Stephen Cohen: The New Cold War Escalates Toward Hot War

Published 1-07-2015, 05:35

Stephen F. Cohen

Stephen F. Cohen is professor emeritus of Russian studies at New York University and professor emeritus of politics at Princeton University. His books include “Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalinism to the New Cold War.”

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 close to Russia, including Poland. Cohen and Batchelor analyze the reasons behind this unprecedented development and the torrent of misinformation that accompanied it; how the Russian leadership might respond with its own counter-escalation, possibly bringing the conflict to a Cuban missile crisis–type of confrontation; and whether powerful forces in the US/NATO actually seek a military showdown with the Kremlin. Also discussed are the growing political crisis of the US-backed regime in Ukraine and the success or failure of the Obama administration’s stated policy of "isolating Putin’s Russia.”