{"id":6352,"date":"2015-05-04T22:07:13","date_gmt":"2015-05-05T04:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/?p=6352"},"modified":"2015-05-04T22:07:13","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T04:07:13","slug":"ukraine-the-epicenter-of-global-geopolitical-transformation-stephen-cohen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/?p=6352","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine the Epicenter of\u00a0Global Geopolitical Transformation \u2013 Stephen Cohen"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

<\/h1>\n
\u00a9 AP Photo\/ Petr David Josek<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
POLITICS<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/i>2982<\/span><\/i>39<\/span><\/i>4<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Prominent American historian Stephen Cohen believes that Ukraine is the epicenter of a global geopolitical transformation, and that the world as it existed before the crisis will never be the same again.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

Speaking on\u00a0the John Batchelor radio program, Dr. Cohen observed that while “we talk each week about\u00a0the micro and macro events emanating from\u00a0the Ukraine crisis, we’re living through\u00a0a geopolitical transition, and to\u00a0what we do not know.” In any case, “the world will not again be the way looked 5-6 years ago, at\u00a0least in\u00a0Europe. These are historic times, and the epicenter is Ukraine.”<\/p>\n

Noting that the “essential confrontation” in\u00a0the conflict “is between\u00a0the United States and Russia,” Cohen believes that Europe and China too are reconfiguring and reorienting themselves around\u00a0events in\u00a0Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Fears of\u00a0Ukrainian Military Conflict Reigniting<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"US<\/div>\n
\u00a9 REUTERS\/ JONATHAN ERNST<\/a><\/div>\n
NATO Commander Backs US Providing Offensive Weapons to Ukraine<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Speaking about\u00a0the dangers of\u00a0the military conflict in\u00a0Ukraine spreading into\u00a0a wider regional war, Professor Cohen warned that “very loud and authoritative voices in\u00a0Kiev, Washington and in\u00a0the NATO Headquarters in\u00a0Brussels, are saying almost daily that a larger war is coming and coming soon. Each blames the other; Kiev, Washington and Brussels are saying that Russia is going to\u00a0launch this war. But Moscow is warning that all this war talk is preparation for\u00a0a Kiev-led US-backed assault on\u00a0eastern Ukraine. The appearance of\u00a0American, Canadian and UK trainers to\u00a0train Ukrainian National Guard makes Moscow think that this too is part of\u00a0the preparation.”Russia Does Not Seek to\u00a0Rebuild the USSR, or a Traditional Sphere of\u00a0Influence<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"Azov<\/div>\n
\u00a9 YOUTUBE<\/a><\/div>\n
Ukrainian Battalion Commander Claims War in East is ‘War of Civilizations’<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Commenting on\u00a0the growing tendency by\u00a0Western politicians and media to\u00a0say that Russia is looking to\u00a0rebuild the Soviet Union, Dr. Cohen argues that “there is absolutely no evidence” to\u00a0confirm this claim. The academic notes that Russia “doesn’t have the resources, the ideology, the inclination, or the popular support. The leaders have another mission in\u00a0mind: They are busy rebuilding at\u00a0home the Russian state that collapsed in\u00a01991, 25 years ago,” which had tremendous negative ramifications in\u00a0every sphere of\u00a0national life.Moreover, disputing theories that Russia seeks to\u00a0build a new, Soviet-style sphere of\u00a0influence, Cohen argues that what Russia wants is something he calls a zone of\u00a0security, not a sphere of\u00a0influence: “[The] sphere of\u00a0influence in\u00a0military terms, which is an 18th and 19th century concept, is completely, utterly obsolete; missiles can fly 3 minutes across\u00a0an entire sphere of\u00a0influence; there’s no defense against\u00a0them in\u00a0that sense; that’s why Russia is adamantly protesting the US and NATO building missile defense right on\u00a0Russia’s border. It wants these areas on\u00a0its border free of\u00a0military threat.”<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Cohen asserts that what Russia wants is a zone of\u00a0security, meaning “no foreign military bases on\u00a0its borders.” And he believes this is completely reasonable:<\/p>\n

“We take what’s a clich\u00e9, but\u00a0a meaningful one: what if Russian or Chinese military bases showed up\u00a0in Mexico and\/or Canada? We would object very, very adamantly, maybe go to\u00a0war over\u00a0it. We threatened to\u00a0do so when the Soviet Union put missiles in\u00a0Cuba. So it seems to\u00a0me a benign, healthy, modern day position that no great power wishes to\u00a0have foreign military bases on\u00a0its borders. Everybody says that’s true in\u00a0the West, except\u00a0when it comes to\u00a0Russia.”<\/p>\n

NATO Expansion and Putin’s Illusions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Responding to\u00a0Batchelor’s question about\u00a0whether the Russian leadership has had debates with\u00a0the US about\u00a0NATO expansion before\u00a0it turned into\u00a0a sore spot under\u00a0Putin, Cohen says that yes, the debates were held, but\u00a0only privately, behind\u00a0closed doors.<\/p>\n

“President [Boris] Yeltsin in\u00a0the 1990s, by\u00a0virtue of\u00a0his psychology, his failing health, and his collapsed economy, had put himself in\u00a0the position of\u00a0being a sycophant of\u00a0the United States. When Clinton decided in\u00a0the second half of\u00a0the 1990s to\u00a0begin the eastern movement of\u00a0NATO, Yeltsin did protest, privately. And he was told ‘why would you protest? This is no longer a military organization, this is about\u00a0political democracy, so it’ll be good for\u00a0you, and in\u00a0addition maybe you’ll join NATO one day.'”<\/p>\n

Cohen argued that of\u00a0course, “this was all eyewash. We have enough archival information to\u00a0know that driving NATO was\u2026a view that Moscow was down, and it should be kept down, and the way you keep it down\u00a0was to\u00a0move NATO eastward.” The professor emeritus pointed out\u00a0that many at\u00a0the time did believe it was an unwise decision, and ultimately “a rooster that would come home to\u00a0roost, as\u00a0it has now.”<\/p>\n

Commenting on\u00a0a new Russian documentary entitled ‘President’, a film about\u00a0Putin’s 15 years in\u00a0high politics featuring over\u00a0an hour long interview with\u00a0the president, Cohen points out\u00a0that in\u00a0the film, Putin explains the he had long held to\u00a0the illusion that the East-West conflict was based on\u00a0ideology. Paraphrasing the president’s words, Cohen noted that even after\u00a0communism was gone, the West “continued to\u00a0behave as\u00a0they have always behaved, animated not by\u00a0anti-communism, but\u00a0by geopolitical ambition.” Cohen notes that the film helps “to explain why [Putin] has evolved personally, from\u00a0a man who sought a full partnership with\u00a0Washington and Europe, even suggesting that Russia might join NATO, to\u00a0the man who has now drawn a line in\u00a0the sand in\u00a0Ukraine.”<\/p>\n

Ukraine Left Out in\u00a0the Cold<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last month, EU officials stated that there would be no further expansion of\u00a0the political and economic union over\u00a0the next decade. In Dr. Cohen’s view, this was a crushing blow to\u00a0all of\u00a0Kiev’s aspirations. “This left Ukraine in\u00a0the Cold. The whole Maidan uprising, the whole political conflict over\u00a0trade agreements was about\u00a0bringing Kiev into\u00a0the European Union. So we’ve had 14 months of\u00a0war and death and destruction, and the destruction of\u00a0the international order, probably irreparably, and the end result is ‘nevermind’.”<\/p>\n

Cohen firmly believes that whether someone likes it or not, “without Russia, Ukraine cannot survive economically. This is just a fact.” Citing close trade ties, dependence on\u00a0remittances by\u00a0Ukrainians working in\u00a0Russia, and two decades of\u00a0discounted energy supplies, Cohen noted that Ukraine “is losing everything” in\u00a0the present conflict, adding that “this is a folly for\u00a0which historians will severely condemn the policy makers behind\u00a0it.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Read more: http:\/\/sputniknews.com\/politics\/20150502\/1021650592.html#ixzz3ZEXcBI98<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a9 AP Photo\/ Petr David Josek POLITICS 21:04 02.05.2015(updated 22:17 02.05.2015) Get short URL 2982394 Prominent American historian Stephen Cohen believes that Ukraine is the epicenter of a global geopolitical transformation, and that the world as it existed before the crisis will never be the same again. Speaking on\u00a0the John Batchelor radio program, Dr. Cohen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6353,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[104,114],"tags":[887,303],"class_list":["post-6352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-world-2","tag-geopolitics","tag-ukraine"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/1018290129.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2SfUR-1Es","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6352"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6354,"href":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6352\/revisions\/6354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}