Stephen Cohen: As Obama Starts Second Term, His Russian ‘Reset’ Is Dead

Stephen Cohen: As Obama Starts Second Term, His Russian ‘Reset’ Is Dead

The latest political row over the Magnitsky Act merely continues America's failure to engage with Russia under Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and now Barack Obama.

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Political tensions with Russia have escalated sharply since the passage of the Magnitsky Act and of Russian legislation barring Americans from adopting Russian children. These latest developments, however, are symptomatic of a greater American failure to work effectively with Russia that started under Bill Clinton and continued under George W. Bush and Obama, Stephen Cohen argued on the latest episode of Suzi Weissman's show on Los Angeles radio station KPFK. 

Cohen also discussed the ongoing student occupation of a Moscow university, an important development that the American media has neglected to cover. Listen to the full audio for more.

—Alec Luhn

Are the US and Russia in the midst of a new Cold War? Read Cohen's criticism of the Magnitsky Act on TheNation.com, as well as Katrina vanden Heuvel's take on Dima's Law, which bans American adoptions of Russian children.

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