Subscribe to Receive the Daily Report

Sunday, July 28th, 2013

Obama Can’t Afford a Fair Trial for Snowden’ – Stephen Cohen

Author:    
Source:     RT (Russia)
Publication Date:     19.07.2013 10:12
 Link: Obama Can’t Afford a Fair Trial for Snowden’ – Stephen Cohen
Stephan:   Here is the transcript of a brilliant conversation about the Russian-American relationship in light of the Edward Snowden Affair between Steven Cohen, New York University and Princeton Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies and Sophie Shevardnadze, the daughter of Eduard Shevardnadze, minister of foreign affairs under Gorbachev, and then President of Georgia after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Cohen, in my view, is perhaps the most insightful analyst of this relationship in the country. I feel the Snowden Affair has been bungled from the start, as has been the Russian American relationship for years, and it seems to be going downhill from bad. It is a great tragedy. I was in the USSR before, during, and after the breakup, perhaps four months out of each year. So I know that what Cohen is saying is not polemics. As he points out, there have been moments when, had statesmanship prevailed, the world could have gone in a much happier direction. But we had leaders of small and selfish minds, and they have been lost. Now, as Cohen explains another moment seems to be here.

Who’s Edward Snowden more of a problem for now, Russia or the US? Has he sent US-Russian relations into a tailspin or did he just reaffirm the sad state of affairs? Is the ‘Russian Reset’ dead?
Today we discuss the fallout from the Snowden case with Stephen Cohen, Professor of Russian Studies and History at New York University and Princeton University.

Sophie Shevardnadze: At this point, to whom is Snowden more of a problem – the US or Russia?

Steven Cohen: From my perspective, he is a problem for both. If we put this in historical context since the end of the Soviet Union 22 years ago, we’ve lost several opportunities to create a meaning for cooperative relationships between Washington and Moscow. It appeared a few weeks ago that we had another opportunity. The opportunity began with a tragedy – the bombings in Boston. It was later clear that there was a need for a lot of cooperation in counter-terrorism between Moscow and Washington. And then, the Syrian civil war, whatever it is, ran out of control – it’s certainly the worst crisis in the Middle East for many years. It also appeared that Washington and Moscow were ready to do something […]

Read the Full Article