People flee from their homes on the outskirts of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine. (Reuters/Maxim Shemetov)
Stephen Cohen, Nation: There Is a Real Chance of War With Russia
Will diplomacy prevail in Ukraine? The Nation’s Stephen Cohen joined The John Batchelor Show on Tuesday to discuss the feasibility of the Minsk II agreement and the increased war footing among NATO officials and policymakers in Washington.
Cohen argued that the “rhetorical war” on Minsk II is based on “political ideological imaginations,” because there is no “hard intelligence to back up the claims that there’s been this massive Russian invasion.” If Minsk II fails and fighting escalates, the United States and NATO face “a real chance of war with Russia,” Cohen said.
WNU Editor: I do not share Stephen Cohen's bleak pessimism (I still have hope that our better angels will be listened to), but it is also true that I have not seen tensions this high since the start of the Cold War. If you have 40 minutes to spare, this is a discussion well worth listening to.
2 comments:
Keep doing what we are doing and it would seem war with Russia is all but certain. As for Russia, they would likely win this war but it might be VERY costly for them. As such, they are likely to wait while America weakens itself further while continuing to dig a deeper hole for itself.
Of course then there's Western Europe. At one time some officials talked of building a European military to promote their values or something to this effect while mentioning confronting Russia by name. Then the Germans express alarm at hawkish positions taken by America's top NATO general.
They can afford to behave in such a manner. After all in the event of war it will be America not them who will bear the brunt of the Russian military response. Furthermore with America weakened or better yet for them out of the way entirely this would be good for them as a strategic competitor would eliminated. At least this is how they would likely perceive it.
I like your optimism and I hope and pray you are right about our better angels prevailing. I'm going to try and find the time to listen to this.
Sorry B. Poster,
But in any real war with Russia, the brunt will be born by Russia and Europe, just like WWII, that's what makes it so attractive to US neo-cons, two birds, one stone.
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