obsessed over Russia’s alleged “meddling” in last fall’s election, but the real test of bilateral cooperation may come on the cease-fire in Syria, writes ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern.
What if Ukraine’s reforms don’t work?
September 10-12 saw the Yalta European Strategy (YES) conference, an annual gathering put on by Ukraianian tycoon Viktor Pinchuk. In the past this conference was held in the Livadia palace in Crimea, site of the infamous Yalta conference, but in the aftermath of Russia’s annexation of that territory it has been “temporarily” moved to Kyiv.
Putin – Trump meeting in Hamburg: what paradigm for development of US-Russian relations should we look for? (Gilbert Doctorow)
We do not have today an ideological divide driving the competition of these two powers, but we do have heightened and currently malicious or malignant competitiveness that can run amok. The objective is to agree on national interests of the sides, a polite way of saying the unspeakable in American politics, “spheres of influence.”
Obama’s Fateful Syrian Choice
Exclusive: President Obama faces a choice that could define his legacy and the future of the American Republic: He can either work with Russia’s President Putin to stabilize Syria or he can opt for a confrontation that could lead to an open-ended war with grave risks of escalation, writes Robert Parry.
VIDEO: Now Is the Time for Trump and Putin to Negotiate, Not Escalate Tensions (Katrina vanden Heuvel)
Katrina vanden Heuvel talks with Democracy Now!
OSCE warns of breakdown of central heating in east Ukraine
The Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe is raising the alarm about a potential breakdown of central heating systems across war-torn eastern Ukraine.
A military conflict there has killed over 8,000 people and damaged crucial infrastructure including water works.
VIDEO: Stephen F. Cohen Talks With CNN’S John Berman
NYU and Princeton Professor Emeritus Stephen F. Cohen discusses Friday’s Trump-Putin meeting in Hamburg.
Latest sanctions and censorship measures by Kyiv target journalists and more Russian citizens and entities
On September 16, President Petro Poroshenko issued a decree naming 388 foreign persons who are banned from travel to Ukraine. The published list of banned persons was compiled by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. They are deemed to be threats to the interests and national security of Ukraine.
The Trump-Putin Meeting: No More than Baby Steps (Nikolas Gvosdev)
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin were scheduled to meet for only about thirty minutes, but they remained closeted together for over two hours today on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, the first face-to-face meeting of the two presidents,