US media, gov't silent about continiung murders in Ukraine - Stephen Cohen

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Well-known researcher of Russian studies Stephen Cohen has harshly criticized the US president's administration's position on Ukraine. Cohen's article has been published by The Nation. He blames the US press for warped judgement and evasiveness.

"Obama's administration's response, as well as that of new cold war hawks in the Congress and the leading media, is two-fold: silence periodically broken with statements in support of Kiev which encourages the latter to new atrocities," the expert believes.

"Very few Americans, among whom is, notably, independent scholar Gordon Kahn, speak against this scandalous aiding. We gallantly disagree about the reasons and methods of solving the Ukrainian crisis which resulted in a serious confrontation between Russia and the US for the first time in decades, but we keep silent about those deeds that are coming or have already come to the level of war crimes," Cohen says.

The US scholar points out that the precedent of a coup was created as early as in the autumn of 2013. It was created by Maidan supporters in West Ukraine who protested against Yanukovych and in some places even announced independence from his policy, Cohen stresses.

The historian believes Kiev's actions in the east of the country are illegitimate. Kiev's 'anti-terrorist' policy is creating a climate of fear in the attacked cities. Terrified by shelling and bombing, by helicopters and fighter jets in the sky, families are hiding in cellars and other dark shelters. Even The New York Times which, similarly to the other leading US media, avoids mentioning the atrocities reported about Slavyansk survivors who are living like  they are in the Middle Ages. Meanwhile, a growing number of refugees, mostly women and children, are crossing the border to Russia, Cohen writes. He also disagrees with downplaying the role of Ukrainian nationalists in the development of the crisis. He criticises US champions of Kiev for claiming that Ukrainian neo-Nazis are just turned-on nationalists, a kind of Euro-populists, who do not enjoy people's support and consequently are of no importance.

He is against comparing Putin with Nazis. "Well-known Americans, such as Hillary Clinton, Zbigniew Brzezinski or George Will, are comparing Putin to Hitler. This is an example of new cold warriors hastily and recklessly undermining the US national security in the fields in which cooperation with Putin's government is of paramount importance. If we look ahead we can say that potential presidents who say such things will not be welcomed by Putin with open arms because his brother died and his father sustained injuries in the war against Nazism," Cohen writes.

The expert is urging Americans to act. "Today when Ukraine is approaching a humanitarian catastrophe Obama and Kerry seem to have disappeared as statesmen. They have stepped in the background leaving the floor to lower-rank officials, only from time to time speaking about Kiev's and Washington's good intentions and Putin's responsibility for the violence," Cohen says.

Cohen believes that Obama's administration justifies Ukrainian authorities' crimes. Following the bloody events in Odessa, Obama welcomed the Ukrainian government's 'restraint'. After that the US administration blocked Russia's initiative for a UN humanitarian corridor between East Ukraine and Russia.

Cohen also criticizes the US media. "During the Ukrainian crisis they are behaving just as narrow-mindedly and evasively as the White House and the Department of State. They are smoothing over the atrocities and on the whole are relying on information coming from Washington and Kiev," Cohen says.
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_07_03/US-media-keeps-silence-about-murders-in-Ukraine-as-well-as-US-Department-of-State-Stephen-Cohen-8209/