Dear CCI Friends,

It is not often that we get to participate in a Zoom Webinar with two Russian specialists, one in Russia, the other in the United States. The topic is very much needed these days:

 “Dealing with Putin’s Russia”

Andrey Kortunov has been the Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council in Moscow since 2011. He is a member of several expert supervisory committees. I’ve known Andrey since he was in his 20’s and the youngest member at the U.S.-Canada Institute in Moscow in the mid-80’s. He was already breaking with his older Soviet colleagues at that time.

Angela Stent is a foreign policy expert specializing in U.S. and European relations with Russia and Russian foreign policy. She is professor of Government and Foreign Service at Georgetown University and Director of its Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies.

The flyer and link to register for the Zoom webinar are below.

Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives

https://calendar.mit.edu/event/AdviceBidenRussia#.YG_GfndKh0t

Dear CCI Friends,

Although there is virtually no coverage in US media on the current situation brewing in Ukraine, I believe it warrants the attention and concern of all of us who are working to improve relations between our country and Russia.

As you know, following President Biden’s insulting language about President Putin in mid-March, the Kremlin recalled its Ambassador to the United States warning of the possibility of an irreversible deterioration in relations. Shortly thereafter, President Zelensky signed a decree on a strategy for the “de-occupation” of Crimea by Russia and the re-integration of the peninsula into Ukraine. In recent weeks, Ukrainian military forces have moved into place at the border of the Donbass, Russia has sent its military units to the border with Ukraine for “exercises,” and according to some observers including our friends in Yalta, Russia is increasing its military presence in Crimea.

All of these ominous occurrences are happening at a time when the United States has  no diplomatic relations with Russia nor is there any indication that either our President or our State Department desires any. Can it be that the official position of the United States is in favor of war?

At the holiest time of year for Western Christianity, I would suggest that all of us who adhere to any religion, philosophy or tradition based on a concept of tolerant and respectful co-existence with our neighbors commit our prayers and meditations for peace.

Happy Easter to you all.

Paula Day
CCI Advisor, responding earlier for Sharon

Dear CCI Friends,

The Ukraine-Donbass-Crimea situation looks extremely dangerous this weekend! THIS IS SERIOUS!

Why would we in the U.S. have shipped billions of $$ of equipment into Ukraine, put an American General on the ground, and set up for a serious war …  after Russia has been explicitly clear that they will protect the Donbass Russians and the Donbass region. This area has been Russian territory off and on since the 1700’s. Will it be another Georgia-South Ossetia war, where the United States bluffs and backs out? It doesn’t seem so. However, the potential for an all-out war between Russia and the United States is unthinkable, but may be on Biden’s drawing board.

He and his war makers are jeopardizing us all with this move.

I’ve looked on all TV channels and I see nothing being mentioned about this extremely dangerous situation this weekend. Amazing and unconscionable! I can’t believe this is happening.

Natylie Baldwin has graciously allowed CCI to publish her latest post.

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Russiagate Rolls On, Giving Biden Political Cover

Consortium News
March 20,2021
By Joe Lauria

The latest U.S. intelligence “assessment” this week sought to prepare the way for more sanctions against Russia and Iran and gave political cover for Joe Biden.

The highly politicized unclassified report was gobbled up without skepticism by corporate media, playing its dutiful role of passing disinformation onto the American public without question.

The opening paragraph says it all:

“The Intelligence Community rarely can publicly reveal the full extent of its knowledge or the specific information on which it bases its analytic conclusions, as doing so could endanger sensitive sources and methods and imperil the Intelligence Community’s ability to collect critical foreign intelligence. The analytic judgments outlined below are identical to those in the classified version, but this declassified document does not include the full supporting information and does not discuss specific intelligence reports, sources, or methods.”

That should be a red flag for anyone who calls him or herself a journalist. Demand some kind of proof before proceeding. But when it comes to national security reporting corporate journalists have time and again shown they are practicing something other than journalism.

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