Commentary by Dr. Patrick Slattery — Given Julia Ioffe’s history with the Alt-Right, it would be fun to invoke inflammatory rhetoric, or even a fun meme, to describe this event. Out of respect for Professor Cohen and the issues that arise from his being praised by this website, I will leave all that to your imagination. This 27-minute clip has it all. As you would expect, Cohen argued that the U.S. is responsible for the bad relationship between us and Russia, that there is no evidence regarding Russian hacking, that the U.S. has been backing the wrong side in Syria (including ISIS), and that most of what the media say (including specifically Julia Ioffe) is factually incorrect. But wait, there’s much much more. He calls Muslim birthrates in Russia a real problem, and speaking to a Jewish audience he refers to “your father’s and grandfather’s terrorism,” giving the example of Jewish terrorism against the British in Palestine.
This video is well worth listening to (and watching at 22:42), but for those unwilling or unable (and also for the sake of search engines) I have listed some of the highlights below.
Why do Jews have short necks? Because they are always making the gesture in the picture above, according to Professor Cohen.
This is from a discussion panel at the American Jewish Committee Global Forum on or around June 23, 2017. The panelists include Stephen Cohen, Professor Emeritus, NYU and Princeton; Julia Ioffe, Staff Writer, The Atlantic; and Andrew Weiss, Vice President for Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Moderated by Jason Isaacson, AJC Associate Executive Director for Policy.
- Stephen Cohen’s highlights include:
Calls Jew-rank on the other panelists as a Cohen. “I think it’s important to remember which of us is the Cohen up here and who prevails in tribal authority. And I may evoke that as we go on.” - Recalling his bar mitzvah says he didn’t want to get bar mitzvahed, didn’t know anyone who as bar mitzvahed, was the only Jew in his Kentucky town, the synagogue had no Rabbi, and had to be conned into it in deference to the distance traveled by the Rabbi.
- US is 80% wrong for bad relationship between us and Russia.
- There is almost nothing to Russiagate.
- Brings up the Jackson Vanik amendment, specifically linked it to Jewish emigration from the USSR.
- Referred to a remarkable if very short-lived “detente” with Julia Ioffe. “I was going to say if Julia Ioffe and Stephen Cohen can have a detante, then certainly Trump and Putin can sort it out.”
- Said that Weiss and Ioffe’s view on Russia was “empirically, conceptually, fundamentally wrong.”
- What we call the deep state has been trying to squash detente since last year: 51 state department officials signed letter protesting Obama’s agreement for limited cooperation in Syria, then the Defense Dept sabotaged it by killing 80 Syrian soldiers in “accidental” (my quotes) bombing. CIA has been leaking like crazy since July 2017.
- Says all three past detentes were carried out by Republican presidents, and notes that Casper Weinberger quit over Reagan-Gorbachev detente. (Misspoke, called him Secretary of State.)
- Says “Today’s terrorism is not your father or your grandfather’s terrorism.” Then brings up two examples: assassination of Czars and Jewish terrorism against the British.
- Says that for three years Obama said he was fighting ISIS, yet ISIS did nothing but gained territory during that period.
- Says that instead they were aiding anyone who was opposed to Assad, including terrorists themselves.
- Points out that Turkey was buying oil from ISIS with the full knowledge of US.
- Says that Muslims in Russia breed faster than Russians, and that’s part of the problem.
- Says we need Russian intelligence and we need a Syrian state to fight ISIS.
- Says 85% of what Ioffe and Andrew Weiss say is not factually correct.
- Calls out Andrew Weiss for saying Russia hacked our election without producing any evidence.
- Says we’ve been “meddling” in Russia’s elections and political process.
- Tells Jew joke: “Anyone know why Jews have such short necks?” (You have to see it at 22:42)
And much much more.
