no americans you know we tend to approach everything as if we can start from scratch it's a very enduring and positive characteristics of america a kind of can do overcome the obstacles don't get stuck in the past but sometimes we go too far and there are elements of the past that cannot be ignored if we want to approach a country that doesn't just mean russia china has historical grievances it issues with its neighbors with us with japan korea iran the shaw nine hundred fifty three the airliner shoot down we can't approach any of these countries as if it all started with each new administration and yet we tend to do that it's an american weakness it's also a strength but mostly a weakness but i also feel like fresh equals like the perfect enemy like the dr evil for america is a very good narrative for americans. having russia as an enemy is much more logical than this undefined terrorism thing maybe

we're show us relations are actually a victim to a perfect narrative that russia fits into a perfect enemy. there's there's something very important to what you're saying i think it works both ways i think we have this reciprocal us in russia and america is a good enemy for russia and part of it is as you say it's almost psychological if it wasn't there you have to create it there's a tendency to find a demon or an adversary the black and whites the cowboy but there's also concrete things that each side have done to help fuel that enemy image but you're right we are the two biggest powers in the world still china is. a century and that doesn't help it and i don't mean to say the cold war is back the way it was at say in the sixty's seventy's or through the eighty's but we stand astride the world and we have this relationship that eased a bit after the cold war but then we both fell back into the old tropes and patterns so easily that is exactly what we and then talk about after the break so

hold your thought there will take a break right now when we're back with robert english former policy analyst at a u.s. defense department will discuss more whether u.s. russia relations have crossed a point of no return stay with us. as he should be. one of the people so he be in luck because quote i'm on the bus with . just me one which i mean i well me and nothing. but the same.

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and we're back with robert english former policy analyst at the u.s. defense department talking about the current low point in u.s. russia relations welcome back robert know mitt romney when he was running for president he actually tried to play the russia foreign policy card in his presidential election and he was ridiculed by obama it was like oh my god that is so eighty's bringing russia back as a foreign policy car but then you know in twenty twelve the relations between us and russia started deteriorating slowly and then in his next state of the union speech he was talking about russia and then you know the second thing we know that the pentagon says that russia is the biggest threat for america so maybe actually romney was ahead of his time. and why why why did this car play out so well now but it didn't for him. well what you really ask is what's gone wrong with our relations

since the answer is that relations have deteriorated both sides bear blame for that and suddenly rodney's seems pression seems farsighted although well i think he said something like the greatest geo political threats. even in the pentagon i don't care what they put in that report i talk to defense department people navy people all the time they're looking at china right sometimes those documents and those pronouncements have a budget purpose of mind they want to get a new weapons system they're there they're sort of tacking to the political wind to appeal to some some of the district but on the whole our military establishment they know that china is a big but it's also convenient to say russia is doing this in the arctic russia is doing this in the mediterranean because it helps. them tell you because he's not going to upset china and american ties to china economic ties he can always blame everything on russia and you know people love it they go with it they're well with

it it's like the old cold war paradigm times on this or that but this is interesting because you pointed out that i used to work in the department defense and i my research i'm a university professor now but my research in specially recently on the arctic keeps me in contact with people who are in or around the defense establishment and when i ask about what's happening in the arctic why are some people sounding the alarm my interpretation of russia's new bases and new capabilities is a very sensible thing russia should be doing this to trade the environmental issues navigation safety search and rescue why is there this drumbeat of threat and they say to me we know it's not true that's political we actually think that russia is doing sensible things in the arctic we have managed to cooperate for almost twenty years since the creation of the arctic council in fact it's more than twenty years but we know that our secretaries at the top like to go to congress and say whoop and get. money for new weapons stations so that then there is the the pentagon

people do well research people who actually know and see behind the narrative that's popular but then there's the narrative and american people assessing whatever it is that they hear and see in the t.v. so when when you do things straight or when others do things you usually imagine yourself doing it like you imagine like this is what you do so that's why the others do it for instance i'm sure like for americans russia crimea russia syria is the same thing as americans going to libya or iraq or afghanistan for that matter but really it's so much different because russia crimea is like united states and florida and russia syria is actually really handling immediate threats of homegrown terrorism extremism right next to a border it's not a will or over the ocean for us you know everywhere for america and were over the

ocean that has nothing to do with proximity of your borders so do you feel like americans they actually see these one assessing russia's actions no difference it's an american actions are from russian action whether it goes all the way back to the second world war and the feeling of vulnerability to repeated invasions from germany from the west and the need that stalin felt to create a kind of buffer zone of allied countries all the way to the present and what happens in chechnya what happens in syria in afghanistan how close those terrorist threats are to russia americans have never fully appreciated the jew graphic vulnerability that russia's geography condemns it to they have a general idea that we're a great power we mess around in the world russia is a great power they mess around we usually do good things we're not so sure about them there is a kind of sense of a quote but definitely it doesn't sufficiently taken do account the vulnerability of being in central you. or asia so you've said that there's

a minority among us politicians should believe that putin isn't after upsetting the world order but he's actually defending russia's interests so can there be a known hawkish view on russia in today's united states that would immediately be labeled as a pro con lean croqueted should be sponsored propaganda. it might not be quite that extreme but look i have colleagues i consider myself a balanced person with a lot of experience i was with ambassador matlock our former ambassador i would consider him in that league and their displeasure is thing in america and. you know it's it's dangerous to be too sympathetic to russia even when you have a good argument and could back it with facts the atmosphere right now is so rusa phobic that people are trimming their sails i want to say it's a mccarthyite mccarthyist atmosphere but it's a very toxic one i do think however. that walk made this point and he sees it all and he saw reagan and gorbachev calm and make peace that it will take on both sides

dynamic leadership to break that an ordinary person fiona hill right in the n.s.c. or robert english at my university somebody else maybe in the white house probably would be pilloried as being too soft being an apologist but someone really strong in the white house and respected i don't know if that's probably not bernie sanders i don't know if that's joe biden he's very anti russian i don't know who the candidate on the horizon is but i can imagine the american president saying enough we have bigger problems and we have a call and poll tried to do that when he came but look what happened i mean this current president is this is not the best messenger or coherent policy on russia he had a good core idea i even wrote that there's nothing wrong you know why was he pilloried for saying let's try to get along with russia it's of the best interest of both countries in the world who can disagree with that do you think of his. do you think

if he somehow in the weird strange way manages to make peace with north korea then he would be like this. major foreign policy breakthrough and then they would go for russia especially if it goes against all all the things the experts predicted and he still pulls it off could do that that could buy him some credibility and he could say you guys all told me i didn't know what i was doing and look what i did i compost something that obama couldn't and bush could i'm not sure that's going to happen but worth to happen it would definitely change his stature as a foreign policy leader as a regional break the mold kind of thinker i wish that could happen. as well. all right so the main point between us and russia right now is that since the made to thousands putin has been very clear that the current post cold war order is not reflecting of the world reality anymore that the liberal western way out and of history it didn't happen that russia wants to sit at

a table an equal say when it comes to deciding matters of the world and especially when it comes to put in his backyard i mean the close soviet area why don't the americans take this point seriously. no disrespect but we're asking the same question again what's gone wrong because you the premise of your question is isn't this reasonable why can't it work as a policy as a basis for accommodation between the two countries the answer is russia and putin have been so demonized and again not without having helped some of that along themselves and our political establishment so quickly slid back into the cold war the right to. be fair occasionally fair everything that russia has done from the two thousand regarding the west has been at defensive action rather than offensive everything that west doesn't like right now in terms of whether it's crimea or whether it's ukraine it's a defensive action it's

a reaction rather than anything else i am sympathetic to what you're saying about russia defending its legitimate national interests and if the shoe were on the other foot americans would understand how sensitive crimea is both strategically and historically i guess what i'm saying is that the leadership on the two sides have almost stopped caring i mean the previous leadership i mean the obama clinton . and president putin himself they seem to have given up on each other and so when certain moves are made they almost seem to be done to give maximum offense and continue feeling that i can imagine well i don't know i wasn't there but i can imagine a russia defending its national interests in a way that doesn't help the hawks in the united states but putin has this image of such a hard guy. and i would only blame him for not caring about american public opinion

anymore because it seems like no matter what he does there's an unfair response none the less what i'm saying is it's got very personal and you're right i was aghast when not only obama but clinton the we had. our national leaders who are descended to comparing president putin to saddam hussein or adult hitler even in the worst days of the cold war there were certain lines we didn't cross in personalising. discourse definitely there and there was some respect and this recognition that that's just going to take us down a spiral unnecessarily so when i say that i see the training of our experts our foreign policy culture in the us as having you know gone to a huge step back from the old days of the wise men of his'n jurors and so forth this is what i mean this was inconceivable before this and it happens on both sides the demonization it's not just the americans demonizing although. i'm an american

so i was very critical of our side of that but it's understood certainly exacerbated personalizing our differences makes is so much harder later to come to the table and we build something it's got so personal we now city. and let's hope there's still some hope there because people like you come here and then they go back and say what they really see and whatever really is happening is russia i still think that it helps a little by little but that's how the world changes could be that we need a common enemy again i don't mean another nazi germany it could be some climatic disaster it could be something the pacific think we should just start to respect each other's world views and realized course we sure things are done differently in different parts of the world and there's not just one america there are like how many billion people living in the world or just one russia we need to leave. your incense you know thank you so much for this wonderful talk for the century had a really nice rest of the stay hope we'll meet again soon we were talking to robert

english scholar of international relations what were policy analyst at the u.s. defense department discussing what are the prospects of u.s. russia ties going back to normal and that's it for this edition of sophia kohout see you next time.

and sort of see. all the old. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guest in the world of politics sports business i'm show business i'll see you then.

yes phone no i don't have what was the last time that you went on the internet no i'm not using these village is it safe because. i sure there is no actual music ters there and they are all going to be sure the baby does a class of his that is the. question we're going on we thought. is a death as part of the other so can we get. a. bit more work i risk. previously yes and no they are being false form in a very misleading member of the society. that you left out.

of. the headlines on oxy international day five of the world cup will see england take home to new zealand in volgograd and ahead of the match shotty put both teams fans to the test. it's all a postcode it's all about football i think up until fota i could see where you were going to have a little bit of the game the idea here is thinking that this is true it is yet during. the six day bowl five six seven. on sunday proved to be a right old shaka with switzerland holding giants brazil to a draw and mexico defeating reigning champions germany ultimately sending the fans into rapturous.

in other stories when our international coalition cracks widen in germany as an angle or michaels and syria minister is quoted as saying he can no longer work with . so with your latest world cup numbers and the world's top headlines welcome to your news here on r.t. international. three

russian host cities are gearing up for world cup clashes today sunday's games though left many fans stunned none more so than fans of germany and brazil. peter schmeichel break down the action in our studio in the heart of moscow. costa rica the school there one nil and it was a terrific free kick i think i think i i. mexico with fantastic makes a face right so quickly the right course germany all sorts of problems they for sure found a way to play against germany i think it's and i know i want to use the very same thing i scored seventy goals i

i think. he's tubed by many people to be a world cup star and in his first game scoring this cool but he was exploiting them is that the sense that they didn't find this incredible i mean i've never seen germany play they lacked so much imagination the game went on the more desperate germany became and they were trying to win the ball back and then the next game play is very very clever in the way he defended chefs he was outside the stadium today on a machine he said caught up with a few of these mexican fans and psyching out the atmosphere saying. jubilant mexicans not only they essentially outnumbered the german fans maybe three to one they were also maybe five times louder in the stadium itself ah so the atmosphere coming from the mexican fans was absolutely surreal the mexican

fans camped out in moscow for the past four or five days very much jubilant some of that was climbing on top of trucks and dancing and singing also looks like a custom some brando's wrestling masks different national coasters and all such we've seen them all today here in abundance as well. i think we should feel sorry for one german fan who he didn't see often civil boarding a plane and flying it's a russian that's a russian state he travels two thousand kilometers all the way from students. so you spend a month on the road arriving in perfect time for the match comedy prize dog only to see the scene lose to mexico and what we have to say was a very very can support thing to him in performance here's a look at who's doing. it

is i'm seventy years old my tracks are easy to see the use of the transport would be too easy i'd learned nothing to our country on. the old to let me show you three are very expensive on the route feel the joy visit feeling me to say goodbye exist this is such a. you . know i really feel sorry for this family so if you i know you see

a guy and attractive you know stop and think of him ha i think you do so if. it's from fidel sensual because good thing i got brazil off to a great start and with a terrific strike from him safe and is a strike that we saying from the little man quite often isn't if i'm just focused on this one just like you guys thank you or was thank you for you if you position in these so. that you will still be think you have more. useful because of the show and impossible for some to have to go for it some people feel i don't think is a drama for these big teams not to win the first match when i was in jena doesn't do in spain doesn't mean for children isn't it. well for them and it was still doesn't mean i don't think it's a dremel for the passing. i think they all know that i want to thank you. and it's

probably good for them to put their feet on the ground and these probably also would form. for their country and also to keep to keep coming but obviously big football nations lots of expectations critics will. come. up my profile of the pundits but the profiles. of the. from strong immediately began by saying they all will qualify and the best of the system seems to me that. has switzerland who has special players they don't have but the work people will slowly shout of was fantastic let me feel this as we predict it will slowly some of the far. better and the some of that in the future

and in football this possible that these teams. can beat. six of ten times but it's possible you know in ten times as possible that they get three draws and when once and this is a beautiful thing i'll see how the swiss fans are doing and rushed up. this is in red are absolutely psyched and they're telling me that this draw is like a victory for them. already lost my voice we had a really good game this like it winning the championship already the first day. there will have to be a break in some in rostov brazilian fans are telling me that they don't understand how they weren't able to defeat switzerland in the first game of the world cup the

match was very very bad friends you didn't favor. every hour in the second half goal for all swiss land was. it was off the low the and now we have to wake up but after what i saw earlier on sunday i'm sure that the fans of she will go bazil will get back to party mode very quickly. because. we're in rostov on don southern russia but i'll tell you one day this place feels more like the copacabana beach in rio perhaps but as soon as that good piano does it feel like rush hour more like brazil this is more like brazil i know but these wonderful time wonderful people we love to be here in russia showing that's good have fun does it feel like russia or brazil here now that's still to live or is it here maybe it's warm everyone having

a good time some it's brazil in russia right now. that might have done us years now the load like this stuff pretty box over the place. well finally i can see that at this point fans are trying to catch up as well how long. have the urn rostov on don how are you feeling here that today nice and the people are very nice to us here as like a family their football family you know we're focused family. them . on. this it good one of the. rude.

crude.