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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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“Who Putin Is Not” by Stephen Cohen

Dear CCI Friends,

“WHO PUTIN IS NOT” is a long and painstaking article but well worth the time invested to better understand him as an individual, since much of our U.S. foreign policy today is tied up with this subject.

Study it to comprehend what America’s top historian on all matters “Russian” has to say about Vladimir V. Putin.

Let us know whether this analysis makes sense to you or not. And remember to copy it to as many of your friends and colleagues as possible. We certainly need more “light” on this subject across our nation.

Sharon (signature)
Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives

The Nation
September 20, 2018

Who Putin Is Not

Falsely demonizing Russia’s leader has made the new Cold War even more dangerous.

By Stephen F. Cohen

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

Stephen F. Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian studies and politics at Princeton and NYU, 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.) This post is different. The conversation was based on Cohen’s article below, completed the day of the broadcast.

“Putin is an evil man, and he is intent on evil deeds.” —Senator John McCain

“[Putin] was a KGB agent. By definition, he doesn’t have a soul.” “If this sounds familiar, it’s what Hitler did back in the 1930s.” —2016 Democratic Presidential Nominee Hillary Clinton

The specter of an evil-doing Vladimir Putin has loomed over and undermined US thinking about Russia for at least a decade. Henry Kissinger deserves credit for having warned, perhaps alone among prominent American political figures, against this badly distorted image of Russia’s leader since 2000: “The demonization of Vladimir Putin is not a policy. It is an alibi for not having one.”

But Kissinger was also wrong. Washington has made many policies strongly influenced by the demonizing of Putin—a personal vilification far exceeding any ever applied to Soviet Russia’s latter-day Communist leaders. Those policies spread from growing complaints in the early 2000s to US-Russian proxy wars in Georgia, Ukraine, Syria, and eventually even at home, in Russiagate allegations. Indeed, policy-makers adopted an earlier formulation by the late Senator John McCain as an integral part of a new and more dangerous Cold War: “Putin [is] an unreconstructed Russian imperialist and K.G.B. apparatchik…. His world is a brutish, cynical place…. We must prevent the darkness of Mr. Putin’s world from befalling more of humanity.”

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Tulsi Gabbard on the Administration’s Push for War in Syria

The Nation
September 20, 2018

The congresswoman has accused President Trump and Vice President Pence of protecting “al-Qaeda and other jihadist forces in Syria.”

By James Carden

Representative Tulsi Gabbard. (AP Photo / Bill Clark)

On September 13, Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard took to the floor of the House to rebuke the administration, accusing President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence of protecting “al-Qaeda and other jihadist forces in Syria,” all the while “threatening Russia, Syria, and Iran, with military force if they dare attack these terrorists.”

“This,” continued Gabbard, “is a betrayal of the American people, especially the victims of Al Qaeda’s attack on 9/11 and their families, first responders, and my brothers and sisters in uniform who have been killed or wounded in action and their families. For the President, who is Commander in Chief, to act as the protective big brother of al-Qaeda and other jihadists must be condemned by every Member of Congress.”

I spoke to Gabbard earlier this week about her opposition to Trump’s Syria policy.

James Carden: In June you and Republican Congressman Walter Jones introduced HR 922, the No More Presidential Wars Resolution, which would both define presidential wars not declared by Congress under Article I, section 8, clause 11 as impeachable “high crimes and misdemeanors” as well as prohibit the president from perpetuating ongoing wars or from supplying, among other things, war materials, military troops, military intelligence, and financial support without first receiving congressional authorization.

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Observations of Moscow

The following letter was written by Sylvia Demarest, a trial lawyer from Dallas, Texas.  Sylvia is one of the travelers on CCI’s current AMMR (Americans Meet Mainstream Russians) delegation.

Sharon (signature)
Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives

Dear Friends:

I wanted to take some time to report a few of my  impressions of Moscow and today’s Russia over the last few days.  I was in Russia in 1988 as part of a legal group before the collapse of the Soviet Union.  I have been looking forward to seeing what has changed in the country over the last 30 years.

Remember,  the Russian Federation was established in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.  Eastern Europe broke free and the Russian economy collapsed into depression under the “shock therapy” the US supported under Yeltsin.   The goal was the end of communism and state ownership of business and resources.  Over the next 9 years, Russia’s resources and businesses were gobbled/stolen? up by the “Oligarchs”, often with US support.  In 1998 a financial crisis resulted in the collapse of the ruble and a default on Russia’s debt.   In March of 2000, V.V. Putin became President of the Russian Federation.  Eighteen years ago, Russia was flat on it’s back, in debt, poor, demoralized, its economy and infrastructure  degraded or destroyed.   Life expectancy had collapsed, millions had died, as Russia went through the greatest depression of the 20th Century in a country not at war.

I landed at Domodedovo airport on August 31st at around 2:40 pm.  I was traveling alone.   I had no idea how hard it would be to get through immigration, find my bags, find a cab and get to my hotel.   The whole process turned out to be quick and very simple.  A polite, well-dressed, English-speaking representative of a cab company took me under his wing, arranged a cab for me, took my bags and walked me to the cab. He gave instructions to the cab driver,  loaded my bags, and shook my hand and said goodbye!  You do not get treated like this in New York!!

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CCI Takes off for 10 Russian Regions

Dear CCI friends,

Today, 25 CCI travelers will depart the U.S. for Moscow and nine different regions across Russia. A videographer will capture footage for YouTube to describe our ventures.

The Press Release below was created at the request of our regional coordinators to give to universities so that we can talk with classes of students.  It also went to regional mayors, civic clubs and the media. It sounds like our subgroups of two to four Americans will be kept quite busy during these regional visits. Their chief tasks are to interact with many Russians, to share ideas about how to rebuild connections between our countries, to learn how their regions and private sectors are developing, how Russians are faring under sanctions, to share the challenges of building and maintaining democracies and learn how they are viewing international relations today. Lastly, but most importantly, they will encourage cooperation and the development of bi-country projects to create goodwill and understanding between our two peoples.

Since the Press Release below covers CCI’s agenda for 2019, we felt it would be interesting to you. Scan it to see if you can participate in one of our programs, each of which we ran successfully during the first Cold War.

Would you like to start 2019 by traveling to Russia for a magnificent New Year’s celebration coupled with Citizen Diplomacy or with new bi-country projects and programs? Let us know what is exciting to you!  Share this with others and suggest they go to our website, ccisf.org, to subscribe to our CCI email list.

Wish us well with this next venture! Keep up with us through our Foto-Journal pages during the trip!

Sharon (signature)
Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives

The Center for Citizen Initiatives (CCI) Restarts Citizen Diplomacy Programs with Russia

Our Future is too important to leave up to short-term policy makers

August 31-Sept 15, 2018, American citizen diplomats travel to 10 Russian regions
from Moscow to Irkutsk (15 Russian cities and towns)

They will learn of local Russians’ histories, points of view and simultaneously create friendships and goodwill between each other. The message will be clear that diplomacy is far more sustainable and profitable than standoffs, political posturing and war.

CCI, America’s preeminent non-governmental, nonprofit organization of the 1980s, 90s, 2000s, is resuming its classic programs to reduce tensions, rumors and propaganda between the U.S. and Russia during today’s extremely dangerous political climate.

Programs Planned F0r 2019

Americans Meet Mainstream Russians (AMMR)
American delegations of 25 persons first go to Moscow, then to multiple Russian cities in micro-groups of two to four persons. There they are hosted by Russian Rotarians or former CCI program participants. The Americans meet local people, discuss many topics and create future options for staying in touch. Next, they reconvene in St. Petersburg for a “Report Out” to share information about the experiences and learnings of their micro-groups. Findings are then released to the public through Foto-journals, YouTube and Internet articles. (AMMR is an updated version of CCI’s original citizen diplomacy program which lasted for 8 years and took some 2,000 Americans to the USSR before Soviet people were allowed to travel abroad).

Russians Meet Mainstream Americans (RMMA)
Russian delegations of 20 persons fly to the U.S. then split into five micro-groups of four persons. Each micro-group travels on a different loop of cities throughout the U.S. where they are hosted by Rotarians, Kiwanians and other interested Americans. Local committees house the Russians in American homes. They have speaking engagements in city halls, universities, libraries, churches, synagogues and large informal home events. Local organizers create press and TV opportunities and, in general, provide options for the two peoples to mix and mingle broadly. (RMMA is an updated version of CCI’s SMMA program which, thanks to a Gorbachev intervention, allowed CCI to bring non-communist party members from the USSR to 264 American cities in 1988 and 1989).

Russian-American Exchanges & Projects (RAEP)
CCI initiated numerous first-ever projects beginning in the 1980s, including month-long internships for Russian entrepreneurs to intern in successful American businesses parallel to those they were trying to start in Russia. We are working on new programs to begin in 2019–stay tuned!

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