By Dr. Patrick Slattery — Professor Stephen F. Cohen had another very interesting interview on the John Batchelor Show on Tuesday night. He commented on a meeting between Russian President Putin and Henry Kissinger. Apparently Putin and Kissinger have known known each other for almost 25 years and meet regularly.
Batchelor quoted the 93-year-old Henry Kissinger’s Moscow speech” “U.S. Russian relations can improve, but improvement cannot come under current U.S. administration.” Cohen said he has disagreed with Kissinger over the years, but agrees that Obama has shown no leadership and has allowed relations to deteriorate unnecessarily.
Professor Cohen also brought up a new book by William Perry, Secretary of Defense under Clinton from 1995-97. Perry, who like Kissinger is over 90 years old, wrote that relations with Russia have reached an all-time low.
Cohen blasted anti-Russian propaganda in the media. He said that America doesn’t need a formal propaganda organ because it has the Washington Post and the rest of the mainstream media. As examples, he cited a Feb 6 Washington Post headline “Russia defies the United States in Syria.” In other publications headlines read “Russia threatens the Baltics,” and “Russia refuses to implement the Minsk accords.”
He said that Russia is defying America because it has its own (more rational) thinking on things, and bluntly accused the media of warmongering.
Regarding Syria, he said that the peace talks sponsored by Kerry and Lavrov broke down because “the so-called moderate opposition, most of whom appear to be terrorists, didn’t show up.”
He noted that Russia, Iran, and Syria have ISIS on the run and are on the brink of recapturing Aleppo. Despite media condemnation of Russia over the refugees that are fleeing the fighting, he pointed out that the Russia-led campaign is producing a minuscule number of refugees compared to the chaos that prevailed before Russia’s involvement.
Batchelor and Cohen talked about Turkey’s provocative behavior, with Cohen bluntly concluding that Turkey is trying to provoke a war with Russia and drag NATO into it.
He reported that last week Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced OFFICIALLY that Russia is the greatest enemy of the United States. Carter then proclaimed China as the number two enemy, North Korea as number three, with ISIS coming LAST on the list.
Cohen ventured that perhaps some years ago a group of people in Washington declared a Jihad against Putin, which might explain the demonization of him. He said that they have put their desire for regime change in Russia “way above American national interests.”
Batchelor speculated that the War Party in Washington, represented by Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, last month delivered an ultimatum with the threat of economic collapse and anarchy in Europe in order to get Russia to submit.
Cohen said that the people in Washington pushing for regime change in Russia are unfit to hold office and are endangering the entire world, but said that Russia is strong enough to withstand this kind of pressure.
While the mainstream media says that the Russian economy is on the brink of a collapse which could bring people into the streets and lead to regime change, Cohen pointed out that Russia still has gold and foreign reserves and can pay its bills. Putin is extremely popular and is not in danger. The sanctions have motivated the government to diversify its economy through import substitution, although the sanctions and also Chinese economic problems are slowing efforts. Still, Russia should come out stronger in a few years as a result of substituting its own products for items that formerly were imported.
Cohen called for a U.S.-Russia coalition against ISIS. (This is something I disagree with, as I think the American foreign policy bureaucracy is so thoroughly Zionist that it cannot possibly play a positive role overseas for perhaps a generation, and thus should be supportive of Russia but keep the American military at home.)
Cohen warned against new nuclear arms race. He called Putin the “most consequential statesman of the 21st Century,” and said that America needs a consequential statesman.
