Dear CCI Friends,

You are invited to attend a briefing on U.S.-Russia policy organized by Katrina vanden Heuvel, life partner of Steven F. Cohen, who unfortunately left us this past September.

Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives

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Beyond a New Cold War with Russia: Safeguarding Both U.S. National Security and Peace through Diplomacy

Thursday, April 1, 1pm – 2pm (EST)

Briefing Open to Congressional Staff and the General Public

Register here:  https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zLjNSqNRSvm1V79p0ijETA

Congressional staff and the general public are invited to attend this virtual briefing with an esteemed panel of experts to discuss relations between the two countries with the world’s largest nuclear arsenals. The panel will review the state of U.S.-Russia relations post-Trump and take a fresh look at how U.S. policy can utilize diplomacy to avert a new arms race, mitigate the chance of nuclear conflict, and revive a constructive U.S.-Russian relationship. The panel will also review key issues in U.S.-Russia relations and explore potential opportunities for Congressional engagement, including on cybersecurity, climate, Eastern Europe and NATO, and more. This briefing is sponsored by The American Committee for U.S.-Russia Accord and Just Foreign Policy — for more information, contact hadiya@justforeignpolicy.org.

Esteemed panelists:

Fmr. Governor Jerry Brown, four-term former Governor of California, executive chair of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (full bio)

Joe Cirincione, former president of Ploughshares Fund, distinguished fellow at Quincy Institute (full bio)

Cynthia Lazaroff, documentary filmmaker, senior producer of “U.S. Russia Relations: The Quest for Stability” (full bio)

Dear CCI Readers,

Two reputable international journalists below give us excellent summations of the China Summit held last week in Alaska, including where the world stands after the Summit. Our U.S. media covered it quite differently than China or Russia, the latter obviously hoping to speak out to U.S. citizens who normally don’t get international coverage apart from the plainly biased reporting we see in our mainstream media.

It behooves us all to begin to read and to listen to responsible international voices to assure that we are receiving a balanced assessment of what is going on in our world. Further we need to respond to our journalists and Congress members immediately to request wider coverage of issues that may or will impact us all.

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Dear CCI Readers,

Please check out the following link about Peace News Network:

Peace News Network

Precious faces, music, philosophy!!!
From around the world!

Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives

Calling Putin a ‘killer’ with ‘no soul’ is not exactly diplomatic finesse

Responsible Statecraft
March 18, 2021
Anatol Lieven

The Biden administration has created an completely unnecessary confrontation with Russia at a time when reasonable working relations with Moscow are extremely important for achieving two immediate and key administration goals: rejoining the nuclear agreement with Iran, and a peace settlement in Afghanistan facilitating U.S. military withdrawal from that country and an end to America’s longest war.

The administration approach combines many of the errors committed by Washington officials, politicians, and the media in recent years. First, you have an  intelligence report based on evidence that the public cannot see stating that it is “likely” that the Russian government ordered attempts to influence the elections. This report is then turned by the administration and much of the media into an absolute certainty. In a recent ABC News interview, Biden says Putin will “pay a price” for what the report says his government has done. As usual, the issue is personalized by attributing the decision to Putin himself, and the U.S. statement is accompanied by gratuitously insulting language which is likely to offend even many Russian opponents of Putin. Does nobody remember the advice of Teddy Roosevelt — hardly a weakling on U.S. security — to speak softly and carry a big stick?

President Biden’s public description of President Putin as a “killer” and having “no soul” in that interview recalls what has been described as  the “anti-diplomacy” of President Trump and elements of the George W. Bush administration — a seemingly willful determination to worsen relations with other states; but this is from an  administration that was supposed to restore dignity and decorum to the conduct of U.S. foreign relations.

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Dear CCI Followers,

Katrina vanden Heuvel’s analysis below is so “right on!” Please read and forward to your Congress members and friends; that is, if you agree. Let us know if you see the situation from a different perspective.

Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives

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