Editing, re-reporting, brief comment by
Carolyn
Bennett
The Russian expert and professor emeritus with New York and
Princeton universities, Stephen F. Cohen, is reported saying that Washington’s
‘Feckless policy elite and an uncritical media establishment’ are culpable in
the deterioration of U.S.-Russia relations and these nations' headlong plunge “into a
new Cold War.” And what is happening started long before “911” and a whistleblower
named Snowden. This is some of Professor Cohen’s analysis.
HISTORICAL
CONTEXT (hostility)
Since the end of the Soviet Union, 22 years ago, Stephen
Cohen says, the United States under one after leader in Washington has “lost
several opportunities to create a meaningful cooperative relationship between
Washington and Moscow (the United States and the Russian Federation).
William Jefferson Clinton - Barack Hussein Obama
“Although the U.S. political-media establishment routinely
blames (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” Cohen says, “the movement toward Cold
War ─ instead of partnership with post-Soviet Russia ─ began almost a decade
before (Putin) came to the Kremlin.” The regression started “in the 1990s … under
the Clinton administration, whose tenure “initiated the three basic components
of what has remained Washington’s Russia policy, from George W. Bush to Obama:
…expanding NATO (now including
missile defense installations) to Russia’s borders;
…‘selective cooperation,’ which has
meant concessions by Moscow without meaningful U.S. reciprocity; and
…interference, in the name of
‘democracy promotion,’ in Russia’s domestic politics
“For twenty years, this Cold War approach has had
overwhelming bipartisan support among the U.S. political elite and mainstream
media.”
 |
| Congress passes Magnitsky Act |
CURRENT (ongoing
hostility)
In late 2012 through the spring of 2013 came enactment of an
anti-Russia act.
Congress and the current president laid into law the “Magnitsky
Act” banning a list of Russians from the United States; and Russia responds
with its list of banned Americans, both actions signaling a return, the verge
of, or a new Cold War.
Cohen said that although Congress is not itself
“russophobic,” its bill was provoked by U.S. “russophobic forces.” The Congress
is “just uninformed,” he said:
It
knows almost nothing about Russia. Most members of Congress have no
understanding of international affairs or national security.
If this is true, it is a deliberate ignorance. With all the resources at its disposal, there is no excuse for America to have an “uninformed” Congress. |
C
|
ohen says U.S.-Russian relations after enactment of “Magnitsky”
were further strained with Washington’s and Moscow’s published lists of people
banned from entering their countries.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| U.S. President signs Magnitsky Act |
 |
| Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin |
After the Act became law, the
Russian government denied Americans’ adoption of Russian children,
issued a list of U.S. officials prohibited from entering Russia, and
posthumously convicted Magnitsky as guilty.
On December 19, 2012, the State Duma (Russian legislature) voted 400 to
4 to ban the international adoption of Russian children into the United States.
The bill was unofficially named after Dmitri Yakovlev (Chase Harrison), a
Russian toddler who died in 2008 of heat stroke after being neglect by his
adoptive American father. In later actions, Russia introduced a law to prevent
U.S. citizens from working with political NGOs in Russia and another law, later
abandoned, to prevent any foreigner from speaking on state television if they
discredited the Russian state.
On April 13, 2013, Russia released a
list naming 18 Americans banned from entering the Russian Federation
over their alleged human rights violations, as a direct response to the
Magnitsky list. The people banned from Russia are:|
U.S. officials involved in legalizing
torture and indefinite detention of prisoners (The Guantanamo List):
|
·
David Addington, Chief of Staff to Vice
President Dick Cheney (2005–2009)
|
|
·
John Yoo, Assistant U.S. Attorney General
in the Office of Legal Counsel, Department of Justice (2001–2003)
|
·
Geoffrey D. Miller, retired U.S. Army
Major General, commandant of Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO), the
organization that runs the Guantanamo Bay detention camps (2002–2003)
|
|
·
Jeffrey Harbeson, U.S. Navy officer,
commandant of JTF-GTMO (2010–2012)
|
|
The Russians also banned several U.S. officials involved in the prosecution and trial of Russian
arms smuggler Viktor Bout and drug smuggler Konstantin Yaroshenko, both serving
prison time in the United States:
|
·
Jed Rakoff
|
·
Senior U.S.
District Judge for the Southern District of New York
|
|
·
Preet
Bharara
|
·
US Attorney
for the Southern District of New York
|
|
·
Michael J.
Garcia
|
·
former US
Attorney for the Southern District of New York
|
|
·
Brendan R.
McGuire
|
·
Assistant US
Attorney
|
|
·
Anjan S.
Sahni
|
·
Assistant US
Attorney
|
|
·
Christian R.
Everdell
|
·
Assistant US
Attorney
|
|
·
Jenna
Minicucci Dabbs
|
·
Assistant US
Attorney
|
|
·
Christopher
L. Lavigne
|
·
Assistant US
Attorney
|
|
·
Michael Max
Rosensaft
|
·
Assistant US
Attorney
|
|
·
Louis J.
Milione
|
·
Special
Agent US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
|
|
·
Sam Gaye
|
·
Senior
Special Agent US DEA
|
|
·
Robert F.
Zachariasiewicz
|
·
Special
Agent US DEA
|
|
·
Derek S.
Odney
|
·
Special
Agent US DEA
|
|
·
Gregory A.
Coleman
|
·
Special
Agent US Federal Bureau of Investigation
|
Cohen calls “Magnitsky”
“a serious blow to U.S.-Russia relations.” Worsening an “already bad
political atmosphere in Washington,” the Act now institutionalizes “a kind of a
prejudicial approach to Russia that’s going to continue; it won’t be possible
to end the Magnitsky Act.”
 |
| Choice of the Corrupt and Inept |
 |
| Neglect Made in USA |
And any attempts at rapprochement have been rebuffed by
Washington. One opportunity, Cohen observes, began with the tragedy of the recent
bombing in Boston “when it was clear that we (the United States) needed a lot
of cooperation in counter terrorism between Moscow and Washington.” Another
missed opportunity, he says, was “the Syrian civil war, or whatever it is, spun
out of control, … the worst crisis in the Middle East in many years; and while
it appeared that Washington and Moscow were ready to try and do something about
that,” they didn’t; “and then came Snowden, … clearly a setback and (a test of
leadership) for both President Putin and President Obama.”
 |
| Neglect Made in USA |
Thanks to a “Feckless policy elite and an uncritical media
establishment,” Stephen Cohen says, U.S.-Russian relations are deteriorating and
these two powerful nations “are plunging into a new Cold War.”
|
I
|
n public affairs foreign and domestic the United States led by
a corrupt, entrenched and inept cabal continues to cause regression and serious
breakdown. What a waste.
 |
| Result |
Cohen was talking about the expanding U.S. surveillance
state, some of which has been exposed by Snowden, when he said Americans must raise and debate some serious questions, and not be stymied in this imperative by a rogue
government.
Are we Americans prepared to give up all freedoms fought for ─ for
200 years ─ and allow the government to commit possibly illegal surveillance?
 |
| Result |
Should
we make a trade-off between our fears and our privacy?
Should we in the post-911 era allow our fears to wage
endless wars, make commonplace the intolerable and the lawless; and so relinquish the
possibility and promise bequeathed to the people of the United States of America?
Sources and notes
“‘Authoritarian regime’ in the Russian media vs.
‘democratic’ U.S. mainstream media in the context of the new Cold War” (Stephen
F. Cohen commentary first published in The Nation on January 16, 2013), January
23, 2013, http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_01_23/Authoritarian-regime-in-the-Russian-media-vs-democratic-US-mainstream-media-in-the-context-of-the-new-Cold-War/
“How Obama can avert another Cold War - Stephen F. Cohen,”
February 19, 2013,
http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_02_19/How-Obama-can-avert-another-Cold-War-Stephen-F-Cohen/
“‘Obama can’t afford a fair trial for Snowden’ - Stephen
Cohen” (Op-Edge), July 19, 2013 [Snowden issue a test of leadership ability for
Putin and Obama …: New York University
Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies Stephen Cohen (AFP Photo / Dmitry
Kostyukov)]
http://rt.com/shows/sophieco/snowden-case-us-russia-307/
http://rt.com/op-edge/snowden-asylum-us-russia-315/
“Magnitsky Act the result of ‘know-nothing Congress and lack
of leadership from White House’” (Op-Edge), Published time: April 14, 2013, http://rt.com/op-edge/magnitsky-lists-stephen-cohen-828/
Relations
between Russia and the United States, already marred by “disputes over missile
defense, the Middle East and Russia’s internal politics,” have become more
strained after the United States passed the Magnitsky Act … and Russia replied with
a law prohibiting Americans from adopting Russian orphans ─ Stephen F. Cohen
Read more:
http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_01_21/Political-media-establishment-culpable-for-strained-US-Russia-relations-Cohen/
Stephen F. Cohen is an expert on Russia and professor
emeritus of New York University and Princeton University.
Magnitsky
In
2009, lawyer and auditor Sergei Magnitsky died in a Moscow prison after
investigating fraud involving Russian tax officials.
In the
United States, the Magnitsky Act (formally known as the Russia and Moldova
Jackson-Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of
2012) originated in a bill sponsored by Maryland Democrat, Senator Ben Cardin;
its intention: “to punish Russian officials who were thought to be responsible
for the death of Sergei Magnitsky by prohibiting their entrance to the United
States and use of their banking system.” It evidenced mounting tensions between
the United States and Russia. The U.S. Congress passed the bill in
November–December 2012 and U.S. President Barack Obama signed it into law on December
14, 2012.
__________________________________
Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy
__________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment