Stephen F. Cohen: Difference between revisions

In an article for ''[[The Nation]]'', published in the March 3, 2014 issue, Cohen wrote that "media malpractice" had resulted in the "relentless demonization of Putin" who was not an "autocrat". He wrote that the American media's coverage of Russia was "less objective, less balanced, more conformist and scarcely less ideological" than it had been during the Cold War.<ref name="Nat20140303">{{cite news|last=Cohen|first=Stephen F.|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/distorting-russia/|title=Distorting Russia -– How the American media misrepresent Putin, Sochi and Ukraine.|work=The Nation|date=March 3, 2014|access-date=June 16, 2019}}</ref> In a follow-up interview with ''[[Newsweek]]'' magazine, Cohen said Putin was the "best potential partner we had anywhere in the world to pursue our national security".<ref name="Schlanger">{{cite news |last1=Schlanger|first1=Zoë |last2=Cohen|first2=Stephen F.|title=The American Who Dared Make Putin's Case|url=https://www.newsweek.com/american-who-dared-make-putins-case-231388 |work=Newsweek|date=March 10, 2014|access-date=June 16, 2019}}</ref> In a [[CNN]] interview around March 2014, he said Putin was not "anti-American".<ref name="TNR20140302">{{cite magazine |last=Chotiner |first=Isaac |date=March 2, 2014 |title=Meet Vladimir Putin's American Apologist |magazine=[[The New Republic]] |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/116820/vladimir-putin-defended-american-leftist |access-date=}}</ref>

In a May 2014 ''Nation'' column coauthored with his wife, Cohen wrote that President [[Barack Obama]] had unilaterally declared a [[Second Cold War|new Cold War]] against Russia and that those [[inside the Beltway]] were complicit in it by their silence.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Vanden Heuvel|first1=Katrina|last2=Cohen|first2=Stephen F.|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/cold-war-against-russia-without-debate/|title=Cold War Against Russia—Without Debate|work=The Nation|date=May 1, 2014|access-date=April 22, 2022}}</ref> [[Julia Ioffe]] in ''[[The New Republic]]'' saw this as Cohen disagreeing with a consensus that did not exist.<ref name="TNRIoffe14">{{cite magazine|last1=Ioffe|first1=Julia|title=Putin's American Toady at 'The Nation' Gets Even Toadier|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/117606/stephen-cohen-wrong-russia-ukraine-america|magazine=The New Republic|date=May 1, 2014|access-date=September 22, 2020}}</ref> Cohen's views on US-Russian relations were criticized by Ioffe and others as being pro-Putin.<ref name="Schlanger" /><ref name="TNRIoffe14" /> Writing in ''[[The American Conservative]]'', James W. Carden, a former advisor to the [[Obama–Medvedev Commission|U.S.-Russia–Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission]] and soon-to-be executive editor for the American Committee for East-West Accord, described Ioffe's article as a "scurrilous — andscurrilous—and frankly hysterical — adhysterical—ad hominem attack on his work and character". Carden agreed with Cohen's view that the US had failed to conduct a public debate prior to making a major shift in policy toward Russia to try to "isolate" and make it a "pariah state".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Carden |first1=James W. |title=What Julia Ioffe Got Wrong About Stephen Cohen |url=https://www.theamericanconservative.com/what-julia-ioffe-got-wrong-about-stephen-cohen/ |access-date=6 January 2021 |work=The American Conservative |date=2 May 2014}}</ref><ref name="Carden2015nation" />

In an interview with [[Tucker Carlson]] on May 17, 2017, Cohen said: "You and I have to ask a subversive question: are there really three branches of government, or is there a [[fourth branch of government]] — these—these intel services?" He stated that a military alliance that President Obama had tried to establish with Putin against terrorism was "sabotaged by the Department of Defense and its allies in the intelligence services". Each of Trump's efforts to "cooperate with Russia" was "thwarted [by] a new leak of a story".<ref>{{cite news | last=Hains | first=Tim | title=Princeton Russia Expert Stephen Cohen: Assault on President Trump from 'Fourth Branch of Government' Designed to Undermine U.S.-Russia Alliance against Terrorism | work=Real Clear Politics | url=https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/05/17/princeton_russia_expert_stpehen_cohen_slanderous_assault_on_president_trump_is_greatest_threat_to_us_today.html | date=May 17, 2017 | access-date= December 9, 2018}}</ref>

According to [[Taras Kuzio]], Cohen deniesdenied that there is a cult of Stalin in Russia.<ref name="Kuzio 2022b">{{cite web | author=Taras Kuzio|title=Crisis in Russian Studies? Nationalism (Imperialism), Racism and War – E-International Relations | website=E-International Relations | date=2022-01-03 | url=https://www.e-ir.info/publication/crisis-in-russian-studies-nationalism-imperialism-racism-and-war/ | access-date=2022-06-14|quote=Cohen's (2019) denial of Russia's military invasion in Ukraine is in keeping with his denial of Russian hacking of the 2016 US elections, chemical weapons attack against Russian defector Sergei Skripal in Britain, and every other nefarious action of which Russia is accused of undertaking.}}</ref> Kuzio also characterisescharacterised Cohen as a "fan ... of populist nationalist Trump".<ref name="Kuzio 2022b" />