syria and reversed momentum rebels are now killing one another in alienating the people they claim they're fighting for the assad regime has regained lost ground and is on the offensive in the meantime western powers are showing we lucked into to provide arms to the rebels is it now time to consider a process to stop the violence and talk peace. we speak your language will not advance. news programs and documentaries and spanish matters to you breaking news a little too negative angles the stories. you hear. in troy altie spanish find out more visit.

to. science technology innovation all the latest developments from around russia we've got the future covered. language as well but i will only react to situations i haven't read the reports so i'm not pushing the know i will leave them to the state department to comment on your latter point someone to say it needs to carry out a call as i'm going. to know god. thank you no more weasel words. when you say to direct question me prepared for a change when you throw a punch be ready for a. pretty ops page. down to freedom to cost.

welcome back to the show we talk about edward snowden and how his moscow detour may affect the already shaky relationship between russia and the united states our guest is stephen cohen professor of russian studies and history good to have you back stephen so in your latest opinion editorials you keep saying that russia and the united states are at a fateful crossroads is this snowden case icing on a cake could things get really bad after this i have a historical perspective let me state it again twenty two years after the end of the soviet we do not have a good relationship with russia. nobody asked why or rather in the united states when people ask why they say it's the fault of russia now they say it's the fault of too but this is not a correct or certainly a complete answer we had several opportunities to establish

a partnership with russia in international affairs the first came in the one nine hundred ninety s. after the end of the soviet union and clinton in yeltsin lost that opportunity the second opportunity came after nine eleven when putin called president george bush and said we're with you what can we do to help the united states which is an attack by terrorism were part of that opportunity. then came just a few years ago obama's so-called reset with then president mitt gathered and that opportunity was lost now on the tragic bombings in boston and the tragic civil war in syria has him has him have impressed both washington and moscow that we need a cooperative relationship that is they created yet another opportunity it's not clear we would be able to. seize that opportunity but snowden and not only snowden the magnitsky another of those but these recent events most recently snowden now

become obstacles on both sides to seizing this opportunity the larger reason in my opinion but it's a minority opinion in america is that what we knew my generation knew as the cold war between the soviet union in the united states either didn't actually in and with the soviet union or it's come alive again because everything we see in american russian relations since the end of the soviet union looks smells behaves like a cold war relationship it's just in the united states our leaders don't want to admit this player that they lost the opportunity of the post cold war russia to create a new relationship a partnership with russia and that's where we are today so it's a long winded answer but i think historians will tell you in the future and as a historian today i will tell you that we can't understand snowden we can't understand magnitsky we can't understand these recent conflicts without putting

them in the historical context of the relationship between america and post soviet russia during the last twenty two years this is a narrative that hasn't stopped i'm saying is that you've just demonstrated that obstacles and opportunities to get to countries closer or get them more apart arise all the time and the stocks of the cold war have been around forever for the past fifteen years you seem to be pointing out that you know we are now at a fateful crossroads i mean how much worse are things now then during the bush era because it seemed like really they were at the lowest then well below zero point. of the relationship since the end of the soviet union was of course the war in georgia in two thousand and eight and the reason that that was a low point. is that the united states and russia came close to hard war not just cold war russia georgia began with no doubt about that russia reacted by

moving in the south has said it began the fight with a georgian army that was in effect an american proxy army we created that on the we armed it we trained it they were american a minders a military advisors somewhere in georgia maybe traveling with the georgian troops there was a discussion in the white house led by dick cheney that the united states should bomb the russian army in the south of setia. really hold our georgian army there on the ground because no one really wants to wage a war with russia that's another example that's another example that us however that actually would never really i mean that well i don't know about that so i mean where is that written that we would never go to war we became we were extremely close in the cuban missile crisis we were extremely close in berlin on a number of occasions there were probably occasions but we haven't been told about

and in my judgment we were close in georgia in two thousand and eight no fault of russia but how many times can we avoid. the dangers possibilities so my point is it's the duty of leadership american leadership and russian rebel leadership to create a relationship where these dangers don't appear and we haven't done that yet and i will say as american patriot the primary fault not the entire fault but the primary faults. is in washington until american policy toward russia changes things will not get better they will not and american policy toward russia has not changed on one fundamental issue washington believes in what it calls selective cooperation and that means russia should make concessions and that washington does not have to make concessions in return into that policy changes nothing else will change about

that i am absolutely sure but does it mean that they don't want better relationship with russia they don't simply care and enough to a million rate their relationship with russia things are good as they are we i don't mean way because it's not me but the american political policy media establishment. wants a good relationship with russia of course but it once that on america's own terms and it's very clear what that means because it's meant the same thing since the in the soviet union russia should be a junior and subservient partner to american interests what ever is in american interest russia should help promote it so if america decides to expand nato to russia's borders russia should accept that as a very good idea for its own security if russia decides to build missile defense

installations in europe or on ships that threaten russia's nuclear security russia should understand that that's really against north korea and iran and it doesn't affect russia if the united states believes that overthrowing assad in syria will bring peace to the middle east russia should agree the problem is russia doesn't agree russia is different civilization the bad precedent was set i don't like to criticize your leaders because they're your problems by your own person who agreed almost everything and so washington got in the habit of getting what it wanted. but even in boston or mcfaul has said on several several occasions during the reset which he claims to invented we are going to go she ate with moscow and see what they can do to promote our national interest fine but that's one hand clapping a real negotiation real diplomacy is not bad it is that we go to moscow and say

here are our interests will you help us and then moscow says we might hear our interest will you help us and then they do something for each other washington doesn't do anything i would defy anybody who thinks i'm being unpatriotic to tell me one major concession that moscow has received from want from washington since the end of the soviet union just one and when i asked this question at all gust meeting places of the american establishment i get one answer where we gave them financial loans in the one nine hundred ninety s. yet they were onerous loans which only putin because of high oil prices could finally pay back unlike with poland where washington for gave its communist era debt washington never forgave any a moscow's debt we have never given russia anything and by the way putin says that over and over and over again and washington says why is he so any american he's not any american he's just making

a simple point that any major leader would make that a relationship is a two way relationship we give something to you you give something to us and we go forward and solve problems we don't have that relationship and we haven't had it since the soviet union ended by the way oddly we had it with the soviet union but that's another story really quickly because we're running out of time so the reset idea is it all forgotten and dad now. well in america it's a pejorative as something that obama's enemies use to show how long wise he is and say it failed the reality is obama got what he wanted from the respect he got a russian held in supplying nato forces in afghanistan and he got tougher sanctions against iran he got moscow's cancellation of that s. three hundred defense system i think the problem is once again so you tell me if you can think of what did moscow get in return nothing they want to compromise on

missile defense they wanted an end to nato expansion they wanted to ensure american democracy promotion in russia and washington refused so the reset failed but washington got what it wanted now we're starting all over again or we thought we were before snowden with a new we used to call a detente during the old cold war with a new detente but it's going to fail unless american policy changes it's a sad story but it's a true story that was stephen cohen professor of russian studies and history thanks for a great chat i'm selfish aaron as i will see you in our next edition of said think .

i've seen the perception of the cross many times it doesn't matter if there's a heat wave or hail stones or people keep going i didn't expect anything just one i told myself i keep on going as long as my heart told me to that's all i wanted that the moment you know you can send so mind she's see and can. these sayings on my shoulder. do you want to put a man in shared no that's fine a lot of people were so exhausted they could barely walk their feet hurt and some of them fainted with the evacuee three to wanted to keep going i don't know what tomorrow will bring.

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bradley manning is on the team leader questions his loyalty to the u.s. code it's just a day off that the judge refuses to drop the key charge against the whistleblower of aiding the enemy. the live pictures for you right here while the bad egyptian army fires tear gas on clashes with supporters of the ousted president mohamed morsy in cairo as a thousand strong crowd marches towards the presidential palace live pictures that right here on out. on that little ball freedom for novelli the russian opposition is released with travel restrictions before his appeal is heard just a day off they're being handcuffed in court. and israel reels over an imminent e.u. financial blockade it's.