Here's more on the furor around Stephen Cohen, a professor emeritus in the U.S. who is regarded by some as exceedingly pro-Putin (we have experienced our own Cohen furor, too):
Here's an excerpt of that Interpreter Mag piece:
Stephen Cohen, professor emeritus of New York University and Princeton University, appeared on the Thom Hartmann "progressive" radio show on January 26, falsely claiming that the US was training "extremely right-wing" fighters in the Ukrainian military and Americans were fighting alongside them.
Neither claim is true, but are based on Kremlin propaganda outlets such as RT.comwhich may have a small audience on television, but gain a wider circulation from an Internet site and YouTube channel disseminated through social media.
To understand why Cohen could be receptive to such claims, it's helpful to know that he has a long history of tilting toward the Kremlin in his critique of the American government, and in recent years has been openly supportive of President Vladimir Putin.
Cohen also believes that World War III is about to break out, as he told Thom Hartmann during the show:
Washington is determined to strike at Russia, short of militarily -- but maybe that, too -- as hard as possible. Europe is divided. About half of Europe wants the sanctions to end against Russia partly because they're having an economic blowback in Europe.
In fact, it's not really "half of Europe" but as even Russian propagandists are forced to concede, just seven countries highlighted in recent weeks which are believed to be advocating the lifting of sanctions, but which have not prevailed in internal EU debates. They include Austria, Hungary, Italy, Cyprus, Slovakia, France and the Czech Republic -- countries either heavily dependent on Russian gas, or who do significant business with Russia, or where right-wing governments have allied with Putin.
As we reported today, Greece has just joined this group with the election of a new government, an alliance between the far-left SYRIZA and the far-right ANEL parties, two pro-Putin parties now stalling the EU's effort to extend sanctions over Russia's war in Ukraine.
Cohen spoke of an "Archduke Ferdinand" scenario where "the dominoes crash, and you end up with World War III." It starts, he says, because "oil glues the economies of these countries" in the European Union dependent on Russian gas and oil.
Cohen describes how fierce fighting was renewed in a large and important city last weekend (he means Mariupol) -- and says while Washington is blaming Russia for this escalation, "it's not clear." He then contends:
Now we get reports -- confirmed -- that an American general...Benjamin Hodges, has arrived in that area to train what they call the National Guard. This is in effect these battalions -- often extremely right-wing -- some would say neo-fascist -- I won't say that but there is that suspicion fighting against the Russian-backed rebels in the eastern Ukraine.
"The renewed fighting in the Ukraine might mean such a domino," he says, as a political dispute in Ukraine becomes a Ukrainian civil war. He claimed to have predicted that "the two sides would align with Russia and Washington, and would become a proxy war," and that now this "proxy war could lead us to a Cuban Missile crisis situation."
In fact, as Defense News explains, American soldiers will begin training four companies of the Ukrainian National Guard only in April, as Lt. Gen. Hodges, head of US Army in Europe said during his first visit to Kiev on January 21. There are no trainers in Mariupol now.
Russian war propaganda repeatedly ties the ultranationalist group Right Sector to the National Guard, but has not substantiated claims of atrocities.
And the companies that the US will be training are in the National Guard, not the volunteer battalions.
Don't forget to read the RT complaint at the bottom of the Interpreter post!
A bunker at a commandeered gasoline station at Popasna, in Luhansk region.
Not necessarily very convincing:
In a post on his personal blog, Varoufakis said media had distorted the position of the new leftist-led government. The complaint made by Athens to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini had been about a lack of consultation, not about the sanctions themselves, he added....
Varoufakis said Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias told cabinet colleagues on Tuesday that he had heard on news bulletins that the EU had unanimously approved sanctions against Russia.
"The problem was that he, and the new Greek government, were never asked!," Varoufakis wrote in a blog post. "So, clearly, the issue was not whether our new government agrees or not with fresh sanctions on Russia. The issue is whether our view can be taken for granted without even being told of what it is!"
From Catherine Fitzpatrick:
In a program on Ukraine's Channel 5, Lt. Gen. Murzhenko said that the Ukrainian military did not possess any proof of the massive participation of the regular Russian army in the conflict in the Donbass.
"Now we have only facts of participation by individual citizens of the Russian Federation and servicemen of the Russian army who are members of unlawful armed formations. I will also say that the Ukrainian Army is not fighting the regular units of the army of Russia."
Lt. Gen. Murzhenko said that the involvement of individual Russian forces in the conflict in the Donbass was completely confirmed:
Avdiivka, just north of Donetsk, has been shelled by both sides of the conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists. There are no soldiers in the town, and many inhabitants have also left. Those who remain have no running water or electricity, many have no gas. Schools and shops are closed. RFE/RL's Shahida Yakub calls it a ''city of ghosts.'' She filed this video report:
Quotes from officials arriving for today's extraordinary EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting on Ukraine in Brussels:
British Minister for Europe David Lidington: "I believe that it is the duty of the EU now to prepare options for the future including, I think it is now necessary, the possibility of further restrictive measures on Russia which our leaders could then consider depending on what happens on the ground [in eastern Ukraine]."
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Garcia-Margallo y Marfil: "I think we have to see how the situation evolves and the aim of this council is first to condemn what has happened in Ukraine, second to call again for a dialogue between all parties, and third to keep the sanctions as they are and study the possibility to add new sanctions if this situation don't evolve for the better."
Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders: "We are waiting for a clear statement from the Greek government inside the room. I have listened to some comments outside but now we are just waiting for a clear and correct statement inside the room. But I hope that it will be possible to go further with the same consensus in the Foreign Affairs Council because there are so many dramatic situations on the ground in Ukraine that is needed maybe today to take new restrictive measure today targeting some persons, targeting some entities and I will see if it is possible to do that with everyone on board."
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin (left) and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg speaking after their meeting at NATO headquarters today:
Klimkin:
"We are unfortunately unable to implement the Minsk agreement, including the cease-fire, including the withdrawal of forces, but also effective control for the Ukrainian-Russian border and starting, at least starting, effective political process there."
"[What happened in Mariupol] is for me indeed a terrorist act, but also a crime which goes beyond any sort of political responsibility, and the perpetrators should be brought not just to justice, but should end up in the Hague in the International Criminal Court."
"We have clear understanding that another heinous terrorist act could bring about the whole spiral of violence in a totally different direction. So, I understand that the [EU foreign] ministers [in Brussels] are ready to prepare a bold and robust statement about supporting Ukraine, about further ideas how to increase pressure on Russia also in the sense of possible restrictive measures."
Stoltenberg:
"We have seen the increased fighting in Ukraine and we are very much concerned about the situation and also about the continued support of Russia to the separatists."