Nation Contributing Editor Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor continue their weekly discussions of the new US-Russian Cold War. (Previous installments are at TheNation.com.) Cohen reminds listeners that Ukraine remains the political epicenter of the new Cold War, but Syria is where it may now become a hot war. The Syrian cease-fire agreement—brokered by Secretary... Read More

The 130 people murdered in Paris on November 13 and the 224 Russians aboard a jetliner on October 31 confront America’s current and would-be policy-makers, Democratic and Republicans alike, with a fateful decision: whether to join Moscow in a military, political, diplomatic, and economic coalition against the Islamic State and other terrorist movements, especially in... Read More

Nation contributing editor Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor continue their weekly discussions of the new US-Russian Cold War. Cohen points out that since Presidents Obama and Putin staged a public debate at the UN on September 28, there have been significant developments on all three fronts. Due to the refugee crisis and festering Ukrainian... Read More

The United States and Russia are today engaged in a proxy war on two fronts: Ukraine and Syria. On October 1, Nation contributing editor Stephen F. Cohen appeared on The Thom Hartman Program to discuss the obstacles preventing a potential coalition between the US and Russia to fight ISIS. He argues that despite the entrenched... Read More

Nation contributing editor Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor continue their weekly discussion of the worst US/NATO–Russian confrontation in many decades, perhaps since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. In this installment, Cohen argues that since the current crisis began in November 2013, at each turning point Putin has been primarily reacting—wisely or unwisely—to perceived... Read More

Nation contributing editor Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor continue their weekly discussion of the new US-Russian Cold War, which this week took a turn for the worse with the announcement that American and NATO offensive weapons will soon be placed in the three Baltic nations on Russia’s borders and in other NATO member countries... Read More

The East-West confrontation over Ukraine, which led to Moscow’s annexation of Crimea but long predated it, is potentially the worst international crisis in more than fifty years—and the most fateful. A negotiated resolution is possible, but time may be running out. A new Cold War divide is already descending in Europe—not in Berlin but on... Read More

How did the United States get into another standoff with Russia—and where do we go from here? The Nation’s Katrina vanden Heuvel and Stephen Cohen offered historical context on this question in a discussion with John Mearsheimer and moderated by Gilbert Doctorow in Brussels earlier this month. At the March 2 discussion, “Defining a New... Read More

Is the ongoing, brutal fighting in eastern Ukraine our Cuban Missile Crisis? On Tuesday, February 5, Nation contributing editor Stephen Cohen delivered a keynote speech at Fairfield University expressing just how high he thinks the geopolitical stakes have been raised in this conflict. “The Europeans are in full panic and want this ended,” Cohen explained.... Read More

Stephen Cohen, contributing editor at The Nation, joined Democracy Now‘s War and Peace Report on Tuesday to discuss the latest developments in the Ukrainian conflict. “We’re in a new Cold War with Russia. The epicenter of the new Cold War is not in Berlin, but it’s right on Russia’s borders, so it’s much more dangerous…A... Read More

“For the first time, there is a military expansion of NATO, not just political, toward Russia. But, it’s not too late to stop it,” said Stephen Cohen, contributing editor of The Nation, on the SophieCo show. Cohen spoke about deteriorating US-Russian relations, the possibility of direct conflict and the dangers of NATO expansion eastwards. “If... Read More

I prepared the text below for remarks to the annual US-Russia Forum in Washington, DC, held in the Hart Senate Office Building (though not under official auspices) on June 16. Obliged to abridge my text to the time allocated to speakers, I have restored the deletions here and spelled out a number of my impromptu... Read More

I prepared the text below for remarks to the annual US-Russia Forum in Washington, DC, on June 16. Though held in the Hart Senate Office Building, and well attended, the event was privately organized, without any official auspices. In order to fit the time allocated to speakers, I had to abridge my text. I have... Read More

In his interview with Ian Masters, Nation contributing editor Stephen Cohen discusses the dangerous tensions between Washington and Moscow. Unlike other regional conflicts, Cohen states that the violence in Ukraine “is global…and the destiny of our children and grandchildren is playing out.” Cohen also critiques the Obama administrations lack of statesmanship and diplomacy: “This is... Read More

The New York Times reported last week that President Obama and his national security team are forging “a new long-term approach to Russia that applies an updated version of the Cold War strategy of containment.” Hawks in the State and Defense Departments are pushing for more comprehensive sanctions and the White House has already drafted... Read More

“It is one hand—the hand of war—clapping,” said Nation contributing editor and Russia historian Stephen Cohen during an appearance on the John Batchelor Show Tuesday. With US troops headed to the Baltic states, Cold War rhetoric spewing from the mouths of US officials, and Obama effectively abandoning Vladimir Putin as a negotiating partner, Cohen suggests... Read More

“For the first time in my lifetime, since the Cuban missile crisis, hot war with Russia is imaginable,” Nation contributing editor Stephen Cohen told Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman on Thursday. Cohen, a Russia historian and expert on US-Russia relations, slammed the Obama administration for suggesting that the crisis in Ukraine was exclusively due to “Putin’s... Read More