Friends, a second article by Nicolai Petro, Russian/Ukrainian PhD at the University of Rhode Island, who has been deeply involved with US-Russia relations for decades. He usually takes a middle of the road approach, but herein he takes the opportunity to assess what has failed and what Trump could do differently, if so inclined.

Following this article, you will next receive an update on the latest blaze of activity charted by CCI.

So keep reading!   Sharon

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ACADEMIA
(prepared for Russia Direct Report, “The New Face of America,” vol. 4, 2016).  http://bit.ly/2gJhA9B

From Obama to Trump: Cold War Averted. What Now?

By Nicolai N. Petro [1]

The Trump administration has a unique opportunity to change the American foreign policy debate about Russia and move beyond the outdated policy of containment.

Obama’s foreign policy legacy is marred by the failure to improve relations with Russia. This failure is due primarily to his administration’s inability to envision Russia as anything but an obstacle to U.S. interests. Time and again, at key junctures, his administration failed to provide innovative leadership that might have moved Americans beyond the assumptions of the Cold War, and instead fell back on conventional stereotypes about Russia.

Why the Reset Failed

The “reset” serves as a model for the failure of the entire Russian-American relationship. From its inception the Reset rested on the flawed assumption that there was a rift between the values of the Kremlin and the Russian people that West could exploit. Its object was not to engage Russian officials in an open dialogue about values but instead, as the policy’s chief architect Michael McFaul explained, “to establish a direct relationship with the Russian people” over the Kremlin’s head. [2] As a result a golden opportunity to change the tenor of Russian-American relations by engaging in a real dialogue was lost.

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Dear Friends, with all the maelstrom of interpretations in media, and our own personal angst, Michael Brenner’s metaphor about Moby Dick seems apt. Please read and ponder this possibility.

Sharon

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Consortium News
January 15, 2017

America’s Self-Destructive Obsessions

The U.S. population is led from one hysteria to the next, now transitioning from the Global War on Terror to the New Cold War with Russia, a fearful madness that is infecting the collective psyche, says Michael Brenner.

By Michael Brenner

Captain Ahab’s obsessive hunt for Moby Dick was driven by the thirst for revenge. The great white whale had maimed Ahab – in soul as well as body. Ahab was consumed by the passion to restore his sense of self, and make himself whole again, by killing his nemesis – a compulsion that his wooden leg never lets weaken.

America’s “war-on-terror” has become our national mission for restoration. The psychic wound of 9/11 is what grieves us; it inflames our collective passion for vengeance. The physical wound is already healed. By now, it must be memorialized in order for the scar to be seen.  It never did impair our functioning. In that sense, little more than a broken toe.

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Hi Friends, a pleasant end of 2016 to you!

The New Yorker has published a “must read” piece on how close we may be to Nuclear War… as we enjoy Holiday celebrations and usher in 2017’s New Year.

Pointed out near the end of this article, the author confesses, “My greatest concern is the lack of public awareness about this existential threat (and) the absence of a vigorous public debate.”

This is the shared deep concern for most of us who follow these issues closely––yet the average American is totally unaware that this possibility exists––or what our scientists are saying.

We so need to be aware of what people like Shlosser are warning––then speak with others. You might try something light weight for openers; e.g., “What do you make of the scuttlebutt about being close to a nuclear war again?” Surely, they will have some response and may even think about it later.

Enjoy the Holiday week with family and friends!

Sharon

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The New Yorker
December 23, 2016

World War Three, By Mistake

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

By Eric Schlosser

On June 3, 1980, at about two-thirty in the morning, computers at the National Military Command Center, beneath the Pentagon, at the headquarters of the North American Air Defense Command (norad), deep within Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, and at Site R, the Pentagon’s alternate command post center hidden inside Raven Rock Mountain, Pennsylvania, issued an urgent warning: the Soviet Union had just launched a nuclear attack on the United States. The Soviets had recently invaded Afghanistan, and the animosity between the two superpowers was greater than at any other time since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

U.S. Air Force ballistic-missile crews removed their launch keys from the safes, bomber crews ran to their planes, fighter planes took off to search the skies, and the Federal Aviation Administration prepared to order every airborne commercial airliner to land.

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Dear Friends,

Whether wrong or right, great indignation is being made about “Russia trying to influence America’s 2016 election.”

To date, there is still no evidence that this is actual fact. Still the accusations are repeated daily in U.S. mainstream media.

From another time: TIME magazine of July 15, 1996, proudly carries the full story about Washington’s total influence to elect Boris Yeltsin, Russia’s first president. Please see the linked document with photos below.

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