Stephen f cohen on vladimir putin memes

Sign up for Democracy Now! An estimated were arrested in parallel rallies in Moscow and St. We look at the state of Russian politics and the motivations behind the protest movement. An estimated or people were arrested in rallies in Moscow and St. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe says there have been widespread claims of fraud and vote violations.

Putin also drew crowds of supporters in Moscow with thousands gathering to celebrate his victory. Thank you. Has Putin won legitimately the presidency of Russia? Is that legitimacy? But it is a new issue in Russian politics, the legitimacy of the government, and this idea that making the Russian government illegitimate somehow, either in the eyes of its own people or in the eyes of the West, would be a good thing.

And nobody asks what that would mean for us or for Russian.

Stephen f cohen on vladimir putin memes

What does this mean for him to return to the presidency after being prime minister? It was imposed on the country in by Yeltsin after he used tanks against the parliament. That was a lost opportunity, because in the whole of Russian history, Russia has had lots of autocratic leaders. But the power is in the Kremlin, most symbolically, traditionally and constitutionally.

Now, what we got in the United States is a media narrative that says the opposition are the people in the streets. But the established opposition are the parties in parliament, the non-Kremlin parties. You had me as a guest in December after the parliamentary elections, when the Communists doubled their vote, from 10 percent of the parliamentary vote to The Communist Party, whether we like it or not in this country, remains the only nationwide opposition party.

In this brief talk, delivered on 2 December aboard The Nation's annual cruise, Professor Cohen tries to revise popular perceptions of Vladimir Putin as a leader by putting him in historical and contemporary context. Updates Right in Your Inbox Keep up-to-date on all upcoming events. There are problems with your form input:. Thank you, we received your message and will contact you as soon as possible.

I agree that my submitted data is being collected and stored. What could be more racist than barring Russian tennis players from playing at Wimbledon? If you are Russian, you must be a tainted and eternally tarnished partial human being. Well, I am hardly going to sort these matters out fully, but I have chosen the late Stephen F. From Putin and Ukraine to Trump and Russiagate as a companion to get a handle on the demonization of Putin one of several core themes.

We appear to be stumbling around in the darkness; maybe Cohen can beam some light into this darkness shrouding our understanding of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Cohen is well-qualified to be our guide. I first heard him on The John Batchelor show, commenting lucidly on Russian issues and concerns. Before that he had spent a lively career as a public intellectual on the CBS evening news with Dan Rather.

In the s and s he faced a solid wall of conservative critics with verve and calmness. But in the s and into the 21 st century he was a lone voice in the midst of mostly hysterical and shrill commentators. He had less attention from the public — and faced off with endless Russiagate fanatics running around accusing Putin of destroying the American election.

He believed, also deeply, that America, by rejecting the development of co-operative relations in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, set the world on a treacherous pathway to nuclear confrontation. War with Russia? From Putin and Ukraine to Trump and Russiagate consists largely of scripts from radio talks and articles from The Nation.

One gains critical insights a touch haphazardly, but insights there are. Here are a few. From reading news reports, one might imagine that Vladimir Putin is akin to the giant gorilla, King Kong, who emerges from the dark jungle to torment America. It is an alibi for not having one.