Stratford57
Diamond Member
Stephen Cohen, Interview to Russian Channel One, Jan. 2018:
Demonization of Putin is one of the biggest threats to our [American] national security. For the next 1 or 2 years after Putin first came to power (as a Prime Minister in December 1999) American press was treating him very positively. NYT even wrote he was a Democrat, who wants reforms and would be better than Yeltsin because he was younger and healthier. When I [S.C.] asked them: “Why are you sure he’s a Democrat?” do you know what they said? They said: ”Because he’s from Yeltsin. Everything’s gonna be ok.”
They were just shocked when Putin started saying: “Russia is a sovereign country”, ”Russia has her own policy”, “We want to be partners with US but it’s a two-way street”. A well known NYT journalist literally wrote: “I’m disappointed and shocked that Putin has not become a sober Yeltsin.”
Now all the masks have been taken off.
Unfortunately, we have a short memory and have already forgotten that after 9/11 Putin was the first who called Bush and said: “That was terrible. How can we help you guys?”
Then US went to war in Afghanistan to destroy Taliban and Putin helped US to get the victory in this war with minimum losses more than anybody else, even more than any NATO country.
Putin also shared his intelligence data with USA and so on and on. He was even criticized in Russia, so for a while he looked more like being pro-American leader, not even a bit anti-American.
During Gorbachev’s times American political class started treating Russia as a satellite country who was supposed to follow the orders from USA not only in foreign policy but in internal affairs as well. After Yeltsin left and Putin came the people who dealt with foreign affairs in USA were absolutely sure they would continue to do whatever they were doing with Russia for the next 10 years at least. And suddenly they figured out they were wrong and that’s why all those controversies started: with Georgia, Ukraine, etc.
For those who know Russian:
Выпуск программы "Воскресное время" в 21:00 11 февраля 2018 года. Новости. Первый канал
starts at 1 hour 8 minutes and ends at 1 hour 14 minutes of the program ^.
Stephen F. Cohen - Wikipedia
Demonization of Putin is one of the biggest threats to our [American] national security. For the next 1 or 2 years after Putin first came to power (as a Prime Minister in December 1999) American press was treating him very positively. NYT even wrote he was a Democrat, who wants reforms and would be better than Yeltsin because he was younger and healthier. When I [S.C.] asked them: “Why are you sure he’s a Democrat?” do you know what they said? They said: ”Because he’s from Yeltsin. Everything’s gonna be ok.”
They were just shocked when Putin started saying: “Russia is a sovereign country”, ”Russia has her own policy”, “We want to be partners with US but it’s a two-way street”. A well known NYT journalist literally wrote: “I’m disappointed and shocked that Putin has not become a sober Yeltsin.”
Now all the masks have been taken off.
Unfortunately, we have a short memory and have already forgotten that after 9/11 Putin was the first who called Bush and said: “That was terrible. How can we help you guys?”
Then US went to war in Afghanistan to destroy Taliban and Putin helped US to get the victory in this war with minimum losses more than anybody else, even more than any NATO country.
Putin also shared his intelligence data with USA and so on and on. He was even criticized in Russia, so for a while he looked more like being pro-American leader, not even a bit anti-American.
During Gorbachev’s times American political class started treating Russia as a satellite country who was supposed to follow the orders from USA not only in foreign policy but in internal affairs as well. After Yeltsin left and Putin came the people who dealt with foreign affairs in USA were absolutely sure they would continue to do whatever they were doing with Russia for the next 10 years at least. And suddenly they figured out they were wrong and that’s why all those controversies started: with Georgia, Ukraine, etc.
For those who know Russian:
Выпуск программы "Воскресное время" в 21:00 11 февраля 2018 года. Новости. Первый канал
starts at 1 hour 8 minutes and ends at 1 hour 14 minutes of the program ^.
Stephen F. Cohen - Wikipedia
