Center for Citizen Initiatives

Bringing Russian and American citizens together in Peace since 1983.

(Video) Vladimir Pozner and CCI Sept 2018 Trip

Dear CCI Friends,

We are delighted to share with you our September 2018 Q&A session with Russia’s internationally-known TV icon and commentator, Vladimir Pozner.

Fortunately, I met Vladimir in 1983 during my initial trip to the USSR. It is my good fortune that Russians respect those who have continued in the pursuit of bilateral understandings for a long, long time. Hence, he has continued to meet with CCI’s U.S. groups over these many years.  We all treasure his open, honest and sometimes blunt answers to our questions … those sent to him prior to travel and others that come up while we are with him.

Americans at large became familiar with Vladimir during the 1980s Space Bridges between the US and the USSR and during the 1990s when he and Phil Donahue had a popular, six-year weekly program on CNBC. The program came to an abrupt end of contract when Vladimir refused to be curtailed by a new CNBC boss who demanded to know in advance who and what topics would be included in future shows.

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Russian Diplomacy is Winning the New Cold War by Stephen Cohen

CCI Friends,

America’s top Russian historian, Stephen F. Cohen, “hits the nail on the head,” as he adroitly ticks off six points that our current policy makers in both parties need to take into consideration. Makes us wonder … are they caught in the trap of taking special interest monies and can’t extricate themselves?

Sharon (signature)

 

 

Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives

The Nation
November 21, 2018

Russian Diplomacy Is Winning the New Cold War

Washington’s attempt to “isolate Putin’s Russia” has failed and had the opposite effect. 

By Stephen F. Cohen

(Audio from the John Batchelor show is available here.)

Stephen F. Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian studies and politics at NYU and Princeton, and John Batchelor continue their (usually) weekly discussions of the new US-Russian Cold War. (Previous installments, now in their fifth year, are at TheNation.com.)

On the fifth anniversary of the onset of the Ukrainian crisis, in November 2013, and of Washington “punishing” Russia by attempting to “isolate” it in world affairs—a policy first declared by President Barack Obama in 2014 and continued ever since, primarily through economic sanctions—Cohen discusses the following points:

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(Video) GORBACHEV Speaks Out to CCI Citizen Diplomats in September

Dear CCI Friends,

We are honored to have had a two-hour meeting with President Mikhail Gorbachev on September 4, 2018.  This event was prior to our delegation of U.S. ‘citizen diplomats’ traveling across Russia to investigate how fifteen far-out cities in ten regions are faring.

Gorbachev’s decades-long private interpreter, Pavel Palazhchenko, was present to assure that the interpretation was accurate. The two-hour visit was trimmed down to two 30-minute segments.

President Gorbachev felt it very important to get his message out to the American public, as you will learn from his own words. He was in the hospital the previous day, met with us, then returned for additional treatment the following day. Although his physical self is challenged, Gorbachev’s spirit took on the energy of his younger years to get his message across.  He wants his words to go to as many Americans as possible!

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NOVOSIBIRSK: Americans Look into Siberia’s Capital City

At the turn of the 20th century, Novosibirsk, the third largest city in Russia, burst into being like a meteor.  It was little more than a large village in 1897.  The original town was to be near the projected new Trans-Siberian rail hub with an additional connection to the north-south Turkestan-Siberia Railway.

Novosibirsk became one of the first places across Russia to institute compulsory primary education. With the Bolshevik Revolution underway, the Red Army took the city in 1921. Twenty-three years later, Novosibirsk had a population of nearly 300,000. By 1962, despite WWII, Novosibirsk had reached one million citizens.  At that time it was the youngest city in the world with over a million  people. Today over 1.5  million citizens reside in this capital city. Being so far away from Moscow, there has always been a strong entrepreneurial base within the population.

Nonna Barkhatova, CCI’s Director for many years, is second from the right in the photo below.  Nonna got her business degrees in England in the 90s.  She returned home and created a dynamic business center to facilitate the development of regional entrepreneurism. Soon she learned about CCI and began lobbying to be part of our network of Russian cities from which we identified Russia’s young entrepreneurs who were struggling to create their first businesses. Nonna was persistent, sending us stories of her struggling business developers. Within a year we decided to partner with her business center.  Nonna organized CCI’s September 2018 visit to her city. [Continue Reading]

Experience Saratov, Russia, through the eyes of three Americans!

Dear CCI Friends,

We have lots of September trip information to share with you –– YouTubes of experts, regional city experiences written by our travelers, and numbers of YouTubes about life within Russia today.

I’d hoped to start our September “tell all” with President Gorbachev’s YouTube!  However, there’s a technical glitch that needs to be dealt with. This may take up to a week, so we will share some of our regional reports in the interim.

Saratov, Russia
Formerly a Closed City due to being a Military Production Site

We had no personal connections with Saratov. Months earlier an unknown Saratov woman, Olga Andrianova, emailed saying she learned that CCI would bring Americans to Russia, and she lobbied me to include Saratov.  Further she offered to organize the stay of three Americans herself. Feeling her strong desire over email, Saratov became a regional city.

Let’s take a journey with Mike Abkin (an early retiree from an engineering career and first time traveler to Russia) and his partner Louise Karr, a psychologist. Nancy Madison, also an engineer in regulatory consulting from San Jose was the third traveler to Saratov.

Below is a link to Mike’s report about what happened! There are lots of photos embedded in his report and a wealth of insights about today’s Russia. Mike dutifully checked all facts and events with Louise and Nancy and forwarded this terrific journal shortly after coming back to the states.

Enjoy!

Sharon (signature)

 

 

Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives

Russia Reflections
By Mike Abkin

 

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