sixty. six.

welcome to. my guest is stephen cullen. came to power four years ago russia u.s. relations changed. the time of friendship and cooperation rather than stand up at least with thoughts called the reset in two thousand and twelve power shift. russia and in the few days we will know if it happens in america and whoever wins the presidential race that the u.s. foreign policy will change the only question is will discuss today with. the former adviser to george w. bush. with days left until the u.s. presidential elections many have been intrigued by the future of russian american

relations. if barack obama is reelected how flexible would he be with his russian counterpart. or maybe another round of tension should be expected with a republican in the oval office. however it is clear russia and the u.s. will have to resolve some serious global issues in the near future regardless ideally they should work on them together. to go welcome to the cher one what was that smile you gave me where well when i read that introduction in the beginning of the chair i think it was because you felt that things got a lot better with the reset that obama and maybe out of began and i think they didn't get that much but. i don't think they really got bad that they looked better and the words you know you know what god said it went well though first there was the word sin so there was the word where where and what obama came to what well you

can't deny that but al you and i are on time very very long time we'll be having words of politicians we had and we look beyond and probably the difference is if there is one between you and me is i mean he wasn't what and one on one but i am a historian and i think especially for americans you can't understand the relationship between the united states and russia without remembering the history and we americans don't have a lot of use for history but the history is quite simple in the twenty one years since the soviet union did in one thousand nine hundred one in the relationship between washington and moscow all the concessions have been made by moscow. moscow his research has received nothing of significance in return now if our viewers say that can't be i invite your viewers to think of one major concession that washington's made to moscow now let's go to the parish troika to

the reset periods are the reset between obama and present been good at that you need to read but they have if you like to carry around with them maybe you know showing them to the cab well it began that they didn't know that the americans misspelled the word for resign from the beginning but now let's be very careful analytical about this obama wanted for me to get a washington wanted from moscow some very persistent things specific things he wanted moscow to support sanctions against around correct moscow did that correct. washington wanted moscow to permit supplying nato troops fighting in afghanistan afghanistan over and through russia the united states received that so the concessions were given by moscow moscow in return wanted and ended in a nato expansion and into american interference in internal russian politics

and a compromise on missile defense moscow received none of these three and that is why the so-called reset failed but that is also why there's been no american russian partnership since the so-called into the cold war that's the reality be a story a cold reality and that's where things stand today as we approach the american election so those are getting back to where we started so we do want i mean people who who care about russia and their relations and that we haven't been about them as we do want a change in american foreign we wanted us whoever we wanted for two reasons. only one thing is needed from an american russian cooperative partnership that is cooperation against international terrorism which is growing and which is a threat to both of us and cooperation on ending the political ration of nuclear

weapons it's not just iran it's another four or five countries they could obtain a nuclear weapon very quickly remember that in the beginning to or three countries had nuclear weapons now many and increasingly many have in the world is much more dangerous today than it was when the soviet union ended but that is such an unthinkable reality in the united states that our political class won't deal with that reality we need a russian american leadership that agrees to cooperate if nothing else on these two things but they're not cooperating now they are not cooperative so so what we need what we need is more than words right but listen so so instead of the medvedev a bomb you know that we tell them and we're going to get it put it in whatever era and in a couple of days does it really matter i mean for russian american relations who wins will it make a difference if if there's

a change of administration and if we take mitt romney the republican candidate at his word. he has said he thinks russia is again america's number one enemy and that he will not he has said this make any concessions the word in russian is right he will not make any concessions to russia on nato expansion or on missile defense now obama has not said that so the chances of a more cooperative relationship are much better if obama is elected but but i'm not optimistic for two reasons there is no political support in the united states at all well i can name two or three people but there is no real political support in the united states for a more cooperative relationship with russia therefore any where people do care or they don't want the political class is against it and ordinary people don't think

about it because of the economic crisis in america people have every day pain they're worried about paying their mortgages are not afraid and when they were afraid of the missiles they did and did they're more afraid of the economic crisis in the united states i mean it's hard to have two big figures at one hundred. but this is a matter of the political class the american people don't make foreign policy the establishment does the policymakers and any russian feeling run so strong in the american political class even more so than during the cold war for a bunch of reasons that it would require a bold leader to take the initiative and say i have a vision we must have cooperation and i obama will do this i will do it that's not obama and there's one other problem if obama wins he has to try to save america from another great depression and we are very we are that close out to another great depression in america to do that against this republican party which is

a reactionary party in the fullest sense of the word obama is going to have to fight the fight for. right for his economic policies and i don't think he will risk any political capital for a more conciliatory cooperative relationship with moscow that's the situation and it may turn out to be tries to so he will compromise his foreign policy too to win something in the in the domestic economic but remember what happened when made that if the still president here and obama gave a press conference obama didn't know that the microphone yeah it was there on yeah this is very important he turned to mad yet and he said give me a break and he said no no he said things very important to me terry tell putin because he knew putin yet to be the president still potent that after the election i will be able to be reward flexible about missile defense in the whole world for that while the reality is that he would have been elected president he's going to

have a hard time being more flexible i have read that funny thing about the halloween and selling the masks a real knee and a bad man this is sort of an indicator in the company selling his mask saying that they're more than a mask and need mask and that means a bomber is going to win and that has been a fact for last twenty five years is that true well i tell you what does a good to be true my wife katrina vanden heuvel the editor of the nation magazine who follows american politics very very carefully we're of course supporters of obama in the selection but my wife is also analytical she thinks that this storm and this terrible storm in america do you wife was the one who bought all the masks . and she thinks that because the way obama has appeared in public as calm as providing leadership government leadership that this will help obama in the election because the significance is you in fact need government to help people and

romney's message is we don't need the government that's three that's his platform get the government out of your life. and everything will be ok but what obama is showing in the course of this terrible hurricane in america is you need the government to save you so she thanks and i think she's right katrina vanden heuvel that this may be worth up to three percentage points for a moment. since you mentioned the hurricane the latest news is when sandy's travel days before the elections about macalso the swing through ohio a critical state for the for the presidential campaign and decided to go to new jersey instead to observe the damage and well and he used this opportunity to boost his approval do you think it was a do you think it was cynical or do you think he was just doing it because he thought that was the right one there's more to that and that is a very dramatic story in america the governor of new jersey is not only a republican but a strong supporter of romney and not only did he agreed to invite obama to new

jersey during this tiger lection but he made a statement that obama was providing great leadership during this national crisis so there's a kind of side drama here but what i want to say to you wow is that. romney has been trying to make foreign policy a major issue mainly the middle east but also russia he said that obama's policy toward russia has failed he said obama's policy toward the middle east has failed but the reality at this moment is because of the terrible economic hardships in america that this is what this election is about people will decide that obama was helped the family or romney will help their family says stephen cohen american historian and renowned expert on russia american relations spotlight will be back shortly after a break so stay with us we'll continue in the. please

technology innovation all the lives developments around russia. the future are covered. the people are going to take the trip. at least in the traditional. the way our economic system currently is not going to.

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per cent store charges free. range amongst three per prefer studio time priests the old free broadcast plug in video for your media projects and free media. dot com. players. play. welcome back to spotlight i'm just a reminder that stephen cohen is my guest on the show today stephen cohen american historian and renowned expert on russia u.s. relations stephen let's stick to the election to the elections upcoming elections in the united states well you are a historian and any story and remember not only historians actually remember that the russians well they like to say we prefer the democratic governments but if we if we remember history all the oh all that we said were more than words happened

with the republicans isn't that true in soviet times must be times where we had times the kremlin thought that they would prefer a republican candidate because the republicans talked very tough against moscow during the election but after the election they did business and the first example was of course nixon who had the detente relationship with brezhnev and they actually liked each other was interesting links and rational personally had a nice relationship and then there was an historic case of reagan a right wing republican who with gorbachev tried him nabi they did nobody can be sure in the cold war so the record has shown that republicans have when in power been better partners for moscow but i think we're in a dramatically different situation now because this is not the republican party of richard nixon it is not even the republican party of ronald reagan this is

a new different fundamentalist republican party whose ideas go back to before franklin roosevelt and want to delete the roosevelt era and the new deal and everything related with it from merican like this is this is a new phenomenon so i think moscow would be better off america will be better off and the world would be better off if we give obama a second chance by the way and this is very important for you and your viewers to know. that putin has been so demonized in the united states. so little regarded in the united states that people think putin would be a good partner for obama but i think putin is ready for a fall relationship if the united states will make some concessions to russia's national interest. you. just said about about publicans. being

a different party and about about the democrats that that might be better but we all forget that they're out of the parties third parties in the american political process and it's a funny thing there are to see how the company was was the actually the only company in the air in the united states who actually highlighted the charity the policy the programs the debates of those bodies the examiner magazine wrote i quote it's the equivalent of a sad joke that americans must rely on russia today in order to watch their presidential debates and quote do you think the mainstream american media really ignored that third party thing on the on purpose someone. well first of all some of the magazines or newspapers in america have covered the third parties my wife's magazine the nation has covered them the new york times had an interview with one of the leaders of the third party but this is not

a conspiracy this is simply the political reality the political culture of america there is a rule in america i think it's correct that in less a third party has a certain forseen e.g. in the polls i think it's three four five percent they're not allowed television time or to participate in debates but it's the structure of american politics not a conspiracy that's kept third parties from playing the rule now for a role now there are people on the right and there are people on the left who think this is a bad burn and we need a third party that the two mainstream parties that have govern the country for so many years have become so close that without a third party will never have real alternatives but keep in mind something very important we do not have a parliamentary system in the united states in europe for example in the netherlands a parliamentary system if a party wins say twelve percent of the vote they get twelve percent of television it's built into the system in the united states we don't have that there's

a feeling among a lot of people that we need a major reform but this is not a conspiracy it's the structure of the way the media is organized the way the electorate is organized it's very hard to persuade americans that they're not going to waste their vote on a third party because because of that that may be correct but it because of that tradition you just mentioned i get a feeling that when russia today is make a decision to transmit those debates well just to give our audience a broader picture of the political spectrum some americans and some media and some ordinary people they consider it like and our intervention into their own hellmouth this is the truth that's nonsense i mean if you want me to say that i think art. the as we call it american r.t. yes plays a useful role in for violating coverage of things that the mainstream television networks do not cover in america i will say because i receive it on cable they play

a role i receive it mainly because i want the news from moscow but they also cover things in america that are not covered by mainstream american television and this is a good thing but if we say thank you thank you then senator thank you for that but back to the third parties you know maybe they're thinking that the percentage you mentioned but do they really play any significant role in the political process well really not well you know we're a big country young now not territorially of in terms of people who are bigger country than you are persons in the soviet union they play third parties or did you really should be interviewing my wife katrina vanden who about this because she worries about this every day but we have fifty states fifty states and in these states some of the states the third parties do play a significant role there on the ballot permanently they can offer a candidate a democratic candidate for example a place on their ballot now why is that unfortunate because some people are so angry at the democrats they won't work vote for somebody in the democratic ballot

but if the perfect person to say on the working families party there's such a party in new york state they'll vote for them so third parties can play a strategic and tactical in some of the states but nationally remember what the current memory as you remember in the election between al gore and george bush the recession george bush ralph nader ran on a third party ticket and many people believe i don't know if it's true or not but many people believe in are still angry at nader that he cost gore the election that gore would have won the presidency because nader took just enough votes maybe three percent to to defeat gore and the consequence was. in the view of many people the gore presidency and all that came from that so some people think that a third party can also play a tragic role there's a big debate about this from on the right and the left in america do you think that american the american political system will ever go to multi-party oh it will stay

in a deal i know people in america are thinking about it this very moment because they don't understand how it's possible that the democrats might lose an election just one on november sixth when all the conditions exist for a great democratic victory we were virtually in a depression this is when democrats won and yet they're tied with two publicans and so some people are saying we've got to do something about the democratic party maybe we should split it maybe we should reform the democratic party i think that's where the discussion after the election is going to be. well a couple of question about getting back to foreign policy is a back about the situation in the world syria the syrian climate crisis the russian the russian opinion towards this transfer and the united states are different they're completely opposite the opposite do you think do you think so because of that tensions will be rising yeah but let's understand what the differences are so

to say it's different in the united states the so-called arab spring beginning into the in tunisia egypt libya syria is all about democratic revolution that's the american narrative as we said. the russian narrative the moscow and heard of says something different it says these are regime changes sponsored by western forces they are leading the instability and they are bringing extreme islamic political forces to power and they're very dangerous these are two opposite understanding of what's going on so the discussion is now who's right. washington or moscow that's the discussion because the two sides are like this about this and it's but putin and obama have completely different versions of what's going on i personally think it's a convoy complicated story but the way it's developed i can understand why putin

believes that these events are very very dangerous for everybody and that any more military invention intervention for example in this case in syria will make things not better they're worse on the other hand in the united states or is this view we cannot stand aside while assad kills his people so you've got two different perspectives not only of the story of what the real dangerous you know if you ask me i don't think that the question is who's right i think they're both right but that think they're both wrong because they're not looking for compromise if they would if they would start looking for compromise and see the goods and the evils of what's happening in the middle east a compromise will help help solve the situation while they're going like that confronting each other on this basis is only we're seeing what we see and i think you're right and if we want to be a little bit optimistic though i've become very pessimistic about the size of the letters think that as you and i sit here and talk. at this moment somewhere behind

closed doors russians and americans are having this great discussion can we compromise we're both right you're both wrong so let's find a way i think though this conversation is going to wait until after november sixth this because moscow wants to know with whom and speaking. and so probably you need to raise this question with a guest sometime after november said but still you say the results matters i mean given the sense i think that if putin wants a compromise in syria some kind of compromise and if you are right that both are right and both are wrong therefore they should figure it out his best partner still obama silva romney will be in no mood to compromise on anything after november sixth thank you thank you very much for being with us when we run out of time but please i'm again just a reminder that my guest today was steven kull an american historian and renown expert on russia u.s.

relations and that said for now from all of us here if you want to have your cell spotlight you can always drop there will be back with more profound comments on what's going on in bad health and russia until then stay on our team and take your seat thank you mark first thing the city has been. the judge is waiting on balls fifteen goats to kalpas. forty kilograms of rice one thousand flatbreads. hands. but why is the bride in a bad mood. to tell the group he's not the one. to rule it is

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