Neven, I really wish you would provide some CONTEXT instead of posting these pro-Russia videos.
So that I don't have to do it.
Some quotes from the Real News Network (my bolded):
STEPHEN COHEN: Well, let's begin by saying that there's hardly been a time when Putin did not call for good relations with the United States, ...
That's the first sentence, and it already calls for CONTEXT.
The problem is that what Putin says and what Putin does are most often completely opposite.
He even calls Ukrainians his 'friends' and 'brothers', while he is killing them in the Donbas and trying every single method to destroy their state economically, militarily and otherwise (including hacking into and taking down their power grid).
https://www.wired.com/story/russian-hackers-attack-ukraine/And if you still don't believe me, then believe the hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers that were killed when they went into the 'humanitarian corridor' that Putin promised them out of Ilovaisk :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_IlovaiskBut back to the subject, one of the first things Cohen says is that Putin said that the start of the "Arms Race" (which I'm not sure actually exists) was the moment the US withdrew from the ABM Treaty in 2002. Now we need even more CONTEXT.
The ABM Treaty was always a bit of a long shot. It restricted DEFENSE against incoming nuclear missiles. It assured that MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction) remained in place. It basically ties your arms around your back, so that nobody would punch a first blow in a boxing match. Works great as long as there are only two parties involved, but right after 9/11 and the fear of WMD from rogue nations with nuclear weapons that strategy would no longer work. That's why the US stepped out of the ABM Treaty. It makes so much more sense to reduce OFFENSIVE weapons, and increase DEFENSIVE weapons.
So that is what the US and Russia agreed upon in 2002. They signed the SORT treaty, which significantly reduced nuclear OFFENSIVE weapons (from 6000 down to below 2000) :
https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/05/20020524-10.htmlThis is what Putin said at that time :
PRESIDENT PUTIN: I concur with the assessment given by my colleague, Mr. Bush. And naturally, our position is well-known, we are guided by the facts that it's more worthwhile perhaps to eliminate a certain part of nuclear potentials. At the same time, I'd like to point out another thing here. Any man who has at least once in his career dealt with arms, had arms in his hands, at least to hunt or a rifle or whatever, he knows that it's much better, much safer to have it in stock disarmed, disassembled perhaps, rather than to have it in your arms and charged with bullets in it and with your finger on the trigger at the same time. This is a different state of affairs, as it were.
Not a PEEP by Putin about the US leaving the ABM Treaty. That's because the SORT strategy made much more sense to both parties than the ABM Treaty.
Do you guys get it ? Pay attention to what Putin DOES, not to what he SAYS.
Heck, it's just been a few weeks since Russia used a nerve agent in the UK, and then denied it.
Please don't fall into that trap (of believing Putin's words) over and over again.
And that was just the first few minutes into this video.
There is so much more BS by Cohen in this video.