Russiagaters allege, with no evidence, that "Russia attacked America" in 2016, but many Russians believe-with reasonable cause-that the US has been attacking their country for 25 years.Professor Emeritus of Politics and Russian Studies (at Princeton and NYU) Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor continue their (usually) weekly discussions of the new US-Russian Cold War. (Previous installments, now in their fourth year, are at TheNation.com.)Cohen's subject is both contemporary and historical. The most central, ramifying, and dangerous allegation of Russiagate is that "Russian attacked American democracy" during the 2016 presidential election. After 18 months, there is still no credible evidence for this allegation. On the other hand, many Russians - in the policy elite, the educated middle class, and ordinary citizens - believe that "the United States has been at war with Russia" for 25 years, a perception regularly expressed in the Russian media.
They believe this for understandable reasons.American commentators attribute such views to "Kremlin propaganda." It is true, Cohen points out, that Russians, like Americans, are strongly influenced by what appears in the media, especially on television, and that Russian television news reporting and commentary are no less politicized than their US counterparts.
But elite and middle-class Russians are no less informed and critical-minded than American ones. Indeed, they have more access to daily American news and opinions - from cable and satellite TV, US-funded Russian-language broadcasts and Internet sites, and from Russian sites, such as
inosmi.ru, that translate scores of American media articles into Russian daily -
than most Americans have to Russian media. (The recent censoring steps taken by the Department of Justice against RT and Sputnik might be viewed in this context.) Generally, Cohen argues, many more Russians are much better informed about Washington politics than Americans are about Moscow politics.
Comment: It will be interesting to see if the DOJ actually produces all the information requested by the House Intelligence Committee. After months of stonewalling, one can only assume they contain rather damning evidence of what's been going on behind the scenes of the Trump-Russia probe.
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