Every Tuesday evening, in the ten o’clock hour of his program, radio host John Batchelor discusses Russia with Stephen F. Cohen. Dr. Cohen is professor emeritus of Russian studies at Princeton and NYU, and is a rare voice of sanity in this time of anti-Russian hysteria.
Mr. Batchelor’s show is always worth listening to — it is one of the most interesting and informative current-events resources in all of media — but his discussion with Professor Cohen is a weekly high point. In last night’s conversation the topic was the latest round of Congressional sanctions against Russia, and how they are only making a very bad situation worse. Professor Cohen also explains why this new Cold War is even more dangerous than the first one.
You can listen to a podcast of last night’s show, in two parts, here and here. See also the website of the American Committee for East-West Accord, to which Professor Cohen is a contributor.
4 Comments
We pass more sanctions against Russia and then somehow Russia might in some mythical way help us with North Korea?
Well Whitewall, eventually, inevitably, Russia’ll come around – there’s precedent you realize.
“We” sanctioned Cuba in 1959 as I recall.
So there’s that.
Malcolm,
Sure I know Wikipedia can’t be trusted, but since you were the one who provided the link, I checked out Cohen’s bio and this raised my eyebrows a bit:
“In 1988 Cohen married Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of the progressive magazine The Nation, where he is also a contributing editor.”
Normally, that’s all I need to read to dismiss someone like him as a crank. However, given your recommendation and the fact that I have occasionally listened to the Batchelor show, I will check out that interview. But some of the other stuff Cohen has argued for (at least according to La Wik) seems…off kilter.
Anyway, like you and others in the more traditional right, I’d like to see us develop a closer relationship with Russia. Unfortunately, unlike Cohen, I really do think Putin is a thug and a menace and while I get the fact that we need to deal with him (he’s their leader!) I think we need to do so very carefully. He will never be our “friend.”
Professor Cohen is generally a liberal, but when it comes to Russia, he’s the voice of reason.
P.S: “La Wik” – we can tell where you’ve been…