"The question remains: Why is Trump in Putin’s thrall?'' Answer: Trump was to lift sanctions in return for $12,000,000,000 interest in Rosneft, Russian oil company, but can't get it done. Reason for one on one meeting with Putin (can't have F.B.I listening) is to re-negotiate their BRIBE agreement. See trumpbribe.com
5
"If you told him a plane falls out of the sky when it runs out of fuel, and the president’s gut told him otherwise, he’d stick to his line."
Surely there's a strategy to be culled from that somehow.
1
Mostly a very good column, Mr. Cohen. Too bad you had to sully it with your needless swipe at Finland.
4
Trump's Anti-Union animus extends to the country he is currently leading over a cliff. Indeed I fully expect him to ram through a change to the Pledge of Allegiance: I Pledge Allegiance to Disunited States of America and to the ……..
1
Well, Russia's border with the Fins is a big d deal, especially for the Finns.
Were I Finnish, then neutralism would seemingly make good sense.
4
A delusional article on so many levels. The US is nothing like Finland, the US has never been committed to the ideals of liberty democracy or free societies or they wouldn't back dictators everywhere they go. Just too silly for words.
9
If Trump was on the payroll of Russia and China to damage the United States in as many ways as possible, he could not have done a better job. Hence, he is (whether directly on indirectly), and job well done!
2
Trump is an off-the-charts repudiation of everything the United States has stood for since 1776.
5
Obviously, Cohen skipped a couple of his WWII history classes.
The Marshal Plan was about self-serving political expedience, principally putting Germany on the front line against Stalin and a place to sell American-made stuff--post-War American prosperty.
But it was nice he enjoyed his little vacation to Spain--nice fantasy about the past too.
Time for the EU to pay its own defense bills in full for its many and several members.
5
I consider Trump a wacky Chamberlain type, personally. That is, no sense of people or himself or the damage he could do. Regarding Finland, not sure they had a choice at that time, they had adjoining borders with Russia - and Russia was incredibly harsh when it wanted to be. We have a choice (still) and the demagogues Trump loves are not on our borders, thank goodness. We'd really be in trouble then, he'd give everything away in a nonce - he's the master negotiator, you know. However you call it, the cartoon with Trump wiping his golf shoes on the EEU flag most appropriate, and other than reference to Finland, spot on. Keep calling Trump out, even if only your supporters read your words. There's an off chance a Republican can read, might pick up one of your pieces and really think about what's happening, of course they'd have to understand what a Democracy is, and want one.
2
Trump is a traitor, elected by conspiracy with Russia, shirking his duty to uphold the Constitution and instead upholding Russian national interests at every opportunity. He needs to be impeached immediately, before he breaks the world economy or the NATO alliance. After impeachment, he should be tried for treason and punished accordingly.
10
Finlandization is based on fear. Finland was right next to the USSR, they had fought two wars with them recently, and they would not survive a third. Most of all they had backed the wrong horse in WWII (Finland was the only democracy to join the Axis) so they had no friends in the West to back them up. Thus they adopted the softly-softly posture of the Cold War, and did not poke the bear.
Trump doesn't have to do that. He is leaving America's Western allies in the cold because he's petty and ignorant, and thinks only of his cheering crowds at home.
Does that mean Europe will shrink before Russia? Not necessarily. They have much more power than them collectively - potentially more than the US too - if only they would get their act together. Ironically, Trump's abandonment of them might just prompt them to do so.
4
Roger Cohen... read New York Magazine... Putin’s assets are discussed there, and Trump is one of them.
7
"Why is Trump in Putin’s thrall?" -Roger Cohen, Opinioin Columnist of NYT
“Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets…we see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.” –Trump Jr, 2008
“We don’t rely on American banks. We have all the Funding we need out of Russia.” Eric Trump, 2014
It is not nice, Mr. Cohen, to depreciate a country or ethnic culture, in order to sensationalize a brief essay. Regardless of everything that Trumps and his lackeys swear too, the fact remains that Russia owns him and probably everyone who is related to him. He is Warren Buffet after all. Any person who has declared bankruptcy as many times as Trump can't begin to measure to Buffet's status. He is no Gates. We all know now that Trump's idea of a charity is one that just keeps on giving...to him. We all know he is no great thinker or scholar. In answer to your question: It's probably not a great love affair with Putin or Russia. If Russia quit financing him he would be living in some back water in Red-neck land. I think that is what he fears the most. Nope. He is not about to take any chances. His loyalty is to the ones who enable him to live as he does; the Russians. That Putin is involve is only happenstance. If America would work with him to gift him what Russia does Trump would be the biggest loudest patriot ever.
4
Another piece confirming that the Idiots are running riots! One wishes that these "all-knower" pompous columnists are sent to farms and fields to do some physical labors once in a few months, so that they keep their feets on earth!
2
"He is an off-the-charts repudiation of everything the United States has stood for since 1945: representative government, liberty, the rule of law, free trade, a rules-based international order, open societies, pluralism and human rights."
Oh for goodness sakes, a bit over the top, no? Every time critics do this they devalue real, fact-based criticism. How has Trump repudiated representative government? What election outcome has he upended? The rule of law? What laws has he ignored? "Open Societies" (as opposed to pluralism ?). Last time i looked we had the most pluralistic society in the world. If you mean unrestricted borders, dream on. We haven't had that since pre 1880's.
There's enough valid criticism of Trump without resorting to this wild over exaggeration.
3
That Trump is somehow indebted to Putin is a disconcerting possibility. However, the alternative, that Trump is acting solely out of a genuine desire to achieve a Putin-esk regime, is even worse. It is worse because it appears that many Americans support this consolidation of power as long as it allows them to maintain their privilege in our society.
4
The US today has a choice.
Russia and China could align against the US.
The US and Russia could align against China.
Which is better for the US?
Richard Nixon's choice is no longer available, US and China against Russia, because of changes in China. A new choice must be made.
Russia has many difficulties with China and with the US, and so this could go either way.
5
"We need a new Joe McCarthy"
No, we don't. But I fear we are seeing it anyway.
7
While I usually find Roger Cohen's columns thoughtful, I'm surprised he used the term Finlandization which has always been a problematic term. Did he forget that the Finns lost a war to the USSR, was forced to sign a peace treaty, and paid about $3 billion in constant dollars of reparations in gold and material? That was the basis of their relationship with the Soviet Union in the Post-WWII period. Finnish neutrality in that era was a wise course of action.
In 1939, Finland had tried defending their country when the Soviet Union demanded territorial concessions...and lost. The good thing is that Finland survived as a continuing, functioning democracy and economy, even though they had to concede 11% of their territory. The country survived while others along the borders of the Soviet Union fell behind the Iron Curtain and became puppet regimes.
What we're experiencing here, today, is the Trumpification of the United States where the executive branch pushes for powers far in excess of previous administrations. Trumpification snubs our North Atlantic allies and praises oligarchies and dictatorships. Mr. Putin's Russia is just one among several.
There was no bromance between the President of Finland and the Premiere of the Soviet Union in the Post-WWII era, just pragmatic negotiation.
5
"Trump is not an unusual American president with contrarian ideas. He is an off-the-charts repudiation of everything the United States has stood for since 1945."
The fact of Trump's presidency is not what amazes. The 2016 election was conducted in a vacuum: the old elites had run out of steam and no vigorous newly-minted establishment was there to replace them. It was a free-for-all. Trump got a unexpected gust of wind at the end from his buddy Comey that pushed him across the line against an unappealingly stale but overconfident opponent who was merely coasting toward the finish.
What amazes is the widespread public indifference to Trump's treachery once he got into office and took a wrecking ball to the edifice of America's historical commitments. For many no outrage is too great so long as the economy continues to hum. For others all forms of scapegoating of foreign nations and peoples is deemed desirable. Traditional American internationalist values have become an empty category.
Even after Trump passes from the scene, the void at the core of contemporary American life, now exposed for all to see, will not be easily filled. It certainly cannot be filled by a facile return to some slightly modified form of the earlier status quo. A fundamental revision of the social contract will be required.
6
"If you told him a plane falls out of the sky when it runs out of fuel"
Actually, it doesn't. Still, I take your point, though, it is ironic, that you were going with your gut on the matter. On 24 August 2001, Air Transat Flight 236 ran out of fuel while flying over the Atlantic Ocean at 39,000ft and glided for twenty minutes and arrived safely still traveling at approximately 200 knots. There are many examples. Think your analogies through, please.
4
It becomes daily more obvious that Trump is indeed compromised, complicit, colluded, deluded, and bought and paid for re Russia. Occam’s razor; simplest explanation for his seemingly bizarre, venomous departure from longstanding precedent: he is a traitor.
6
“Nothing,” Jake Sullivan, a former senior foreign policy adviser to Hillary Clinton and national security adviser to Joe Biden, said when asked what he hoped for out of the Helsinki summit. I agree. "
Well that's surprising. An opinion writer for this newspaper has predetermined that nothing good will come of any situation that Trump is to be involved in.
1
Pono
How many examples of trump's destruction do you actually need?
2
Cohen, of course, has it wrong when writes, "Trump’s ideological sympathies lie with Putin’s autocracy and its democratic veneer. He’s in the Putin camp against the Western liberal democracy of, say, Angela Merkel in Germany."
Merkel's crowd--Western liberal democracy--has been thoroughly discredited by recent events, making her globalist uber alles sensibilities clear to her citizens. They have rejected her "great EU collective" and her embracing so many from so far which, in fact, negates sovereignty per se--the Hillary thesis--"Gold Standard" of open-borders.
One of the differences between the American left's cultural Marxism thesis and Putin is that he remembers the “great collective” the NYT seems forever pining away for. He knows where it leads--Stalin gulags and Maoist reeducation camps.
What Putin and Trump have in common is that they know the real enemy lies in the destruction of their unique cultural ethos--which is under attack in the US from south of the border, the cleric/imam-driven full-service political-religion social system in the Middle East, now well-established in Western Europe thanks to Brussels and its advocates, and, of course, our Sovietized New York City broadcast mass-media--NYT Opinion Kingdom included.
5
Post Maoist China Isn’t a backwater like Putin’s Russia. Living standards have dramatically improved while your vaunted Russia has had declining living standards and increasing mortality
"representative government, liberty, the rule of law, free trade, a rules-based international order, open societies, pluralism and human rights"? So gay!
4
Putin did not invade Georgia. The independent study done by the German General Staff and reported to their Parliament concluded the US neocons encouraged the loons among the Georgian leadership to attack Russian peacekeepers (authorized by the UN.) After the Russians reacted, they withdrew to pre-war lines.
Then Georgia expelled its lunatic leadership, and their American-educated President oddly enough went to Ukraine to become a leader there, again exploiting his deep neocon ties.
2
Couple things:
First, another savaging of Trump that lacks the punch line. Why are the critics, and the Times, not calling for Trump to resign or be removed? Fear? Threats of retaliation? He is clearly a crook, his election was not legitimate, and he is a clear and present danger to the country and the world. He is called “unfit” to serve. So he shouldn’t be serving, right?
Second, we, and the Europeans, have an unreasonable position on Crimea. Yes, it was part of Ukraine when the Soviet Union collapsed, but it became so only because of an administrative action in the 1950s. It was not historically or culturally part of Ukraine. It became part of the Russian empire long before and has become heavily Russified, in great part because of discrimination and forced removal of the Tatars. If there is an argument, it is that Crimea should be independent, not part of Ukraine. However, given centuries of Russian/Soviet investment, it seems more reasonable to recognize its re-annexation and call for fair treatment and a right of return for the Tatars. And double down on Russian activity in eastern Ukraine.
4
Thanks for this embedded July poem,
Tribute to Tramples:
"...the values
trump tramples."
1
To call Trump's position toward Moscow as "Finlandization" is a misleading euphemism. First, as Cohen himself points out, Trump is actively pro-Moscow, not neutral. Second, to compare Trump's position to Finland's would be to overlook some crucial facts about Finland's neutrality. Finland's neutrality was a matter of survival for a small country against a much larger neighbor. Finland did not aid or promote Moscow's policies. Trump is subservient, which is what I would call Trump playing mouthpiece for Putin at the G7 summit
4
Maybe you should have the faith in faith.
If you don't truly believe in it and just occasionally stick to the principles, of course it is going to fail you. It's not the verbal proclamations that matter, the public vows, the clergy, the churches, the Christmases and other holidays but just the devotion to the principles.
If your brain tells you something and the principles of faith direct you differently, please always honor those principles.
Why?
It's in your best interest!
They always work in the long term, so they never chase the near objectives and shallow agendas.
If you don't trust me, just open your eyes and reexamine the human history, but please, not the one written by the winners but by the facts and the real consequences of somebodies actions and decisions.
Try to finally learn if you can secure the peace by waging the wars. If it were possible, why do we still wage them after the full century of the endless conflicts in our case...
Didn't we try to defeat the socialism in the Middle East after the WWII by inflaming the radical Wahhabism while sharing the bed with the worst regional dictators? Haven't we been waging the wars over the last quarter of century to tame the monster our government created?
If you trusted the government we allegedly were victorious in the conflict with socialism and terrorism.
If you looked at the real history and facts, you would realize that our government is now trying to reverse own misdeeds...
2
"Nothing would be good when giveaways on Crimea . . . are the alternative."
Nothing is going to get Crimea away from Russia. That was established by the Crimean War in the 1850's, and again in the fierce fighting with the Nazis in WW2.
If you make peaceful relations dependent on Russia giving up Crimea, then you are choosing war. Very neocon, but very wrong.
"Trump’s ideological sympathies lie with Putin’s autocracy and its democratic veneer. . . . Trump’s a paid-up member of the growing illiberal authoritarian international movement."
This is now pretty oft-repeated common "wisdom" among those who hate Trump. They've convinced themselves by repetition.
But anti-immigrant is not the same as authoritarian. They are very different errors. Yes, Trump is extreme on his anti-immigrant stuff. He is not trying to overturn American elections.
He is not cancelling elections. He has not made the Democratic Party illegal nor prevented it from running candidates, as Putin would do. He has not shut down the NYT or Wash Post, nor done anything at all except call them names as they call him names.
Trump makes clear his disagreements with Democrats, and that should be good for the Democrats. It gives them the more popular position, without trying to pretend to be a little of both like other Republicans have done (compasionate conservative?).
He does nothing to prevent Democrats running on those issues to win. So do it.
6
"The question remains: Why is Trump in Putin’s thrall? He may be compromised, whether by Russian intelligence or money. He’s certainly drawn to Putin’s bare-chested strongman style."
Why not both. We know that huge amounts of laundered Russian money passing through the Bank of Cyprus and elsewhere were used to bail Trump out of bankruptcy when no legitimate banks would lend him a nickel. Tapes of sexual misdeeds captured to blackmail Trump are consistent with Trump's well-documented abuse of women.
Trump fawns over Putin's leadership abilities and power and wants to convert the US presidency into a Putin-style dictatorship. However, the greatest threat to our nation is that the Republican leadership remains silent and compliant on behalf of their ultra-right wing billionaire owners. They know full well that Trump is easily manipulated by Putin, and that he is disgracing the United States before the entire world and undermining US security in violation of his Constitutional oath. Despite Trump's self-evident servitude to Putin, Republicans in Congress refuse to protect the American people as is their sworn duty as well.
Only Trump's racist and Evangelist base (thrilled by the likely overturn of Roe v. Wade) continue to resist the overwhelming evidence of Trump's subservience to Putin.
The only hope for the future of the United States is getting out the vote in order to throw Trump and his Republican enablers out of power in every election going forward.
1
"The question remains: Why is Trump in Putin’s thrall? He may be compromised, whether by Russian intelligence or money. "
Trump "may" be compromised? How else can you explain his behavior?
In addition, the use of the word "Finlandization" is unfair to Finland. Finland is a small country possessing a long border with Russia, a border Russia could cross at any time with an army much faster than NATO could establish a defense. Finland's caution is rational.
Let us also point out that in Finland, teaching the young is the profession taken up by the best and the brightest, unlike the US where being a Wall Street Wolf is the ideal. In Finland teaching is a high status and much valued job.
Perhaps because Finns understand that a well-educated population is a better long-term way to preserve Democracy than massive spending on weaponry at the expense of every other possible public good, like, for example, education, environmental protection, and health care.
7
As I read this piece by Mr. Cohen , I felt sick to my stomach because he has clearly outlined Trump's intent . It seems Trump is fine because Putin has not taken advantage of the U.S. but he's fine with Russian meddling in the 2016 election . He will only acquiesce to NATO if they kiss where he expects . This man is not complex at all , easy to read , incredibly insecure because he never was accepted in higher circles and now he can take his revenge . It's all about the power . That is why he is intent on undoing alliances , yes , he has very much in common with the autocrats of the world and willing to completely dismantle the rule of law , and everything else our country has stood for . Alas , Putin , kim Jung um are wilier , smarter , and compared to Trump's petty power as a businessman they have and will outsmart him .
1
More with each passing day I believe we're bearing witness to the final death throes of democracy in the US. We'll know for certain on November 7. And if it fails, what happens to the arsenal?
3
"....we're bearing witness to the final death throes of democracy in the US....if it fails, what happens to the arsenal?" I am afraid that the .01% and its hordes will use the arsenal on the rest of US dissenters, as we have seen happen in many authoritarian states. But I'm a pessimist.
2
I am convinced that DJT and his family are owned by Putin and Putin's pals--the oligarchs. Mueller's team includes experts on money laundering for good reason.
2
At this point, there's not much doubt about where Donald Trump's values lie -- and it's clearly not with NATO, the G-7, our neighbours and allies, or the majority of Americans who are not part of his support base.
And no doubt Mr. Trump will further isolate this country at the upcoming NATO conference, while saving all of his love for fellow Demagogue-in-Chief, Vladimir Putin.
Personally, as someone who lived through the Soviet division of Europe and who knows what the 'Iron Curtain' looks like, I am horrified beyond belief to see an American president fawning over an ex-KGB Intelligence Officer, whose sole purpose in life is sow discord and restore Russia to its Soviet glory.
And while Mr. Trump and his American supporters claim that Europeans are a bunch a lazy no-good freeloaders; it's interesting to note just how many former East Bloc countries not only depend upon NATO to help protect their borders, but who have already paid in full their 2% of GDP.
For those unaware of this fact, those countries happen to be: Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Rumania
and Lithuania.
Another thing.
Donald Trump's charges against NATO is not merely about dollars and cents and his reasoning is far more nefarious then it appears to be because it also involves Mr. Putin, who would lose nothing if the U.S. ever left NATO; whereas the U.S. would stand to lose everything it has stood for thus far....Starting with its Democracy.
This is not what "winning" looks like.
Wake-up, America.
4
One more thing.
Finland was a neutral country during WWII, but as long as the majority of We, the PEOPLE, continue to speak out -- we are still far from being that.
RESIST.
1
Finland neutral during WWII? How can a country that fought three separate wars (two major ones against the USSR and a minor one against Germany) during WWII be in anyway considered neutral?
Finland HAS been invaded by the USSR. USA sided with the USSR.
let's hope Uncle Bob pitches up a [Cohen?] curveball -- you could call it the Huge Helsinki Humdinger -- ahead of the Great give-away. NATO for a tape? doesn't seem like enough quo for the quid.
"Finlandization" means a powerful country, like the USA, forces a smaller neighboring country, (we only have two neighbors, Canada and Mexico), to live by our rules but we allow them to keep their independence and enjoy their own political system.
By the above definition, the "Finlandization" of the USA should take place in the Northern Hemisphere of the Americas. And, as far as those two countries living by our rules, things have not been going well. Canada has been slapping huge tariffs on our milk shipments to them and those Mexicans have not made the first payment on our southern border wall.
This author seems to think that Russia could go to South America and Finlandilize Chili or Argentina. Rarely do I read and re-read an article and feel like I know less than I did before I started.
6
I think you're very much underplaying the steadiness that Germany and France - England less, but even so, continue to bring to this very tough time in their history. Not so much the leaders - who all seem to delight in kicking - think about the people. Even in "tragic" Britain, Trump will be greeted by millions of protesters, many of whom will be highly creative. I figure lots of progressive Europeans will be in England. In a global first, London hosts, The TransNational Anti Dump Thick Protest and Festival - I don't think the Brit coppers would dare to raise a baton. Things are not yet real bad.
1
"...I gazed out on a wealthy country. Spain was poor and under a dictatorship a little more than four decades ago. That’s what the European Union does...
Roger - really...
South Korea was poor and under a dictatorship less than four decades ago - and is effectively leaving Spain in the dust, as an independent industrial power...
Go look at Spain's sovereign debt - that's what the European Union does...
11
Conspiracy theories are only ridiculous when there's no evidence. And if you don't believe Trump's a Russian stooge, then you believe in competing conspiracies that this is all a setup. So either way, you have to believe in conspiracies.
The one staring us in the face, with greater and greater obviousness, unless you believe whatever the "dear Leader" says, is that Trump is a Russian stooge.
We will have to find out and allow investigations to uncover whether that is by design, that more and more evidence strongly suggests, or by mutual views.
1
The combination of ignorance and arrogance is astounding! First, you assert that Europe is united against Trump. Then you start to list all of the European countries who agree with the President on immigration which disproves your assertion. Second, you quickly skip over what should happen between two countries when the power dynamic is so unevenly balanced. We are the most powerful nation so trade deals should favor us. When we buy a loaf of bread we don't get to tell the grocery store we want the 2.00 loaf of bread for 1.00. We either pay the price or go somewhere else. Yet, in international relations when we are in effect the store we let the weaker party set the terms. If NATO is so important to Europe let them show it. Not with token military commitments that do virtually nothing! Rather, let them pay the full 2% or they can buy military hardware from the U.S. to offset the trade deficits. Every treaty has an element of a transactional nature and NATO should be treated in the same manner. After all, did Europe follow us on pulling out of the Climate Accord? No. Europe cannot expect us to follow them if they do not follow the U.S. After all, we are the leader, not them. We are the country that will do the heavy lifting on any issue that is important enough to do. If you don't want to follow the U.S. or our president go follow the Russians or Chinese and see how that works out for you.
I say that as a person who has both an M.B.A. and J.D. so skip the uneducated attack.
8
No sane American presidential candidate would embrace a Russian murderer “president”, and Russian foreign policy designed to destroy western democracy, on purpose.
I disagree and there are 45% backing this nonsense.
1
Re: "everything the United States has stood for since 1945: representative government, liberty, the rule of law, free trade, a rules-based international order, open societies, pluralism and human rights."
This is what the US teaches her children in school
The reality is very different. The US, since 1945, started more wars, and killed far more innocent civilians than any other Nation on Earth.
.
5
Trump's flawed opinions, shallow understanding, and crush on Putin are there for all to see. We are losing our honor and credibility with our closest allies. What's not clear is why our other elected representatives, the GOP-controlled Congress, do absolutely nothing to challenge the motives and actions of the authoritarian-in-chief? If they refuse to do their jobs, they are just enablers and should be sent packing ASAP.
1
America has always tolerated despots. We sat back as the Kaiser violated Belgian neutrality and invaded France, and we did nothing as Hitler ravaged north, central and eastern Europe and began a monstrous genocide of which the White House and Congress were well informed. Remember: Germany declared war on the USA, not the other way around.
It will be better for Europe and the rest of the world if vulnerable nations understand the truth about how unreliable an ally we really are and make their own arrangements for regional cooperation and self-defense.
Once the Cold War was over the grand alliance was bound to fall apart and we were bound to elect a nativist president to return us to our historic path.
4
Actually the US Empire has a long and busy history of installing or propping up murderous thugs and dictatorships around the world to suit its purposes (real or perceived). Pinochet, Saddam Hussein (in the 1980s), Brazilian President João Goulart, Batista in Cuba...the list goes on...
A little reading of Noam Chomsky should set straight anyone with doubts. Anyone not brainwashed by the "greatest nation on Earth" propaganda, that is.
6
Trump should be prosecuted for treason against the United States. Lock him up. It's that simple.
2
You had me lost even before the "[EU], a transformative peace magnet delivering democratic stability and prosperity... why the United States has always supported it."
Odd, then, that the United States also supported the Franco regime when it suited our Red hysterics. While on that topic, this article is unearthed from that era - a scaremongering piece of Putin/Russian infiltration in the well-meaning heart of American domestic and foreign policy.
And the US standing for human rights since 1945? That's aside from Korea, Guatemala, Vietnam, Cambodia, Iraq (twice), Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, and Yemen? This is but an abridged list; it seems we've been "inviting disaster" everywhere we step foot. Please, Roger, you owe us a significant due by opening your eyes to history.
9
The fact that Congress has not started impeachment proceedings against Trump based simply on his questionable attitude toward and support of Russia is disturbing beyond belief. Especially because Clinton lied about having an extramarital affair and that was enough.
1
Steven Levetsky’s and Daniel Ziblatt’s “How Democracies Die” offers a very disturbing take on the current state of western democracy. One of the book’s most chilling insights: The “people” have never turned back a nation’s drift toward authoritarianism. Only political parties have done so—and they have done so only when a conservative party, recognizing the threat from the radical right, has joined with a liberal party to counter a rising authoritarian tide.
What chance is there that such concerted resistance to rising authoritarianism will come about in our currently divided nation?
Does the normalization of President Trump indicate that the base tendencies of the GOP have come to full fruition? Is the GOP now the cunning and effective anti-democracy party? Is the Democratic Party the incompetent and ineffective counter to an authoritarian trend? Do those committed to democratic values and norms have reason to invest hope in either major party?
5
I seem to recall us killing a lot of Russians in Syria, kicking out some diplomats, and having economic sanctions on Russia. We also would like to replace them as a supplier of natural gas to Europe. Seems not too friendly to me. Now Putin is fine for the Russians, and whining about him won't produce improvement. Asking our allies to do their agreed upon share is what is required. And I remember us selling weapons to Ukraine which I bet Putin also does not like too much.
4
The arrogance of Mr. Cohen and others who assert the benefits of the European Union is insufferable and unending. The Spain he raves about suffers from 16.74% unemployment and 33.8% youth unemployment (Greece is still at 20.9% and 43% respectively); these figures are down from the financial crisis but the EU's inability to do anything for the southern tier of Europe belies Mr. Cohen's rosy picture of modern Spain. These figures also belie Europe's ability to absorb large numbers of young unskilled economic migrants.
8
Trump has created tariffs on cars because of national security. Has anyone told Trump that the F-35 fighter is manufactured by nine countries other than the US, many of which are NATO allies (for the moment)? That some parts of its engine are made in Canada and Poland?
If I were Lockheed Martin, I'd be looking at moving the entire F-35 supply chain to the US before Trump has a fruit fit and says something that torpedoes the entire F-35 program.
1
"In some way, it’s worse than Finlandization."
Finland stayed neutral during the entire cold war, lest it get invaded or its government be subverted by the Soviet Union. Hence, Mr. Cohen's references to "Finlandization" and to Mr. Trump's fears of Mr. Putin and his "kompromat". Since there is no risk of the US being invaded or its entire government (all branches!) being subverted by Russia, I am not sure if Mr. Cohen's metaphor fully applies here.
There is, however, a whole new angle from which Mr. Trump's Moscow visit can be viewed, noting that Mr. Trump is not the only one knocking at Kremlin's doors these days. Indeed there have been may others "dropping by" recently to pay their respects to Mr. Putin. In particular, Mr. Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have been collecting many frequent-flyer points from their many visits to Moscow.
Given Mr. Trump's special relationship with Mr. Netanyahu and the role of Israel in Mr. Trump's election (please see NYT article: "Trump Jr. and Other Aides Met With Gulf Emissary Offering Help to Win Election", May 19, 2018), one may wonder if all these visits are somehow linked to preparation of a special deal for Mr. Putin. After all, if Mr. Putin is the one who has got the goods on Mr. Trump as well as on Israel, Saudi Arabia, and UAE, then it makes a lot of sense to work hard to keep him happy!
1
Mr. Cohen has forgotten to mention that Donald Trump was born in Russia (or Kenya) what disqualifies him from serving as the president.
The column falls perfectly well in the long line of the Democratic exaggerations, fears and delusions.
Don’t you remember that we jumped headfirst into the Vietnam War in order to prevent the communism from overtaking the entire world?
Don’t you remember that the Democratic lawmakers sheepishly authorized the Bush wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in order to destroy the terrorist movement that was created, financed, manned and led by the Sunni Arab Wahhabis from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan? Can you recall any objections? No wonder we haven’t won this war yet, but it must be Trump’s fault anyway…
Don’t you remember that we bombed Libya and Syria to destroy the ISIS that didn’t exist at all because those countries were ruled by the Baath Party with the socialist ideology, the staunchest obstacle to the spread of radical fundamentalist worldviews across the region. No wonder that the ISIS flourished AFTER the Obama-led military intervention.
By the way, the colossal wave of the refugees triggered by those wrongful wars has flooded the European shores and led to the revival of the nationalistic movements across the Old Continent and British exit from the EU.
In the world of grownups, the blame should be placed on Obama, not Trump, if we followed the causation of the events and not our raw emotions.
4
Mr. Trump should embrace the accusations that he isn’t a mainstream politician as the best compliment.
Those well-behaved career leaders have led us into the Vietnam War and the wider Indochina conflict, overthrow of the democratically elected Iranian government in the fifties that resulted in the Ayatollah rule in Tehran, the support for the racist regime in South Africa, a support for whole series of the dictatorships in Latin and Central America, an overthrow of the socialist government in Kabul in the eighties and the eventual rise of the Taliban, the first Gulf War that kept the worst regional dictators in power that later used their wealth to create and fund the spread of the radical Wahhabism eventually resulting in the Al Qaeda and the ISIS, and the recent wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lybia and Syria…
If that’s the mainstream standard of quality, Mr. Trump should be happy to be far away.
Shaking up such a world is long overdue…
What were doing the NATO and the EU during those long decades? Did we receive any valuable advice from them that could have saved us many trillions dollars and avoid the decades of bloody wars?
Bias and the facts are mutually exclusive…
4
Whether there was collusion, or not, why are we afraid to acknowledge the fact that Trump is an ILLEGITIMATE PRESIDENT who was "elected" with help of a foreign government?
This is a UNANIMOUS and BIPARTISAN conclusion from the Senate Intelligence Committee that was even published by the Trump's propaganda outlet FoxNews: "Findings that Russia meddled to help Trump beat Clinton were 'accurate and on point': Senate intel panel"
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/07/03/findings-that-russia-meddled-...
The only question remains: WHY?
1
I wonder about Trump's upbringing and education. Where does a person born in this country with every advantage it offers get such ideas. Do high priced private schools teach such nonsense? Is patriotism not valued and taught in these schools? Did Trump Sr. have such ideas? How could this happen?
2
To the idea that "the presence of national minorities in other countries — in this case, ethnic Russians in Ukraine — is not a pretext for war or annexation" was violated by Russia only twice ignores South Ossetia, Moldova, and other instances where Russia has taken over territory based on national minority claims.
If Mexico threatened Texas (after all, Texas was a blatant land grab to gain territory and slaves for the south where the Texans burned land titles to 'force' Mexicans to give up their land), Republicans would laugh. But they endorse land grabs in Crimea and elsewhere by Russia. Why? Because many key Republicans have been compromised by money or other factors.
Trump isn't going to back off. If Hillary Clinton did what Trump is doing, the Republicans would say "TREASON!". But when they do it, it's "good business".
2
Of course Trump will "no doubt feel more comfortable with the Russian leader." He'll being visiting his handler.
1
-We just found out what the Founding Fathers knew so well!
Democracy does not work when enough stupid people get a voice in policy making!
Tens of of millions of americans just voted for a complete empty headed immoral grifter and sick puppy for their commander-in-chief.
It took four years to get rid of McCarthy -three for Andrew Johnson and hopefully the rabble will wake up soon -Realize
that their ignorance and fears created a monstor -Leave trumpistan behind and struggle onward.
Democracy has it's limitations for sure!
1
I'm sure Trump will do very well in his employee review with Vlad.
1
Oh, stop it! Let me get this right: The Brits "voted" for Brexit, which they now regret and are trying to wiggle around; we "voted" for Trump; and, oh, the Italians, let's not forget their "vote" to wrong right. What do all three things have in common? Voting. Yes, it seems to me "voting" is to be looked at as a source of our problems, not their cure. Authoritarianism is on the rise because in the cost-benefit analysis of day-to-day living, it has come up short, leaving people with a desire for a straighter road to follow with fewer signs and clearer directions. If it is true that approximately 50% of Americans are functionally illiterate, which I imagine applies to many countries, how can "democracy" possibly be the preferred form of government? Doesn't cooperative bottom-up self-governance require more intelligence, not less? After all, our instinct as a species runs far closer to barbarism than it does to "democracy." Yet, we utterly refuse to invest in first-class universal education for ALL, the civic oil of "democracy." Give it any name you want, but if you go to medical school never having taken a science course, you're going to fail. If, as a society, we continue to value "American values" instead of being well educated, by which I mean, everyone, we're going to fail. The oppressed can stand up or wait for a helping hand from their oppressor. Education is the key, not, "My country tis' of thee."
5
This is an excellent post that points out the core issue with democracy. But one correction is needed: "50% of Americans are functionally illiterate, which I imagine applies to many countries". Not for many Asian countries. Many Asian cultures place a high premium on education. Their best people teach instead of trade in their Wall Street equivalent. Their education is heavily subsidized as they know that it is an national investment in the future (student debt is unheard of). So, the population has very high literacy.
2
"murderous dictatorship like China"?
This sounds like a serious chip on the shoulder. Sure, the west reported millions of deaths attributed to Mao. But can you honestly and objectively say the same after that? Unlike the US which continued its military actions causing collateral deaths non-stop. Do you consider your statements fair and objective?
2
Trump only agrees with Putin on one thing - that an alleged leader of a nation is morally and legally obligated to promote the interests of those who elected him! As opposed to selling out the majority of their country's working and middle class citizens via "free trade" agreements that steal trillions in wealth from them and giving this $$$ as bribes to a murderous dictatorship like China in exchange for the 'support' of a hates our guts (racist against anyone not Han Chinese) ally who stabs us in the back at every opportunity. I mean does anyone with a brain actually believe that North Korea would have a nuke and be a world ending threat today if China had not propped them up just enough to insure their survival and capability to kill many millions.
This isn't hard.
1. Suck up hard & continuously. Effusive praise cannot be too effusive.
2. Loan his businesses money or invest in his businesses or hire his son/daughter as consultants. Or just give him a gold-plated gift.
2
Trump is against everything that America has stood for since 1776, not just 1945. From the beginning, the U.S. had close European allies in Lafayette and France, in Gen. Friedrich von Steuben of Prussia, in Pulaski and Poland, and others, in addition to aid from the Haitians. America has never stood alone.
"Only I Can Fix It" Trump is trying to undo 240 plus years of American alliances. The Republican time machine with its backwards looking Congress, now Supreme Court, and Trump want to go to some steampunk universe where coal reigns supreme and autocrats hold hunger games.
10
550 million people in the EU can't handle 140 million Russians, despite the riches of their absurdly large superstate.
Instead, they want to get 325 million Americans to fight the Russians so that...the EU will gobble up even more territory in Eastern Europe? Territory that once acquired will be off-limits to American business behind the the EU's tariffs? Why on earth should we help them with this scheme?
It's not in America's national interest to see the EU defeat Russia. Trump's instincts are unfortunately right. We do not want the EU to dominate all of Europe. That doesn't help us. Better to make sure that Russia keeps just enough of Europe to keep the EU from becoming too powerful.
The Germans covet Eastern Europe's resources. They've been coveting them for 100 years now, they aren't going to change.
10
Of course the Germans covet Eastern Europe's resources, and more particularly Russia's enormous natural resources.That was what "Operation Barbarossa" was all about. That operation failed miserably, and turned into making the Soviet Empire the dominating force in Eastern and Central Europe, including the Eastern third of Germany itself.
The headline and content of Mr. Cohen's article about the "Finlandization of the United States" are absolutely ludicrous, and betray a total ignorance of what the term "Finlandization" really means.
I sometimes wonder if some of Mr. Cohen's opinion pieces are really written by himself, because some of them reflect really brilliant independent thinking, while others sound more like propaganda literature written by some one else.
11
Planes do not fall out of the sky when they run out of fuel. They glide, typically for much longer distances than their altitudes.
5
Russia shoots them down, if you remember.
1
Would a Roman Emperor care to share prosperity with friends? Trump sees the US as the Empire and himself a Caesar. The rest of the world are either subordinates, rebels, or competitors. Subordinates are to be ordered around, rebels are to be fought, and competitors dined till outplayed.
The problem is that Trump's IQ does not match up to his ego. Damage is done.
6
Yes, Trump's behavior if outrageous or troubling. But what about the Republicans' enthusiasm for Trump's behavior and all those non-Republcan voters who didn't vote in 2016 and probably will continue not voting in 2018 and 2020? Aren't they outrageous and troubling?
Trump is giving the country what he promised, good and hard-- as H.L. Mencken would put it.
4
" They both want to disaggregate the union. Why? Because they want to deal with small European nations, and so be better placed to bully them."
Precisely.
2
Trump is the greatest threat to the national security of the United States. He's a lightweight when it comes to the reality of the world today.
4
As the son of a Finnish immigrant who remains in contact with extended Finnish family, I would like to point out a big omission from the analogy. Finns of my parents and grandparents' generations hated the Russians. To walk through the cemetery of any Finnish city and see the section devoted to Finnish deaths in the Winter War when the Russians invaded Finland early in World War II is to see why. Yes, the Finns were neutralized but they fought like mad to keep from becoming a Soviet client state--the fate of the other small Baltic states. And they never forgot the cost, nor at whose hands the cost was extracted.
14
"He is an off-the-charts repudiation of everything the United States has stood for since 1945: representative government, liberty, the rule of law, free trade, a rules-based international order, open societies, pluralism and human rights."
What?
1) representative government .. his administration IS exactly that! He WON, and does what his voters hoped he would. That's representive government at its best.
2) liberty ... Trump is for that! He supports the Bill of Rights. He and his Cabinet officers have rolled back many Obama policies that stifle freedom, for example Obamacare and Obama-era restrictions on state-level control of wildlife control laws.
3) the rule of law: Gorsuch and Kavanaugh are proof positive that he strongly respects that: the words of the Constitution as written, and the laws by Congress, as written, rather than reading them as if they said left wing things they simply don't say
4) free trade ... Trump like free trade, but he is willing to fight back against countries that don't, like China and the EU, with their carefully crafted non-tariff barriers
5) a rules based international order ... Trump clearly recognized that he and the US are more strongly constrained by our Constitution than by any international "rules".
6) open societies and pulralism ... are simply not mentioned in our Constitution .... but ...
7) human rights are, and he strongly respects the Constitutional guarantees of them (e.g. 1st and 2nd amendments)
5
Regarding No. 7, I fail to see how he respects the free speech guarantee of the First Amendment when he calls newspapers "enemies of the people." And regarding No. 2, I guess it's OK as long as you have YOUR liberty while they are taking away mine.
1
hy is no one asking the existential question? If Trump is compromised by Russian intelligence, or is even in the employ of Putin, is it possible for him to compromise American Strategic Nuclear Defenses in his private meetings with Putin or through other means?
5
So its seems the answer to this is obvious. Quit complaining and get busy voting this guy and his merry friends out of office.
7
Trump may be an ignorant narcissist, but there are a few people among the Republican "leadership" who are not. How can they in good conscience support this destruction? How can they be ready to cosy up to Russia? Is it really because the party of family values and "moral majority" has really never had any moral core whatsoever? Is every Republican senator truly as craven and empty as Trump?
10
It is very close to the point where they can be considered traitors.
1
It's hard to fathom Trump having any true political thoughts. This is a man using the presidency for financial gain. He already has real estate in the UK. Now he has the opportunity to garner Putin's favor and expand into Russia. In return Russia gets to control America. Great going Trump supporters, some of whom in the 1950's were chanting "Better dead than Red".
3
Wait a minute. This article must be wrong.
I've just come out of a coma, and to my pleasure I find out that Donald Trump actually won the election, and has been President for a year and a half.
As soon as I finish this I will be reading all the newspapers, as he's had time clean out the swamp, or at least make a good start. I'm so thrilled that we have President who won his election without needing to accept any campaign contributions, like he promised in his first debate.
By now we are certainly paying no more for pharmaceuticals than other countries and probably less based on this guy who personally wrote the "Art of the Deal" His promise not to kowtow to billionaires must have made him an outcast to those corporate CEOs
I can't wait to see the infrastructure projects that he has initiated. We had thousands of bridges that were in dangerous condition that by now probably have plans for replacement. It's great to have builder in office who knows how to get things done.
He had to show a lot of bluster to get elected, but by now I'm sure he's been focused and built a great team to dig into the big problems he promised to fix.
5
By now this is getting repetitive and predictable. Yet another explication of what Trump is up and and the possible consequences.
We know all this by now. What no one will say and which is most important is that this man may get us all killed and we have no idea how to prevent that.
That's the worst case scenario, but it in fact does exist. This man, horrible as he is, has the ability to initiate a nuclear war.
And then there are the disasters of descending magnitude, all waiting in an orderly line with the NATO, Putin and the UK as the next to "go off" as it were.
Are we just going to sit here and watch this idiot destroy our institutions, our relationships with our allies, our economic vitality that is dependent on the free flow of goods unimpeded by foolish tariff wars?
Apparently we are. It's been nice knowing you all. Many of the survivors will be able to tell their grand children they had waited for a smoking gun and it came in the form of a mushroom cloud.It seems GWB was more prescient that he ever imagined.
Too harsh? Well, they could tell how them how the US used to be a world power with alliances around the world until sanctions and an economic boycott of the country in protest of the Trump regime ruined all that.And immigrants trying to get into the country weren't shot on sight.
But people saw what was happening. They knew it was bad.They were even angry. But they did nothing. Nothing at all until it was too late.
Time marches on and history waits for no one.
2
In Europe we are accustomed to the (fast) alternating realities of Mr. Trump by now. Let’s get some facts straight. The United States pay 22.14 percent of the costs of NATO, Europe some 72 percent. Germany and France alone pay 25.26 percent.
Source : https://www.nato.int/cps/ie/natohq/topics_67655.htm
When we look at the population we find about 327 million people living in the U.S and about 148 million in Germany and France.
In short, Europeans pay more than twice the amount on NATO per capita. The Dutch are no exception.
However, we have committed ourselves to invest 2 percent of our national budget in the military. The U.S. invests heavily in their military, way more than most European countries as percentage of their national budget. There was never a commitment in Europe to invest 2 percent of our budget in NATO, but nevertheless we restated our earlier commitment and are on our way to substantially increase our military spendings. Whether we liked it or not, Mr. Trump reminded us of our commitment. We will spend it to create a pan-European force, not necessarily on NATO, and we will continue to remember the costs of WW II. Let’s hope the U.S. will remember it as well.
8
....yet another in a long line of Cohen columns bemoaning Trump. The World According to Cohen theme remains intact: Once a long, long time ago (actually, only two years ago, but does it really matter?) there was a King named Obama who reigned for eight (8) years and all was right with the world. Birds sang, the sun was bright, and no one died. Then came Trump and the black plague killed everyone. The End.
The only problem with this is that under Obama and his bright and shiny minions the world experienced the worst slaughter and dislocation of people since WWII. Close to a million Syrians, Iraqis, Kurds murdered. Hundreds of thousands men, women, and children raped, tortured, crucified, enslaved. More than 6 million displaced, causing a great rupture not only in the Middle-East but Europe. ISIS, Brexit, the rise of terrorism all the consequences of a failed and enfeeble Obama foreign policy.
For most Americans, Roger, anything is better than the Obama foreign policy......even Trump
9
The hysteria of these comments as well as the article itself makes me ashamed of the intellectual content of both sources. What is wrong with you people, I assume of good faith, but seemingly nothing to add to the National conversation than fantastical imaginings as though they were real? My God, get a grip if you ever had one! You now ascribe to an actual belief that our Country is waiting to collude with Putin, based on the speculation of cyber warfare by Russia for what goals? Land, money, nukes? And the Times promotes this nonsense to sell papers? Sensible people need to stand up and say, "enough of this nonsense"!
6
But Findlandization is based on a small country (Findland) paying homage to a larger country (Russia) in the absence of political ties.
And it is not the American government but Trump and his filthy rich cronies that ingratiate themselves to Putin and his filthy rich cronies.
So I would not use the Findlanization metaphor. I would agree with the several retired intelligence officers who have spoken up and even written books on the manipulation and cultivation of Trump as a Russian asset. It's not Findlandization; it is selling American out by that occupant of the Oval Office.
My question is, is it merely idol worship of someone richer and more powerful (bigger hands maybe) or is there some debt e.g. rubles to be repaid.
And now the new Supreme Court nominee would not want this Oval Office occupant to be bothered with criminal indictments? Well, how about treason?
4
Yes, but no mention of Putin’s also recent invasion of Georgia? Needs to be mentioned. To keep Trumpsters informed.
I once told a Trumpster who had been harping on “Obama weakness” after Russia annexed Crimea that Putin doesn’t care which party controls the White House when he decides to invade another country, and provided the example of Georgia (invaded by Russia with Dubya in White House). Trumpster responded thusly: “Did you say Georgia? Georgia? Putin invaded Georgia? Sure he did. And then he rolled his tanks right across Alabama.”
3
Roger, the orange elephant in the room is that Trump is obviously seriously compromised by Russian and Putin. Maybe it's young prostitutes, likely it's massive criminal money laundering, but to suggest that Trump leans a certain way without acknowledging the almost certain cause of it is irresponsible.
5
Will our European allies please give Mr. Trump a face plant in the mud? Stand together and tell him what a sick loser he really is. He's not getting the message over here.
4
As a preamble, let me say that I did not vote for Trump and would never vote for him under any circumstances. My quibble with Mr Cohen isn't about Trump; it's about Mr Cohen's Manichean worldview. On one side are good, virtuous (neo)liberals & free-thinking internationalists, ready to receive the world with open arms. One the other, the evil, "illiberal" authoritarians, xenophobes, racists & worse! Yet would Mr. Cohen classify Macron of France as a xenophobe? I ask because for the past four years Macron has done to Italy exactly what Italy is now doing to Libya: he completely shut down the passage of undocumented, illegal migrants from Italy into France. Yet, somehow, in Mr. Cohen's world, it's okay for Macron/France to do this, yet horribly evil for Salvini/Italy to do the same thing re. Libya. Wake up, sir. It's time to get out of your Alpha Romeo Spider and hit the pavement on foot through some of the meaner streets of Europe. Maybe then you could see what's really going on.
8
Did Mr. Cohen explain exactly what he means by “finlandization” in a previous column that I somehow missed? It’s like railing about “irredentism” without ever defining the concept.
2
Well, you could Google it.
1
There is something very Orwellian in the way the MSM deals with Ukraine, Crimea, etc... not so much in the lockstep of "information" we get, but in the brazen disappearing action with respect to rather recent history.
We bombed Serbia. To cut out part of its turf for an ethnic minority, That's the fact.
Moscow took that precedent and ran with it in Crimea. But did not bomb, or "invade" Ukraine. They already had a large military force in Crimea, just reinforced that to prevent any more "bull moves".
The reaction of Moscow to the slaughter of Russian speaking civilians by artillery, tanks and jets of the uniformed Ukraine military...well, if Canada were bombing a batch of Americans living in Saskatchewan would any US Prez sit idle by?
Here's an idea to derail the train of war- hold democratic free and fair election there...no more black shirts checking IDs, no more electronic ballot stuffing.
What good reason has anyone not to?
6
Roger invited trump to be president by disparaging obama and Clinton with fake equivalency to trump. Now at least he sees his errors. Remarkably the comments heavily praise trump and Putin and disparage NATO. This suggests either we’re being trolled or the readership has lost its mind.
Agree with your conclusions except for this:
Putin and Trump "want to disaggregate the union. Why? Because they want to deal with small European nations, and so be better placed to bully them."
That may indeed be the motivation for the sharpster Putin, but Trump has no global strategy. At best, he's a tactician: If you challenge him, he counterattacks; if you offer him an advantage, he takes it. He doesn't care who's doing what to whom, as long as he "wins." His only concern is: What's in it for me?
Stupid narcissists are reactionaries. Smart ones, like Newt Gingrich, plan ahead. Both types, however, can accumulate political victories; smart ones, though, have a better success rate, but a win is a win is a win. For it's all about me.
6
Trump is all about money. Look at his cabinet, his clubs, his children, his ego is all wrapped up in money. So, is it money-envy that Putin has been able to steal much, much, much more than Trump could ever cheat to get? Or, is it true that Trump is so in debt to Putin's Oligarchs that he's been compromised? Either way, he is a lethal danger to his own nation and the world's democracies.
2
For Mr. Trump, Russia is a vast, untapped market for his business ventures.
I find the analysis --that Trump somehow identifies with the authoritarianism of Mr. Putin et. al. - laughable, as doing so would require a modicum of intellect.
4
Make no mistake; the U.S. government as we know it as "fallen" to a foreign enemy (with inside help), and all of this is playing out in front of our own lyin' eyes. It's too late to wake up once one has been bitten in their sleep.
1
Trump has to do what he boss says.....
1
Russia is not going to give Crimea back to Ukraine, so learn to live with that, Mr. Cohen.
5
Trump pretty well told us during his campaign that he was going to be friends with Russia. That he won the election, barely, would suggest that he has some sort of constituency of considerable size that agrees with his outlook on these outlaw countries. A lot of us feel that this is a pretty horrible mistake, that the President is like a child playing with matches in this Russian love affair of his. But he did not hide it while campaigning; perhaps not his central theme, but clear nonetheless. We have a President who simply is more comfortable with thugs.
2
"Finlandization" is not a term to describe what's happening to the United States. And it's not Trump who is changing the United States; he is the ugly expression of what has been ignored and happening.
The United States is in a state of disgrace because much of the citizenry is in a state of disgrace. Trump speaks to, and for the disgraced. He is disgrace incarnate.
Know thyself, America.
Many Americans are loud, proud and arrogant. Too many are ignorant and intolerant of others. All too many are mindless cult followers who justify the ill treatment of others with their full-throated but shallow religious protestations.
Collectively, we have a long history of prejudices and crimes against humanity which we view as something of the past. We will not acknowledge our own guilt; it was someone else long ago. And we choose not to look too closely at those sins and know those sinners. Whose sentiments, emotions and prejudices thrive among us.
Much of America believes in Trump. Celebrates his crassness. Rally around his hatreds.
We have been shocked and outraged at Trump; shocked to find he is not an anomaly; shocked that he is supported by nearly half of us.
For too long we have not looked inward, not examined who we are. For too long we have not looked closely at the Republican Party and what it represents. It is the cover for the disgraced; organized disgrace.
If we fail to confront the full truth of who we are, we will never rise above Trump, his disgrace and his ilk.
4
Asking friends to pay monies owed is hard.
They come up with all kinds of excuses.
They make all kinds of promises.
Are you to never say anything?
In the rarefied world of the bow tie boys, while feasting on the 12 course gourmet meal at the five star establishment paid for with “NATO” money, one would never bring up such tasteless subjects as the fact that our allies are deadbeats.
In Trump’s McDonalds world, you pay or you don’t get your food.
Which world do most Americans live in?
3
It's amuzing to read an American journalist accuse another country of having a "Democratic veneer." The US wrote the book on that.
5
I used to think Mr. Cohen had weighty things to say. No longer. He now appears silly, with his writings filled with trite and specious arguments, all with the objective of demonizing Donald Trump.
It’s boring.
7
Putin plays a Trump like a cheap violin. The spineless Republican leadership, the Fox propaganda machine, and the cult-like followers of his base form the rest of the quartet.
1
Mr Cohen, I’m Swedish. This is the most ignorant, ill-informed article you’ve written. Are you implying that Finland has been anything but incredibly brave, strong and gutsy in its stand against USSR/Russia? Recall the Winter War? Comparing Trump’s stance to that of Finland’s is insulting. No braver people exist on this planet than the Finns.
8
I don’t agree about “Finlandization,” as Trump has never done anything during this presidency but actively embrace Putin and his “ kakistocracy,” but one thing we can be sure of, is that Trump is (with apologies to John LeCarré) definitely playing by “Moscow’s Rules.”
1
It was extremely sad to read this Cohen’s column.
That’s what hubris and conceit do to you – make you stupid, arrogant and blind in spite of being smart and educated…
Just pay attention to the op-ed headline: “The Finlandization of the US”…
Is it something bad to be peaceful, tolerant and wealthy? Is it terrible not to wage any war in centuries?
Look at his public disparagement of the elected president and the will of more than sixty million voters:”If you told him a plane falls out of the sky when it runs out of fuel, and the president’s gut told him otherwise, he’d stick to his line.”
Mr. Trump is still alive indicating that he never entered a plane without sufficient amount of fuel. He is very frequent flier, isn’t he?
But his gut told him that he could get elected as the US president. He worked hard to fulfill his dream by shattering the entire GOP and Democratic political elite…
Or read this: “The question remains: Why is Trump in Putin’s thrall? He may be compromised, whether by Russian intelligence or money.”
So biased and shallow!
Trump is seven years older than Putin. He has never changed in his life, so the chances are the latter is imitating the former, not otherwise.
Just look at foolish hit below a waste line: “He may be compromised”. The statement applies to every human, doesn’t it?
By the way, Salvini and Orban are Obama’s legacy due to the millions refugees flooding Europe after the wrong wars in Syria and Libya.
2
'He’s in the Putin camp against the Western liberal democracy of, say, Angela Merkel in Germany.'
Misleading. Angela Merkin is not a liberal. She's a classical, right-leaning, German conservative.
Merkin encouraged mass immigration from the Near East because Germany has a low birth rate, an ageing population and wants cheap labour to do all the yuck jobs, and to help care for the very young and the very old.
Economics and national interest, not wishy-washy hand waving and crocodile tears, drive immigration policy.
6
Sorry, Merkel not Merkin.
2
Sorry to be taking sides with your putative Trump, but when a plane runs out of fuel doesn’t it sort of glide back down to earth, not fall out of the sky”?
1
Putative Trump could reply that a gliding fall is still a fall. Still it sounds like you were presenting him with the picture of an airplane dropping out of the sky like a stone.
1
The liberal Cohen completely ignores the fact that Europe has been ripping the US off ever since 1945. We pay for all of their defense and the US runs a trade deficit with Europe every year including the BMW’s and Mercedes that Cohen drives. Plus the American people voted for Trump to build the wall and shut down these people coming into the US illegally from the 3rd world. Not sure why he doesn’t want to mention those facts but this is typical commentary from fake news outlets.
1
Reading the comments section anti Trump ranting has now reached a level where it has gone beyond a hateful discourse into something really scary. The NYTs has facilitated this to no end. An American President is still an American President and if some one decides they are being "patriotic" and hurts him the NYTs will be amongst those who have blood on their hands. The paper has abandoned balanced reporting and embraced a mob approach to vilifying him in search of profits and in doing so is promoting chaos over responsible journalism and worse.
5
An 'American president' who stole the election through foreign influence. A detestable individual down there with Ceaucescu.
3
Wrong on both points.
Crimea was seized by Russian troops moving out of their bases and securing the country. The "referendum" was done under Russian occupation, with the persecution of its opponents and with no credible international observers.
The overthrow of Yanukovich wasn't a coup but a popular uprising occasioned by his use of deadly force against the Euromaidan demonstration escalatiing matters and his allies, then him, losing their nerve and fleeting.
1
Wrong on both points.
Crimea was seized by Russian troops moving out of their bases and securing the country. The "referendum" was done under Russian occupation, with the persecution of its opponents and with no credible international observers.
The overthrow of Yanukovich wasn't a coup but a popular uprising occasioned by his use of deadly force against the Euromaidan demonstration escalating matters and his allies, then him, losing their nerve and fleeting.
1
Trump is a Manchurian President. Undermining our Republic and the relative peace in the world for the past 73 years. It will be a rough time for children. Our generation has failed them.
5
I couldn’t take two more years to tell you the truth. Neither could any of our allies. The proof is in the putting in the putting has been tested. Donald Trump is a Russian puppet and spy that the KGB singled out years ago and has molded him into the treasoner he is now.
3
What you and all the pundits, quasi-pundits et al. continually fail to to see (which I suspect most of you secretly do) is the 800 lb Frankenstein in the corner, the creator of The Monster. The GOP.
You don't remember McCarthy or Roy Cohn (Trump's beloved mentor), HUAC, and all the rest of the the right wing spawn. We had better face them now, or we will later, in the streets. But it will come and a lot sooner than you think.
5
One thing is very clear. Mr. Trump shares the idea of splitting and weakening Europe with Russia. You wonder if this is because he owes Russia something or because it is fundamentally part of his fascist beliefs.
3
Trump is destroying America. It is happening before our eyes. Has there ever been another President who has made it so obvious. The America trump grew up in would never allow such a callous disregard for the law. Now he is creating a government which cow tows to his every whim. Can anyone name another chief executive that would tear children from their parents? Or have an entire unqualified cabinet groveling at his heels? Or an America people that has allowed all this to happen. It’s our fault alone.
4
US leadership Truman/Marshall/Acheson has recognized the peculiar Dulles outloook as live free or kill.... everyone. Even little children understand the falseness of that tradeoff.
2
Honeymoon in Helsinki. Saint Ronald Reagan is turning in his grave, and The GOP is cowering in their bunkers. You can run, but WE can vote.
November. Vote out his Collaborators. Every single one.
3
Commenter Trans cat Lady despairs at not being able to top most comments.
As much as we all think of trump as his own man, he isn't. He's clearly Putin's man. The proof is all around us. What is taking Mueller so long? Oh, there's an over abundance of evidence of treason to get through, it will take time.
Perhaps we need anything Mueller already has to save the Western Alliance, the global economy and life as we know it. Once trump is locked up Mueller can finish up investigating every other crime trump has committed against America.
3
Trump is the biggest national security threat this country has.
7
This is what happens when you elect as president a man bereft of all understanding of history and global politics, a man who mistakes his own ignorance for certainty based on gut feelings, a man whose pedigree was formed in the authoritarian world of corporate America, where the idea of "democracy" (aka "Unions") is fought tooth and nail by the man in the big office.
Why is any of this a surprise? Trump ran on the very platform he is now standing firmly upon, basically "my way or the highway". Anyone who has ever worked a career in the corporate world knows this posture. Putin would make an excellent American CEO, Trump believes, because he'd run the company the way Trump would. And because he runs his country the way Trump would like to run his.
3
what is so often forgotten - is that American goods are garbage. American cars pollute compared to European at a comparative purchase price - who buys a polluter? and runs more gas? so long term more expensive. What European would but that car?The halcyon days of American don't need to be over... but with current leadership...
1
Great op-ed, but you forgot to mention that Putin has flouted the post-war norm regarding ethnic minorities at least three times, including the 2008 invasion of Georgia. (for the "defense of Ossetians").
1
Yes. this is why the United States military participated in the killing of 200 or more Russian fighters in Syria last February. That's Finlandization at its finest.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-13/u-s-strikes-said-to-k...
Read Jonathan Chait's article, which is instructive here. 2018/07/trump-putin-russia-co. Trump is completely devoid of ideology. He is not intellectually capable of inventing one; is too lazy to adopt one, and could not manage around one if he had to do so.
The Presidency is a transactional thing to Trump. It is all about the money. If he were smart, and he is not, he would get Tony Schwartz to ghostwrite a sequel, "The Art of the Plea Deal" because he and his gang-that-can't-shoot-straight crime family are going to face the music.
America and Europe are, and will remain friends. This shall pass (like a gall stone, unfortunately).
3
Not Finland, though I understand your referent.
Look to Turkey, which has also cozied up to Putin but has a president whose activities have clearly been a blueprint for Trump.
1
When I was a reclusive Nerd in the mid-80s, I gobbled up history, current events and foreign policy like a sweet desert. I was going to be Jack Ryan or work in the Foreign Service. Both would be fine by me. My mind was set on Georgetown, American University, map collecting, writing letters to permanent missions to the UN, to get country press and political packets. This was a hobby that I threw myself into. Things we take for granted by a simple internet connection were lessons in due diligence and painstaking research back then.
I remember opening the mail one day and getting a copy of Gaddafi Little Green Book and thinking how much of a rebel I was. Same with Mao’s little red book. A wide range of material that complicated my CIA country guides.
Along the journey I discovered Chris Crawford’s map game “Balance of Power” for the Apple IIC. You can google the details. One way to enhance ones influence and thereby “win” the game without losing control and falling into nuclear war was to exhort enough economic, social and political pressure on a state to Finlandize the states around it.
Funny what you can learn from games.
3
"If you told him a plane falls out of the sky when it runs out of fuel, and the president’s gut told him otherwise, he’d stick to his line."
I have to disagree there. I think he would put his supporters in the cockpit, tell them the plane won't crash when it runs out of fuel, then parachute out of the plane and enjoy the sense of power that comes with knowing that they believed him 100% until the second it crashed. Trump doesn't strike me as a man who believes his own lies or even his own gut. He seems like the sort of pathological narcissist who can read other people's guts, talk to and manipulate what their guts are telling them to gain cult-like trust, then bask in the sense of power one gets from hearing other people parrot one's lies. The more absurd they are, the bigger the ego boost. But self-delusional people are the easily manipulated, not the cleaver manipulators, and Trump is a very cleaver manipulator. That's why I don't think Trump is being manipulated by Putin, far from it. His love affair with Putin is just that- he really admires Putin, his style, and the way he runs his country. He's already expressed his envy of the leaders of China and even North Korea. He isn't being manipulated by them, he wants to be like them. I don't know which is worse.
1
What Mr. Cohen doesn't seem to understand is that working class Americans' incomes have been in decline for decades and the fact that Spaniards and other foreigners are now rich just isn't adequate comfort for jobless, homeless and benefit-less Americans. Maybe Mr. Cohen should leave his comfortable villa once in a while, because he seems to lack what you might call street view.
3
Like many i sill wonder what hold Putin has on trump, my guess continues to be lots of laundered Russian money. One day we may know the extent of this.
2
Roger Cohen could have exposed his ideas without ever mentioning Findland. It is self destructive to base an otherwise correct analysis on incorrect examples. As Donald Trump, Roger Cohen just knows Europe and its countries – except that the notions he is so sure of are oversimplified caricatures, often false and, in any case, irrelevant.
The Finland reference might not be accurate but the larger point is: Trump is an autocrat at heart and his sympathies lie with Putin. He is trying to wreck NATO (and all other non-coercive institutions). He won't need to actually withdraw: as Commander in Chief he'll just order the US military to stand down as Putin's troops reoccupy the Baltics (and possibly more of the old Soviet Empire).
The reoccupation will have Trump's (and ergo the GOP's) approval and admiration. NATO needs to immediately enhance it' defenses, while keeping the US out of the loop - because Trump will convey any new military plans to Putin. Yes, Trump is a traitor ( 'blackmail' by Putin is beside the point ... Trump's heart is with all dictators, bullies, thugs, racists, plunderers and misogynists). And the GOP loves him (not despite all that, but because of all that).
4
Very bad choice of words. We should all be as tough and principled as Finland. Read your history Roger.
2
It gives too much credence to Trump to attribute “opinions” to him. His machinery is run by the desire to hob-nob and glory in the company of dictators and Oligarchs, to be able to trade war stories with them over his coups in destroying democracy in the USA. However, whatever disruption Trump can cause, he will never achieve the serious respect he seeks from men like Putin, who have reached their station through ordeals and connivance the mere awareness of would cause Trump to wet himself.
2
Trump is not just an authoritarian, he's a profoundly ignorant authoritarian, the mark at the poker table who thinks he's a shark.
Trump's anti-democracy leanings were never surprising and his deal-making flecklessness can no longer shock anyone who has been paying attention.
What dismays me to the core is that an entire major American political party and over 40% of Americans polled are quite happy with the diminishment of American power,. prestige, trust, and support for freedom.
Even the ones who know better, know what Finlandization means, know that this will not end well, are willing supporters.
For what? A corporate tax cut? A wall to keep.out those few Mexicans who will forget to bring a.ladder? An end to the horror of increased access to health insurance despite pre-existing conditions?
Seems like a paltry payoff for selling out your country. Even if you get to keep the MAGA hat.
5
Mr. Cohen's violent hatred of Russia and Mr. Putin and his eagerness for war are apalling. If a military confrontation with a nuclear power is the sane, responsible policy and the refusal to start World War Three is crazy . . .
I'll take crazy any day.
2
Foreigners watch the quickening pace of US disengagement over that past 3 decades from international institutions & commitments with fascination & trepidation. With the implosion of the USSR into the Potemkin facade Russia, the US increasingly (a) focusses on its domestic affairs, & (b) engages in international affairs on a one-off, transactional basis (rather than through enduring alliances, institutions etc.) whenever the US viewed an international issue or threat important domestically.
President Trump is only an especially crass & aggressive example of the foregoing guided by personal biases & prejudices (i.e. sentiments) as anything & who looks to a revolving set of advisors to give form & substance to those sentiments. Initially, reactionary, populist, nationalists (Bannon & ilk) filled this translation of sentiment into policy role, but when their role became toxic, they were dropped, & advocates tinged with a fondness for the isolationism & America First upsurge of the 1920s & 30s took their place.
The US does have legitimate issues to raise with its allies & other nations & many US citizens oppose this US sentimental retreat into outmoded thinking. But the fact remains that the US, the only NATO member to benefit from collective action under NATO Article 5 (i.e. Intervention in Afghanistan in response to 911) now has (a) now questions its willingness to so respond if European members are attacked & (b) few effective domestic voices are raised in rebuttal.
1
The United States can't exist as a WWII-era Country. It's a changing world. Oh but it's convenient to think so when it kinda makes your case.
1
Something just struck me. Since this column is about equivalences, what about this one: allowing the Trump gang to take over the wheels of government reminds me of when Obama simply allowed Russia to enter into Syria on the pretext of "helping" in the fight against ISIS. I remember how shocked I was when Russia just waltzed right in and Obama did.....NOTHING!!!! Predictably, they quickly became complicit in Assad's mass murder of his citizens. Come to think of it, that was also a kind of Finlandization, if I understand that term correctly. But what about the Finlandization of allowing Trump's thugs to take power in Washington? And what if anything can be done now about either situation?
2
It is clear to me that keeping Putin and Russia friendly to him, gives him the security that they will not reveal the true story of how such an inept New York businessman could have been elected president of the United States.
2
Trump is busy creating a "new world order." We will soon leave NATO and join the alliance of Russia, Poland, Hungary and perhaps Turkey and a few other one party dictatorships to oppose and possibly destroy social democracy and tolerance in favor of blood and soil fascism.
What too many Americans do not understand about the nearly half of our citizens who support Trump is that they only love democracy when democracy insures the control of white Christian conservatives. When democracy threatens white control, it is expendable.
1
One thing some have slightly touched on but bears repeating.The amount the US spends on defense would not drop a penny were it to drop its membership in NATO. For the same reason that the US outspends other countries by a factor of 3X China,8x Saudi Arabia, 9x Russia 9x India, etc.
Here's a fantastic fact sheet put out in 2016 by President Obama's White House to explain how the US works with NATO.
2
I'm sorry but this whole story, from the very beginning, has been self-suspended. What is the real agenda here. Are we really to believe that the entire global capitalist order is riding on the president? Last time I checked, the president is controlled by industry interests, not the other way around.
3
Trump's so-called "leadership" has already had an adverse impact on various industries and farmers in America. His "gut" knowledge is going to be the wrack and ruin of America and the prosperity we have at this moment.
When it comes to the term "leadership", Trump can not be considered to be anywhere near it. If he knew anything about "leadership" why would he have had all of those bankruptcies? Why is it that Trump has so many civil law suits against him if he is such a great leader in the business world? I read yesterday that even Trump's former car driver has filed suit claiming he is owed over 3,300 hours worth of overtime pay that Trump has never paid him.
Trump and "leadership" is an oxymoron.
3
In 1500 characters (or less), respond to the following:
"Donald Trump considers Vladimir Putin to be 'fine.' In a closed-door, undocumented one-on-one meeting, would Trump give Putin conventional U.S. military secrets, as a quid pro quo? Would Trump give Putin U.S. nuclear codes (and ways to use them via a cyberattack)? Why or why not?"
My response: I just don't know. And I can't think of anything more frightening in the world right now.
1
"He may be compromised, whether by Russian intelligence or money." I think it is a bit of both.
2
I would much rather the President stand with Vladimir Putin, a man who is working tirelessly to uphold the 2500 year history of the West's Judeo-Christian values, than with supposed allies like Angela Merkel and Emanuel Macron, who work tirelessly to undermine them.
The alienation of our traditional European allies is already a fact. This coming NATO summit will just put the case to rest, especially in light of the Putin debriefing soon afterwards. If the Brexiters and neofacist nations of Poland, Hungary, and other former totalitarian Eastern Europe's nations don't wake up and prepare themselves for a better organized continent then woe unto the Putin-trump outcome.
What's essentially a redivided Western and enlightened trend will surely turn into the greatest security threat to Eastern Europe since the Second World War. Ukraine will have to submit to being reincorporated by the new Soviets in Moscow. The Baltic countries likewise face a similar fate. Poland is the biggest prize that Putin has eyes for and the splitting up of NATO essentially guarantees the rise of the new Soviet Empire.
The donald will never stand up to his Kremlin 'Boss' and the new world order begins to look a lot like post WWII.
If the xenophobic nationalists have been outraged by the millions of Muslims in Western Europe they "ain't seen nothing yet." Russian hegomony will result in a stampede of millions more from Eastern Europe.
1
The endlessly repeated allegation that Putin likely has something on Trump is a red herring. It takes our attention away from what this relationship is really about. Namely, what these two men are doing for each other. Trump is weakening or breaking bonds with our closest allies, greatly facilitating Putin's criminal interference in democratic governments and institutions around the world. Putin is bringing the full force of his propaganda machine to bear on establishing a Trump-led autocracy in the White House.
The ultimate goal of both of them is to abolish the constitution restraints on this president, at which point they can do whatever they want. Full stop.
Mr. Cohen, you have elequently and comprehensively convicted Donald Trump of what may prove to be a disastrous course for this country but you have said nothing about those opportunists in the Congress who gone to great length to support, justify and legitimize Trump's policies that they themselves have been opposing as the Republican Party for the past 100 years. Trump Presidency will perish one way or the other, but the 62 million Americans whom still believe that he is the Saviour if not Jesus Christ incarnate shall remain. They are the product of the ignorance of the masses fueled by Religion, poor education and a culture of Entertainment offered by our irresponsible Media. And this is just the beginning.
4
The European Union did not lift Spain out of its poverty and dictatorship. That happened under its predecessor, the European Communities. At that time, the member countries remained almost entirely sovereign and the E.C./E.U. institutions and bureacracy were minimal except in certain sectors like agriculture.
It is extremely important to know and remember this because it clearly disproves the grand leftist-liberal lie that you need the E.U. kraken - devouring sovereign nation states to dissolve them in a globalist, integrated, open-borders monstrosity - or you will get dictatorship, fascism and another world war as the only alternative.
The European project is a great idea but is has gone way too far and much farther than it needs to go - all the actual benefits were already delivered when the E.C. was a loose group of independent friends. There is absolutely no need to create a true political Union, and it is not what the - very distinct - peoples of Europe want!
I am an enemy of the E.U. but not of European friendship and cooperation. Don't let leftist ideologues like Mr. Cohen manipulate you to believe that everyone opposing the dissolution of the nation state wants to return to the 1930s. Most people who oppose the E.U. are NOT hostile to European friendship and cooperation, they just want to return to a system of sovereign states and get rid of the E.U. apparatus slowly choking Europeans to death.
3
California, my home, has an economy 2 1/2 x that of Russia. We have a budget surplus. Last time I checked it remains part of the United States. I don't believe our governor has had a one on one meeting with Trump but Putin now prepares for his second. And you wonder if Putin has something on Trump?
Finlandization? Really? Finland has today something like 5.6 million inhabitants, it had even less throughout the cold war. Neighbouring the big Soviet Union, and without any ally able, or willing to shield them against this demanding superpower, it had no choice but to retreat to the kind of realpolitik it finally followed i.e. it was compelled into it. In case anybody (Mr. Cohen maybe?) hasn't noticed yet: The USA is a superpower of it's own, in fact the strongest, ever in existence! It has no border with Russia! Finlandization is not really the appropriate term. Trump's stance is located somewhere in the triangle admiration - sycophancy - submission.
4
Comparison of the United States with Finland is nonsensical. Finland is widely considered as the happiest country in the world and treats its citizens and other countries with respect. The United States is none of that. The Republicans put a price tag on everything and do little or nothing for the welfare of the people. Trump treats our allies like enemies and our enemies like friends.
1
The current President has significant business interests in Russia, China and Saudi Arabia/satellites. Therefore, he will change US foreign policy to benefit his business interests, regardless of the cost to US interests or Americans.
Can't wait for your column about the Zionization of the Crimea. (Of course, the basis of comparison would be more of presumptive getting back of what's "ours" gesture, wouldn't it?) Still, the bandying about of "Finlandization", or more accurately the wielding of it as a club, does extreme disservice to Finland as you would know if you consulted any number of fine historical accounts of a relatively small European country surviving under constant threat by the USSR, before comparing their situation to Trump's kowtowing to his role model, V. Putin. And, really, do you think the majority of the American people are behind this feckless behavior?
It's just lazy. You owe Finland a sincere apology.
2
Mr. Cohen, Bitter complaints, correct as they are, are neither tactic or strategy. No one seems to have the slightest idea what to do about Trump except "VOTE!" for the Democrats who let us down for so long. It's hard to believe that all of my fellow liberals are still so "gob-smacked", so shocked that they can't think straight, can't plan for the future.
Snap out of it already!
1
Oh dear.
I was not a fan of Mr. Ronald Reagan. Back in the day. He won in '80 (as we all remember). He won again in '84. I never voted for him.
But (personally) he was an appealing guy. He could turn a phrase. Especially the one we all remember:
"It's MORNING in America!"
Huge tax cuts (without really reducing expenditures)--business flourishing--a reviving stock market! We thought we really SAW that sun--slowly rising, diffusing warmth and light all over the place.
Back to 2018, Mr. Cohen!
"It's NIGHTTIME in America."
With everything you've said, Mr. Cohen, I agree one hundred percent. Acknowledging at the same time--pulling all the facts together as you have done only heightens the horror. The dismay. The stupefaction.
"Wait and worship while the night
Sets her evening lamps alight."
Old hymn. How much "worship" we Americans are doing right now I don't know. None of my business.
But by George! it's time to start turning on some lamps. CALL our Senators. CALL our Representatives. Make NOISE. Take part in marches. Demonstrate.
Write sn angry letter to the White House. Can't HURT, can it? Oh yes! One more thing:
VOTE!
"Do NOT go gentle into that good night."
'Cause it ISN'T a good night. These are dark times, Mr. Cohen.
Thanks for alerting us to an ever-growing darkness. Maybe it'll get worse before it gets better.
I pray God it DOES get better.
And that I live to see it.
2
Everybody's yelling at me to vote. While I'm waiting for the next election in NJ that goes Democrat anyway, Trump is destroying everything that is right with America. I've never voted Republican (I knew Reagan was an imbecilic dotard in his first election, long before it was obvious that he was afflicted with dementia) and neither does NJ. I've protested, I've written my representatives. I'm aware. What do we do? Wait? What about the 42% ?
3
It is shocking that Trump gives no weight to how many times our European allies have risen to fight with us in our various wars in the Middle East.
The Trump Organization was Donald Trump and HIS money. No Board of Directors, no shareholders just Donald with his supreme authority. That Putin used his KGB thuggery and murder to steal and extort billions from the Russian economy for himself is what Trump admires. Putin's autocratic rule over an oligarchy he exploited and controls with no free press has driven the Russian economy to all time lows now dependent on future oil monies as Putin's means of escape from the plundering becoming too noticeable. Both men are greedy authoritarians who want more money kept close and no questions asked. Trump hides his financial facts for the same reason Putin does. They understand each other in this way.
They also use nativistic sentiment to claim that they are not self-interested. That Trump's money may have come from Putin is testament to Putin's strategic planning and Trump's greed. The myth that Trump never expected to be POTUS is blown apart if anyone looks at all of Trump's past stabs at trying to be POTUS in the past. From fake Gorbachev's to Trump's constant courting of Russians and their money, he has purposely positioned himself to be where he is today and he never turned down help from the Russians in his orbit.
Trump is in a daily gambit to expand his Presidential authority because that is how he wants to operate - with total and unquestioned and unchecked control just like his old job. Putin has most likely promised that he can help him get this control if Trump 'behaves'.
5
Ever the self-proclaimed "businessman," Donald J. Trump courts Putin and Russia because he thinks beyond his presidency to his return into private deal- and money-making. For so many years he has longed for a grand Trump Tower in Moscow, for other glittering Trump wonders throughout Russia. Sometimes motives are simple, basic
and internally eternal. "Rosebud."
Doug Giebel, Big Sandy, Montana
I knew the election of Donald Trump was a bad thing, but I never really realized it could get this viciously awful, with the help of people so filled with anger and hate that they will kill themselves as long as they can take a lot of other people with them. I'm sure this sounds over-the-top conspiratorial, but I will not be surprised if Trump's Administration begins the process of combing media for names of people who have criticized him publicly, that would be a lot of us reading the New York Times, and will start to sweep us up. Yes it does indeed sound over the top, but am I the only one who believes this?
2
Strange days. After Russia annexed Crimea without provoking a meaningful peep out of Washington, it would not surprise me if Trump were to resell Alaska back to Russia for purely mendacious reasons. The momentum of outrage Trump has achieved will encourage him to make more and more iconoclastic decisions, until the American people realise that it is too late to redress a cataclysm.....
We have a bad emperor in power. Unfortunately, our country must suffer his capricious whims and ineptness during this sad period of our history. I wish that Henry Kissinger would spend time with President Trump as he did with Sarah Palin to explain the geopolitical realities of the world. Honestly, I do not expect President Trump to listen to the man who understood the balance of power in world history, as well as the thinking of Metternich and Bismarck to preserve world peace. All of our gallant Americans that shed their blood to preserve the freedom of Europe are ignored by a thoughtless leader that seeks to aggrandize himself with no regard for history or anyone else but himself and his personal interests.
1
I wish America would copy Finland’s healthcare , education and welfare system . Finland is so much ahead of us !
1
Xenophobia is self protective.Migrants are posing more than economic drain,they are potentially a danger to western civilisation itself & it’s liberal ethos.
European leaders have essentially failed the future generations.
Their short sighted policies are basically irreversible & very very dangerous.
Time will vindicate,President Trump’s concern about the foolery of open door policy.
US should not emulate the pitfall of letting into the country people inimical to its peace & prosperity.
1
The real terror is the fact that this has to be explained to the majority of voting age Americans.
Best possible outcome of Helsinki meeting: Trump defects. Putin initially may not be interested since Trump is more useful as Putin's oval office puppet. To sweeten the deal we could include another enemy of constitutional government to assist Putin, like Mitch McConnell.
1
Actually, Trump is just plain evil. Evil doesn’t mean you have horns, carry a red trident, and torture puppies before eating them alive for breakfast; evil means destroying institutions that took centuries to build, treating other people with manifest cruelty, risking war (trade, nuclear, and otherwise), and destroying peoples’ life chances on a whim. Oh, and sneering all the while, thereby hastening the destruction of what little civility remains in our political life.
If we all survive—I agree, that’s a big “if”—I’ll bet in ten years’ time, you won’t find anyone who will admit to having voted for Trump, any more than you can now find anyone who admits to turning in their friends at the Army-McCarthy hearings, or anyone who says they voted for Nixon (who had some redeeming features and who was an angel of light, compared to Donald Trump).
1
What is disconcerting about Mr. Cohen's and like essays is the conceit that prior to Trump the conduct of the United States has indeed adhered to "rules of international order" and the promotion of "pluralism and human rights." The finger prints of both parties are all over ugly illiberal episodes too numerous to post.
2
Each day I awake to read something about what Trump has done and is doing that is worse than the week before. And I read how dangerous trump is etc
We should be clear, trump is but a single, feckless, shallow, and vacuous man ( so many more adjectives will fit but I would run out of space) with an uncanny sense of how to stir masses, but its the republican establishment that feeds this beast and continues to help him grow in power.
Yes , he stirs his followers, a minority of the countries populace, but the likes of McConnell, Ryan - the so called grown ups ( in other words , minus the Kings, the Inhofes, Jordons et al- you know the sane ones) including the Corkers and and those like him who quit rather than stand for principle. The silence of the Bushes, the Rubios , the Grahms
The list is endless - but filled exclusively with Republicans - who though for decades they clothed themselves in the flag, care not a wit about democracy.
They are truly the ones that are selling the should go America to the Russians
Woe to us all.
So many on the right share his “values” and would support a strong man or dictatorship as long as their group was running it.
Oh come on! I am no fan of Trump, and dread everything he does (like pardoning the cattle farmers in Oregon who thought they were above the law), but this critique is unfounded. EU nations should derive important lessons from Trump; and I am not clear why American voters should be sympathetic to a closed market that is detrimental to our own manufacturers.
First, how are Trump's efforts to break up EU into smaller, weaker sub-markets so we can bully them, bad for America? If EU is that vulnerable, why should it be saved (clearly UK is out, and others are toying with the idea). The notion that US should save EU from itself, and help them patch up what they cannot do themselves, is ludicrous. What was EU thinking when it let Hungary join? Did they think they would abandon 1000 years of history and become Jeffersonian in a week?
Second, what is the US commitment to Crimea? Ukrainian leaders have stolen everything from the government, and Ukrainian people stolen everything not nailed down (including furnishing their homes from good pilfered from their workplaces). Whom will we be saving, for what, and from whom? Ukraine is its own worst enemy. Why should US get involved in this mess?
EU and Ukraine are on their own; they have nowhere the nuisance value that Russia possesses. We challenged Russia, and they fought back by sabotaging our elections (and those in Europe). You say 'coddle Putin,' Trump says 'co-opt Putin.'
Time will tell.
2
I can't wait for November to happen, so that we can finally get rid of DT.
Also, one day, Putin's chance will turn. That day, he will likely see how few friends he really has.
Many bizarre and inexplicable facts: Trump's deliberate alienation of our most critical allies, his servile attitude toward Vladimir Putin, his assaults upon the FBI and our intelligence professionals, his continuous lies about his campaign's strange contacts with Russian actors, suddenly make complete sense if Donald Trump, wittingly or otherwise and for unknown reasons, is simply under Putin's control and acting as an agent for the Russian Federation.
It is now almost impossible to come up with any other conclusion.
1
Trump is exactly what he presented himself to be - pro-authoritarianism, anti-immigration, nationalistic, pro-kleptocracy, anti-liberal, intellectually incurious, who acts on the model of Fire! Ready! Aim! And doesn't admit to or change because of havoc he creates.
We elected him anyway and Congress is willing to hide behind his cover fire for a tax package and a conservative court.
Trump is the American Id, our worst inner persona, brought out into the open and not civilized by education, or morality or conscience that saves most of us personally from being terrible people. And Trump has taken his id, and attached it to a group of fascist idealists growing internationally, while Congress fiddles. What could possibly go wrong?
4
Sadly the electoral college selected trump based on 77,000 votes from three states.
The MAJORITY of US who voted (nearly 3 million more for HRC) did NOT and DO NOT want trump as president nor republicans controlling Congress.
Too bad for US that more people didn't have the wits to realize how destructive their not voting would be to the USA.
Here's hoping for a massive Democratic turnout.
1
Two important terms: a) cyber invasion b) soft invasion. Russia successfully cyber invaded the United States in the 2016 election. The result was getting their asset in the president's chair and as leader of the Western democracies. Russia has successfully soft invaded at least 3 Western democracies: The US, UK (Brexit), and the presidential election of the Czech Republic. In these soft invasions not a bullet was fired nor was the threat of force decisive. These quite 21st century events were the result of a hostile power using the vulnerabilities of democratic systems to win favorable results. Favorable results= 1) get your asset into high office and/or 2) sow confusion and division within these countries and amongst NATO allies. Our first step forward is being clear that Trump is not stupid; he is in his position because of his enthusiasm to do 2). The next step is not to give up.
More like a Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact to divvy up Europe between Trump and Putin?
1
Trump believes in war (verbal and the ones he never participated in because of the bone spur) as does Bannon. The military industrial complex loves its war profits. Putin would just turn off the U.S. digitally but Trump probably does not get that. When is combined incompetence and being compromised by Putin et al not treason?
2
Nonsense! Trump is, first and foremost, a nationalist looking out for the interests of his own country.
He is no champion of the neverland globalist Utopia deluded Liberals seem to be sold on. And he is too much of a pragmatist to believe in the long-term viability of the imperial/militarist American hegemony that neocons/neoliberals have squandered trillions of dollars on.
Trump’s affinity for Putin is easy to comprehend: He admires the way Putin turned Russia around after the depredations of the Western-backed oligarchs in the 1990s. It is telling that even Russian lifespans dropped precipitately during that period. Russia’s resurrection under Putin is a blueprint for Trump’s MAGA movement. And who can argue, seeing the dilapidated state of our infrastructure and cities, that we don’t need it?
We are, in fact, fortunate that there is a rapport between Trump and Putin. It heralds fewer destructive proxy conflicts like the one in Syria with their ensuing tidal waves of desperate refugees. We should enjoy the thaw; the Democrats will be back in power before you know it.
1
Trump is looking out for himself, his family of "losers" and the wealthiest Americans / donor class and corporations.
He most definitely is NOT looking out for the Country. Not by a long shot. Despite his claims of patriotism and MAGA.
Trump man is a conman and LIAR through and through. The people who believe what he says are either gullible, stupid, or making money from the 'deal'.
Regardless, in the short and long run trump is BAD for America (but looking pretty good for Putin). Just sayin...
VOTE DEMOCRATS IN.
Get rid of republicans and trump. The world will be better for it and that, dear Melania would actually "Be Best".
1
Beneath the complex politics and economics of Europe and the U.S. lurks the true, driving spectre of racism. I don't believe you can evaluate any hard-right swing without looking at the color and culture of immigrants.
Finland is, from what I hear, determined to remain a homogeneous white society. Many, many whites across Europe view with horror the potential of losing their majority status. They may posit religion and culture as the driving force of their populism, but it's really color. Pure racism.
In the U.S., although the hard right unabashedly abd proudly touts white pride, there are many running dogs among moderate Republicans and even some Democrats who want America to stay as white and anglo as possible for as long as possible. From these Trump draws his strength.
Finland is not, nor is "determined to remain a homogeneous white society." Karelians are a different cultural group than are the Finns from western Finland. The Sami, who freely migrate across the Northern borderlands, are also culturally different. Moreover, Finland has welcomed immigrantsand asylum seekers from Africa, albeit with some push-back from the nationalist "True Finns," who remain on the fringes of politics. It is not as simple as you portray it.
2
Mr. Lundgren, you couldn't be more correct. Cohen's characterization is based on ignorance of Finnish history. I was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Turku in 1995 and the Fulbright Bicentennial Professor of North American Studies in 1999-2000. You and other critics are right: This is a slur that is ignorant, inaccurate, demeaning and inexcusable. It was also gratuitous.
5
Is Finlandization the right comparison? I would say Trump is attempting to Finlandize NATO and the western alliance. However, I think the Trump administration more closely resembles the Russification of Finland. A foreign power is undermining institutions, threatening political autonomy, destroying administrative autonomy, explicitly targeting minorities within the country. Trump is complicit and supportive in all of these aims. The primary difference is Finland was always morally compromised in seeking to retain their independence. Trump wants to give it away wholesale.
3
This is not Mr. Cohen’s best historical analysis. Prior to the First World War and the Russian Revolution, the interests of American money and Russian money were largely aligned. During the Communist period, however, American money needed the help of European money to protect its interests, and American foreign policy during that period was aimed at preventing smaller nations from “going Communist”. It was fortunate that the dictators in Russia and China turned out to be so brutal, since it enabled American money to pose as “defenders of freedom and Western values”, “a force for good in the world”, and so on. However, this is not money’s natural role. Accepting the necessity of these things is not the same as wanting them for their own sake.
Now that the threat of Communism is largely behind us, there is no reason why Russian money and American money should not collaborate. Nor should we be surprised at who the targets of this collaboration turn out to be.
Trump is too small an actor to have greatness of the U.S. Presidency thrust upon him. However, his instincts for finding friends are actually quite sound. The problem is that too many Americans genuinely want the country to be run by oligarchs, and that too many of those who don’t are trapped in a false version of their own history, like Mr. Cohen is here.
5
The fact is that Russia is not going to leave Crimea so the question is only how long will the west go on in making its point that it disapproves of what Russia. And there aren't even any actual people who want Russia should pull out of Crimea, and this is because there aren't any people who were directly affected by Russia's seizing of it, in a negative way.
Ukrainians are not affected by it because they don't live in Crimea and its not an integral part of their country but simply territory that was gifted to them back in the '60's. So Ukraine and its people did not actually lose something.
And the people of Crimea speak Russian and are ethnic Russians and Crimea was part of Russia for centuries. So they certainly have no complaints about it. And the only reason that Crimea became part of Ukraine in the 1st place was because Krustchef, a native Ukrainian, gifted it to Ukraine back when it was part of the USSR. And since all the USSR was directly controlled by Russia, the people of Crimea didn't feel they were being disconnected from Russia as a result of its being gifted to Ukraine.
Putin decided that in light of the fact that Ukraine decided to pivot to the west, Crimea which is ethnically Russian didn't have a place in the new Ukraine and so decided to take it back.
So there is no crisis in regard to Crimea and the western leaders know that Crimea will stay under Russian control. So they voiced their disapproval and its now time to move on.
6
"If you told him a plane falls out of the sky when it runs out of fuel, and the president’s gut told him otherwise, he’d stick to his line. His eyes would glaze over as you tried to persuade him otherwise."
The old saying is thus confirmed: "You will never be able to use reason to dissuade someone of an opinion that wasn't arrived at by reason." And it Trump rarely uses reason. Everything is instinct with him.
42
Mr.Trump is all about money.He claims to have a lot of it but will not release his tax returns so we can check on it.His presidency has benefited him and his family handsomely in financial terms.He criticizes NATO because they are not paying their "fair share".He, Mr.Trump, has been known to skip out on money he owes.He defers to Putin and Russia because that is where the money is.The Russian oligarchs with their ill gotten gains have been very generous to Mr.Trump.
23
Capital lives in a global world. Increasingly, as Mr. Cohen says, the right wing nightmare lives in a global world. It is time for citizens to live in a global world--the women's marches showed the way. Citizens United for decency, sustainability, and human rights.
14
Capital lives in the people minds.
It's our personal choice to obey it blindly and leave our kids at home alone in order to have more money, big house or two cars.
Trading the well-being of the children for the material possessions is the worst sin, isn't it?
That's why we have the rampant epidemics of obesity, gambling, porn addictions, drunkenness or drug abuse.
The kids left alone at home are raised on the big business system of values...
Trump's strategist Steve Bannon talked of a big cleansing war every 80 years, and said that we are close to due for one. He even made a movie to explain his ideas. Trump is searching for such a war.
First it was to be the Muslim world, but it is too down-and-out to fight back with any spirit. Now it is China, with Europe as backup in collaboration with Russia, if China does not work out.
There are some who are restless for destruction, who see the misfortunes of others as opportunities to expand their control. Their legacy in this world is the pain of others, whether children wrenched from mothers, or wars. Unless the Democrats become street-fighters, we are in for much more misery. These are early days.
52
As usual, Mr. Cohen, excellent article. However, you are looking through the wrong end of the telescope. The media has created the Trump Frankenstein and is now obsessed with his 24 hour news cycle behavior (or lack of it). The real problem, however, is the complicity of the Republican establishment who loath him but also fear him. As long as he provides tax cuts for the wealthy, guts safety net programs, undermines health and safety provisions and promotes an ultra-conservative judiciary, he will be safe and will perhaps win re-election in 2020.
The only way to forestall that eventuality, is for that large segment of the population who think that "all politicians are crooks" who saw a moral equivalency between the two candidates in 2016 and who stayed home, to see that this time it's really, really, really important to vote.
49
Voting is clearly the only answer. The problem in the last election was those on the left insisted on their entire unreasonable wish list and when they could not achieve that either stayed home or caste a “protest” vote. Until those on the left grow up and understand progress is incremental we will continue to live this nightmare.
1
Completely agree, as I did with similar comments posted to the Maggie Haberman column yesterday. Yet I found it painfully sobering to read some of the replies: "Voting for the lesser of two evils is still voting for evil," "'Not quite as bad' simply isn't good enough," etc. If the pain of having Trump eliminate 50+ years of hard-fought progressive policy gains in the span of two years can't wake liberals up the reality that they can't get everything exactly the way they might want it, then I fear nothing will. I would love to have a liberal candidate to believe in and stand beside with all of my heart and soul, but lacking that, I am quite content to simply, you know, put on end to the downward spiral. I do not understand where this intransigence among the 'new left' is coming from - when did it become a prerequisite for earning support, to be the greatest most perfect progressive leader of all time? It reeks of exactly the complaint levied by Trumpists against liberals: special snowflakes. I see Trumpists so overly sensitive to any mere soupçon of suggesting Trump might be less than perfect as evidence of their special snowflake status, but those on the left who continue to petulantly whine about 'not having a candidate to believe in' are every bit as bad. Talk about cutting off one's nose to spite the face, Dems are willingly cutting off the head. Until that nonsense ends, there can be no united front against Trump, and unfortunately that spells four more years. Sad indeed.
Please add VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS.
That IS our only real chance of stopping trump and the disaster of republican control of Congress.
All the things that "the U.S. has stood for" are in doubt in this corporate friendly/citizens don't count society that Trump and the republicans have wrought. I know 'twas ever thus and the business of America is business and all that. But today we the people have been locked out of crucial decisions like climate change, nuclear weapons and cryptoweapons, clean air, water and food, and opting for war or peace.
The current supreme court is not above going along with Trump and his enablers in congress. What are we to do?
I suggest it's time to follow in the footsteps of MLK, Gandhi, Mandela and others who made a difference in their time. We need to study their example today.
And let's reach out to others of like mind around the world.
29
There is much irony surrounding this meeting in Helsinki between Trump and Putin. It was the Treaty between Russia and Finland in 1948 that allowed Russia to have a wall from Finland down to Bulgaria protecting the Russian border facing the rest of Europe. This act completed the Iron Curtain famously named by Churchill.
The creation of NATO followed and while Stalin tried a number of times to negotiate directly with the United States without its allies, the Presidents at the time refused unilateral talks. A united front needed to be shown to Stalin. How different this meeting will be in Helsinki tells a much different and sadder story.
24
Too many people don’t know history and don’t think it is relevant. I didn’t know this particular bit of history, but growing up in the 1950s and 1960s I was aware of the general thrust of history. Russia has never been our friend except for a brief thaw during Gorbachev’s time. I have been chagrined to see how that history has reverted to almost Cold War status with a thin veneer of “friendliness” between our countries. I am astonished at the failure of Congress to push back at Trump. He is burning bridges everywhere that formerly kept us safe from tyrants like Putin. We have to have cooperation with Russia to an extent but our NATO allies are far more important to our safety. I have long thought presidential power has been taken too far and am truly astonished that our Republicans in Congress have failed to hold up their part of our balance of power between the three branches of government.
21
Couldn't agree more with Ms. Cagle. What further disaster has to occur before our representatives take action? They are our only direct link to government and we rely upon them to protect us.
What nonsense is this? The wall dividing Germany was built by Moscow beginning 1961 in Berlin. There was no physical wall in Finland, Hungary/Austria or Greece.
2
Give me a break. The Russians have the goods on Trump. There is no mystery about this. Trump is the best investment the Russians have ever made and amazing is the Republican party is facilitating the process thus demonstrating the extent of oft proclaimed patriotism.
121
Our foul excrescence of a President-Pretend is a wholly owed subsidiary of the Russian oligarchy. A nice compact expression of the situation is "treason", which of course may be fairly applied to his supporters as well.
Perhaps the best we can hope for, for the sake of the country, and yes, the world, is that when Trump journeys to Helsinki, he doesn't come back.
33
Spain did not join the European Union until 1986. Cheap package tourism has done more for delivering prosperity and promoting democracy in Europe than the EU ever did.
7
The tourist industry benefits from easier travel, continent-wide banking and payment systems, cheap cellular service, and a whole host of other small things enabled by EU agreements and agencies.
33
Vivien The EU has also stabilized the relations among European countries to the point where there is no longer the threat of war. The one borders and economic union have helped people by allowing movement of people to where they can find jobs. immigration has been an economic boon to most countries, even if it makes some people uncomfortable living near those who are different.
7
Blue collar Brits were taking cheap package holidays to Francoist Spain in the 1960s well before many of those EU agreements and agencies existed.
After 1945, the United States built up an incredibly strong and vibrant middle class. When that was taken away over the last few decades, it nullified the international aspects you continue to embrace over everything else
10
Jay, I grew up in that strong, vibrant middle class. My parents grew up in poor but honorable families. My dad went through college picking apples and delivering mail. My uncle worked in a CCC camp. My mother waited tables, worked as a nanny, and in a mental institution to get through college. That was the spirit that led to a vibrant middle class. Over the last few decades our vibrant middle class became complacent and felt entitled. If my parents lost a job they would scramble to make a living as best they could and claw their way back up the ladder to,the middle class. I don’t think many people do that now. They just complain about lost opportunity. I feel for people who are truly destitute and believe they need help but there are many more people who have the ability and the resources but give up too easily.
11
You miss the point that those "people who give up too easily" and subside into dependent poverty have children with little recourse but to give up too, before they begin.
With college becoming prohibitively expensive; with great schools now an entitlement of the wealthy; with community support even for free, nutritious hot breakfasts and lunches eroding, you are punishing and limiting the very people who need what their parents can't deliver.
Not everybody has your claw-your-way-back parents to set an example --- and in this hardhearted conservative milieu even those determined parents you admire have the task of Sisyphus before them.
Trista, you must not have read the entire last sentence. I said that there are people who are truly destitute and need help. There will always be those people who don’t have the capabilities my parents had. They need help and I’d never deny them that help, but if you want to go to college there are many solutions to making college less costly, community colleges for one. There are also many career courses of study in high school. Schools in my community offer two whole pages of career prep courses — cosmetology, auto mechanics, brick laying, plumbing, healthcare, food preparation (including operating their own cafe),office careers, etc. I also worked as a waitress, receptionist, and baby sitter when I was in college. One boyfriend thought it was beneath my dignity to wait tables but I think any honest work is dignified. I had friends who measured tobacco and did other farm work and construction when they were in college. My son worked as a courier in law offices when he was in college. One daughter worked in the university library, and one worked in call center for the university. We shouldn’t deny help to the segment of the population that is truly in need, that doesn’t mean the rest of us should give up. My family had lean years, I’ve had lean years, and my children have also had lean years but we knew if we kept on working at it we would survive.
Not to forget or dismiss the fact that the same forces which brought trump in power were at work in the case of Brexit. Also important Putin and his emissaries played an outsized role in both. So it’s important to question what’s at stake when all those paid by Putin work hard to destabilize and dismantle NATO and EU.
36
As the Mueller investigation continues to follow the money, I only hope the trail leads from Putin to Trump. Money is the leverage that Putin uses to influence people and Trump is likely no exception.
49
"European peace since 1945 has depended on acceptance of the principle that the presence of national minorities in other countries — in this case, ethnic Russians in Ukraine — is not a pretext for war or annexation."
Let me emphasize this, since it cannot be emphasized enough.
The single exception in modern European history was the wars following the breakup of Yugoslavia in which about 140,000 people were killed, regions depopulated, and cities ruined.
12
I think this is a bit panicky. NATO and the EU were created to meet a reality 50-75 years ago. Facts change. Policies change with them.
7
Good point.
The United States formed back in the 18th century to deal with 18th century problems. It's clearly obsolete now that we're so 21st century and have smartphones.
I say, every man for himself, and God against all!
32
Read my comments about the Balkan wars. Europeans are still as clannish and bloody minded as they or anybody else ever were.
1
Facts are facts and by definition don't change.
Unless one is Donald Trump, he makes up fake "facts" aka LIES and "statistics" to support his erroneous positions.
Conditions, situations, and people change (or don't).
1
A choice lies before us. We can decide to be committed to democracy or we can take the path which has brought us to our divided decidedly less democratic country. Trump can show us what not to be. We can show Europe what is possible to move from shadow to light. But somehow if we find our way, we might find progress toward a greater democracy.
19
Better get active and VOTE for DEMOCRATS. IF we want to turn this terrible tide.
Mr. Cohen, I agree with your column in it's entirety but we forget that this is what many Americans actually wanted when they voted on November 08, 2016. I can't tell you if it was ignorance of history, anger, selfishness, a misunderstanding of what democracy is or a combination of all, but the people in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania took Donald Trump over the top with a mere 77,000 votes between all three states. This doesn't have much to do with Finland. Rural America in some way thinks Trump is going to bring them freedom. They will be disappointed and clearly have no idea of what freedom for all looks like. Those that continue to support Trump and his adoration of Putin have no idea how bad things can get when the beacon of hope that was once America collapses. Sometimes the status quo as boring as it may seem is the very thing that supports stability, but Trump supporters didn't want stability, they wanted things in Washington shook up. Well, that's exactly what they got. I think the back end of the shake up will have an impact and only then will they understand the lies, inconsistencies, incoherent policies and corruption of the man they supported and what little he actually stands for will become clear. Trump's love for Putin should have been the wake up call but that's a moot point now. We'll all suffer with those supporters and the damage that is already taking place now. America's true defenders are weeping from their respective graves.
69
I think you are off on your recent political history here. Trump lost the popular national vote by more than 3 million votes. The reason we have him is because we still allow the outdated Electoral College to choose our president. I do agree with much of the rest of your analysis of rural voters wanting a shake-up.
We need to get access to Donny the Red's federal tax returns for the past ten years by any means necessary as they will reveal the massive indebtedness of Little Donny to Mother Russia. Then we need to get a Democratic-led Congress that will not be afraid to oppose and remove this scared little boy from national office.
Absolutely correct. The question is whether or not this carnage will continue unabated because the Congress, whose job it is to balance the Executive Branch, fails to act. I urge everyone to vote in November with their eyes and minds wide open. I've heard enough excuses that forgive Trump for all his failings by stating "It's better than Hillary". I didn't like Hillary either, but that doesn't excuse Trump's behavior and the Congressional Republican's lack of spine.
Under the new Trump world order, we're going back to the '30s with the rise of ethno-nationalist authoritarian states. It's no coincidence that our only friends today are ethno-nationalist or authoritarian states. Unaffordable healthcare , greater wealth disparity , and luxury golf courses are coming into fashion.
48
Finlandization presupposes the country would become peaceful and neutral. That's not what I'm seeing with the USA: it is becoming more and more aggressive, as its economic grip over the world economy loosens.
The more precise term would be the "Nazifascisation" of the USA, since the feature of nazifascism is direct imperialism.
84
Factionalization: this is the operative core of T____p's m.o. Sow division and discord that fracture global alliances, and your fellow citizens into disparate, competing factions. In this way opposition parties and beliefs are easy to discredit and disable.
It's a winning strategy, but who's winning?
18
Trump befriends most of the world’s natural resource rich countries. Our European allies buy virtually all the raw materials they use. China roams the world for natural resources as does Trump. Trump has more in common with the Chinese than the Russians.
3
Several months ago, a piece in the NYT offered the thought Mr. Trump was a Russian agent, an American businessman co-opted either by a sex scandal or personal conviction (or perhaps both) to aide Russia in its quest to fracture the post WW2 constructs that have benefited the planet but not so much Russia. While an intriguing premise when originally written, the piece takes on an almost prescient character. Why else would Mr. Trump cowe to Moscow on so much (and no, closing down a spy/resort complex on the Chesapeake and another on Long Island don’t count as credible “sanctions” for Russia’s many misdeeds)? The whole saga plays like a slick HBO or STArZ miniseries; Melania is probably the President’s handler, coordinating everything with GRU or FSB personnel at Russia’s fortress-like Embassy perched on a hill with commanding views over Washington. The President being a Russian agent or co-opted source Is quickly becoming the only plausible explanation for the fecklessness of the Administration and the open maw of corruption that has destroyed Russia which is the current model of governance in the US.
28
The banks stopped loaning Trump money and the Russian oligarchs stepped in. The Russians quickly realized that Trump had no regard for the law or accounting and together they moved into money laundering and racketeering. Putin knew about it but Trump was beneath his time or interest.....’ until he declared his candidacy . Putin hated Clinton and Trump would be his useful idiot. No one expected Trump to win but Putin understood that Trump would become a fixture on Fox News bashing Clinton after the campaign .
Trump was played and got in too deep. And Putin has the sex tapes too; it was just too easy and the Russians couldn't resist. Kompramat as sport.
I think the real scandal lies with GOP leadership. They knew but went along . Ryan is retiring to escape the the backlash but it won't work. McConnell believes he will survive through parliamentary tricks but he will be scorched . Finally and most importantly Murdoch was part of it because he hated Obama. Murdoch will flee the country.
"Trump is not an unusual American president with contrarian ideas. He is an off-the-charts repudiation of everything the United States has stood for since 1945: representative government, liberty, the rule of law, free trade, a rules-based international order, open societies, pluralism and human rights."
It's really quite astounding, isn't it? That one guy, in such a short period of time, can destroy America's former view of the world and its place in it.
My personal view is that Trump is more than compromised, he's been co-opted. These secret phone calls with his new best friend, where they tisk tisk over 'fake news" and plot God knows what for their two countries are exceeded in their audacity only by the silence of Congress.
We know one thing: Trump is always eager to please the folks that have nothing to offer--Kim Jong-Un, and now Vlad. With authoritarians, Trump's usual transactional approach to diplomacy is parked at the door in favor of giving away the store.
I wouldn't be a bit surprised if there's no transcript, no readout, whatever. Just as Trump has lots to hide from Robert Mueller, he will have even more to hide from voters (particularly his base) who are sleepwalking while Trump transforms this country.
120
Forget Orban, forget Conte, forget Salvini.
What they do has nothing to do with what Trump does.
These people simply uphold existing laws, something their predecessors didn't do.
Europe these days sees a shift away from the Left which has changed immigration from orderly to an anything goes scheme.
There is no shift towards the Right as people in the EU value their freedom and quality of life.
They are simply afraid that the EU will become the social services support for all of Africa.
That is a far cry from what Trump does.
Trump is easy to understand:
He grew up in a very secure and pampered way of a household that had money to no end and he is a complete failure in any kind of education.
A bully by nature educated in a third grade military school who now believes that the military can fix it all, including trade and economics as well as social issues.
The Europeans don't think like that and they have no intention of becoming a military superpower as they believe in soft skills.
That is a total contradiction to the ideas of Trump.
So Trump is simply trying to press his idea of a US dominated world, courtesy of the US military power, onto Europe.
The EU will not follow him.
Even Putin does not fit into the fantasies of Trump as Russia these days understands that military power is not what it takes to make a working society.
Relax and sit back and watch Trump hiding from the protests in Europe while not getting anywhere on his agenda.
That should be fun.
13
The unfortunate, perhaps even tragic, thing about commentators like Cohen is that their worthwhile arguments are undermined by their refusal to grant the peoples of the US and the European countries the right to self-preservation. Hungary, according to Cohen, has a moral duty to welcome immigrants and thereby put at risk its language, its culture and its national cohesion. Acc. to Cohen, it basically has a moral duty to allow itself to be dissolved in one grand mass of humanity. Even in France now you see English signs everywhere; if a big country like France shows signs of melting away, how can a little one like Hungary hope to survive? This callous indifference on Cohen's part (not to mention Brooks's, Stephens's, Boot's and others') helps to disqualify the newspapers they write for.
18
Hungary has always been a multi-national, multi-ethnic state, most recently during the time of the Austro-Hungarian empire. It's food, music, and ethnic culture has spread throughout Europe (paprika, goulash?). Most immigrants see Hungary as a way station on their path to England, France, or Germany, so Hungarians shouldn't fear.
11
You need to demonstrate that Brooks and Cohen are advocating migration on a scale that would in fact threaten the "self-preservation" of the US and Europe.The obsession with race and migration makes the United States weak when an influx of talent and energy can make us stronger. It may make you uncomfortable but that is not a threat to our existence. Nor is European race and nationalist driven fascism a formula for self-preservation.
There is a difference in the blank refusal of Hungary to accept ANY refugees into their country and being overrun like Germany and Sweden. Countries like Hungary and Poland are huge net recipients of EU funds which is paid for by the tax payers of countries such as my own. It is extremely provocative having to pay large handouts to these countries, only to see them give you the highway salute when you ask them for a little solidarity in sharing the burden of the immigrant wave. Countries like Poland and Hungary have no interest in the EU other than leeching on wealthier countries. They should be kicked out.
The US should do more "Finlandization" and could learn a lot from Finland, which is:
- consistently top scorers in education worldwide (4th in reading, 4th in science, 13th in math on the PISA rankings, with the US in midfield everywhere)
- among the highest life expectancy worldwide (10 ranks in front of the USA
- low infant mortality rates (1/10 of that in the USA)
- lowest maternal mortality rate in the world (1/7 of that in the USA)
Finland - despite the long polar nights - even ranked first in the world happiness index (https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/16/these-are-the-top-10-happiest-countries-....
I think many Americans would be happy to have a bit more Finland in their lives.
178
I absolutely agree. I've traveled and worked in Finland and I know many Finns. In addition to the points made above, the Finns provide 1 year of paid maternity leave and a guaranteed return to the job when the leave is complete. There is universal healthcare. Finnish taxes appear to be high, but simple math shows that in spite of Americans paying lower taxes, the total American spend on taxes plus all of the services that are free and universally available for Finns add up to more than the Finns pay in taxes. It's really a great little country; much like Sweden and Denmark. I don't get Cohen's disparagement.
16
With respect you may be misunderstanding Mr Cohen's point. I expect Mr Cohen agrees there is much to admire about Finland and Finnish society. Mr Cohen's point was about Finland's geopolitical circumstances.
Thanks for your reply. Interesting, but I still don't understand it after re-reading the article. My question becomes, what is "Finlandization?" A deal with the USSR to remain autonomous (the Finns did this)? Even if the US is giving things to Russia, we are not doing so due to fear of annexation of US territory (Finns were and are concerned about this). If you have a moment to explain I'd appreciate the opportunity to learn more.
Franklin Roosevelt expressed four essential freedoms as undergirding human dignity: “freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want.” These four freedoms constituted the core value-objectives of the post-World War II American-led order. America was admired because its core principle was: These four basic human freedoms should be protected by the rule of law.
That was seventy years ago. What about now?
With Trump as president freedom of speech has been replaced by his personal “freedom” to lie and to lash out at the free press and other critics whenever they call him to a an accounting of his programs, his speech or his behavior.
With Trump as president freedom of belief has been reduced to the “freedom” to assert that one fundamentalist tribal religion—the religion of many among his base supporters—is politically superior to all other belief systems.
With Trump as president freedom from fear has been supplanted by the “freedom” to use fear as a demagogic means for promoting discord among diverse social groups and as an excuse for increased military expenditures—and perhaps for yet more misguided American military adventures?
With Trump as president freedom from want has been subverted into the “freedom” to exploit the market place—and to exploit or supplant the governmental laws, regulations and structures that establish the character of the market place—in such a way that the economic disparity between the haves and the have-nots is ever widening.
75
I am no fan of Trump, but all of this was happening long before he took office: the looting of the country's wealth by the rich, perpetual foreign wars, torture, the degradation of human rights, violence against native Americans and African-Americans, poverty, the complete destruction of our infrastructure and manufacturing economy.
1
“Perhaps Western policy makers of uncertain resolve on how to deal with Putin today would do well to listen to the concerns of those countries that lie most directly in the shadow of Russian mischief-making.” (Foreign Policy-“Is Finland Rejecting Finlandization?”
Instead of trying to deter NATO’s credibility and deterrence capabilities, Trump should listen to our 17 Intelligence agencies who all agree that Russian mischief-making impacted our 2016 elections.
Of course, Trump is not of uncertain resolve on how to deal with Putin today; he will embrace him as his ally to undermine America and Western democracies. It is our allies who because of his authoritarian impulses will be of uncertain resolve on how to view the US. They, like us, should see him as a tool of Putin. May NATO stay strong in the face of this clear and present danger.
10
Even if Putin had nothing on Trump, Mr. Trump would be in thrall to Russia because of his envy for Putin's absolute power. The United States is already closer to rule by oligarchs than it's ever been, and the only issue for Trump is how to assert supreme authority even over the oligarchs. Only a tiny few of the American people are beginning to see Trump's real motives, and unless more people comprehend soon that Trump wants a Russian form of government here and now, he will get his way. He has more than enough enablers and too few willing to stand against him.
63
I think the "resistance" has a built-in disadvantage against the lies of the liar-in-chief. They are not willing to spew unsubstantiated statement the way he is.
An example from this column: "He may be compromised, whether by Russian intelligence or money." Compared this statement to "Obama was born in Keyna, (or Indonesia, or wherever but the US)", "the biggest inauguration crowd", and numerous other lies and conspiracies.
So why don't we just say Trump is compromised, either by Russian intelligence or money? Is there any evidence, you may ask. The appropriate answer is : "No, not yet but who knows judging by his behavior toward Russia."
14
I am told that NATO is important to Western security and the postwar WW2 economic order. Yet Germany and many other NATO members have determined that NATO is not worth the 2 percent defense minimum spending commitment. Why should the US feel bound to an organization where most of its members don’t feel the price of membership is worth it.
13
How much money is needed to appropriately fund NATO, and how much will the U.S. military industrial complex allow the U.S. government to decrease the military budget? There is a limit to how much money NATO requires to protect against Trump’s best buddy, Putin.
6
So you are in favor of restoring the USSR and handing it all the countries of Eastern Europe, restoring the iron curtain?
1
Back on June 29th I had tweeted, “T(rump’s) reason to meet Putin – it’s either Annual Performance Review time or the beginning of the Finlandization of Trump’s America – neither is good!” with a link to my NYT Pick comment on the Editorial Board’s article titled, “Trump and Putin’s Too-Friendly Summit.” Now Mr. Cohen writes, “The Finlandization of Trump’s United States is pretty much complete.” So, it’s much worse than I thought but Mr. Cohen’s reasoning is pretty persuasive.
Nonetheless, Mr. Cohen’s conclusion, “The Finlandized must be grateful for small mercies” is a surrender that we can ill afford. It’s up to our NATO allies to hold the fort until Trump’s America comes to its senses. NATO should resist Finlandization of its own individual nations by all possible means. Post-Trump, we will literally live up to our national anthem and “our flag will still be there” as a proud member of the western alliance, which together will always represent “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
7
@ Jack Nargundkar - You appear to accept Roger Cohen's ill-chosen comparison seeing Trump's relationship with Russia based on personal gain for the Trump family with Finland's relationship based on being a tiny advanced democratic nation next to the gigantic USSR and now Russia.
There are no similarities between the Trump-Russia relationship and the Finland-USSR/Russia relationship. In my main comment I note the Roger Cohen demeans Finland by taking that position.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
1
Finland did what any country beside a giant neighbor like USSR and now Russia needed to do to survive. Remember the Soviet agression against Finland in the 1939-1940 winter. Of course the relation USA-Russia is another matter.
21
Several hundred years of border disputes and "wars" between czarist Russia and USSR shaped policy in dealing with todays USSR. For most of the time, Finland was just a state in Sweden.
@ Wilbray Thiffault Ottawa Canada - Thanks WT, I was just about to add a reply to my comment just below yours pointing out to Roger that the Soviet Union invaded Finland on November 30, 1939, the beginning of the Winter War. And that is just one of many landmarks in the relationship between what is now Finland and not only USSR/Russia but also Sweden.
We do not yet know the full truth about Donald Trump's involvement with the Russians but we do know that it is in no way comparable with Finland's.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
4
Finlandization of the US? Sounds catchy but of course it is absolutely inaccurate. This whole 2016 debacle explanation that Trump won because the Russians interfered and Trump was Putin's lackey. The usual nonsense is spouted how Russia invaded Ukraine and Crimea was taken by force. Crimea opted out of Ukraine because of the 2014 anti Russian coup against the legally constituted gov't. Of course no one mentions the 1996 Russian election of Yeltsin in which the US interfered extensively. The problem is that Putin is seen as diabolically sneeky. He has effectively made himself president for life in Russia. He has a great deal of support by the Russian electorate. But he is nasty to opponents and will not allow them a legal platform to mount a campaign. Trump is a corrupt demagogue who has freaked out the news media in general. These news media types figure Trump could not achieve his power grab without the help of Putin. Wrong Trump, will find some occasion to outrage Putin just as he has the US allies in the West.
8
@ c harris - When I first saw the headline at 4 AM here in Sweden I thought it was just a headline writer's misunderstanding of a text by Roger Cohen. Then I saw that it was Cohen himself who used the phrase. You write "inaccurate" which is 100% correct, and in my comment I note that it is also "demeaning". I now add "inexcusable".
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
1
The long view
Russia - that incorporated land vast sway of land considered by the Chinese to be traditionally Chinese - is the natural alley of the US in the unavoidable economic (and possibly military )conflict between the US (declining in power) and a every day more powerful China.
Strategically, Trump playing nice to China repeats the action of the UK did around 1905 when it, faced with a rising Germany,
settled conflicts with long term enemies (France, Waterloo; Russia , the Great Game) to contain rising Germany in the East and West.
The US would be well advised to complement its position East of China (Japan) in the West of China by allying with Russia, and its former States.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
2
The enemy of my enemy is still my enemy, but possibly a strategic ally on certain things. Europe is our friend. Russia is not. They have strategic interests and goals that are bad for the US and the world as a whole.
Also, China is a geopolitical rival, but it is not inevitably a military foe. We can have a multipolar world, and even work together with our rivals (or even frenemies) on things of global importance like global warming or eradicating diseases. Quite frankly, as bad as China is, I prefer it as a great power over Putin's Russia, which is a despotic oligarchy that exports instability. China did not brazenly interfere with our electoral process, nor does it regularly interfere with the electoral processes of its neighbors. Russia does. It is the far greater threat and the one that should be contained.
19
There's no doubt that Putin is always watching his backyard (Siberia) when he engages in any provocations in Europe.
Siberia has a population of about 36 million in a land area of 13.5 million square km (or 5,207,900 square miles). That makes it sparsely populated with 2.7/km2 (7/sq mi), the same as Australia.
Putin will know his country's history well. Russia has never been successfully invaded from the west. But from the east? That is a different matter.
Putin may do needle-pricks in Europe but probaby not anything really dramatic, as a big confrontation in Europe might leave his backyard vulnerable.
In the 1980's Russia built "BAM" (Baikal-Amur Mainline - it's called that in Russian too) so as to have an alternative strategic rail line much further away from the Chinese border.
I have long argued the Russia is the most natural ally of the GOP USA. Trump is but a distraction as the USA is transformed into Russia. Chrystia Freeland's Plutocracy: The rise of the Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else makes no mention of Donald Trump but four years later the form follows function scenario sees the USA look more like Russia every day.
I like the Finland analogy the Finland, Sweden Estonia partnership is doing a better job for its citizens than anyone else. I am hoping Canada can join Finland and get as far away from your fetid swamp as possible even with our shared continent wide border.
I am 70 years old and once loved America more than my Canada. Oscar Wilde might write the portrait has come out of the closet and every morning I say the blessing that thanks God I am in Canada.
84
@ Memphrie et Moi - Too bad Roger did not use your phrasing, the US is transformed into Russia. Unfortunately and inexcusably, Roger did not write that but wrote that the US is being Finlandized, meaning not at all what you see it to mean in your 2d paragraph but rather that Finland was weak against USSR/Russia.
I assume that those who recommend your comment do so for the same reasons I write in mine that I would indeed like to see my country of birth adopt Finnish/Nordic policies. There is not a chance of that happening with Donald Trump as president.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
3
Thanks Larry,
I have always enjoyed your comments even when I was Montreal Moe.
It was only recently that I discovered that the tie that binds Sweden, Finland and Estonia goes back a thousand years.
Our Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland spent most of her career as a journalist in Russia and wrote Plutocrats: The Rise of the Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else before anyone suspected Trump would run for office. Her videos are all the internet and her speech at the Aspen New Ideas conference titled Plutocrats tells it much better than I can. Russification is real from the courts to the state religion Putin is a loyal member and champion of the GOP.
Hoping Theresa May and then NATO leaders are firm, fair, and consistent with Trump, as they would need to be with any unruly young person. They should know who Trump is by now. Flattery and unctuousness have been tried and found wanting. Yes, they may have to pay a price--but that's true no matter what, and they should stand up and be seen to stand up for the best values of the post-WW2 order.
27
Trump did not elect himself, nor was he elected by the majority of US voters nationwide. He was elected by a majority of voters in key districts in our Heartland states, who hold the balance of who controls the Senate, who control the House. who controls the White House and who controls the majority of our state legislatures. What Trump says and what Trump does apparently appeals more to those voters than what is being said and being done by his critics and political opponents. That is so true, that he even walked into the presidential nomination over the heads of many others in his own party who, unlike him, had held prior public office. Now they are so intimidated by him, afraid of losing his support for renimination that they bend to his every wish. Why this is so, I do not know. That it is so is self-evident. Democrats need, if they are to continue to have any real influence in this nation, must figure out why and come up with some counter appeal that works in those key districts in the Heartland. Sorry, I see no evidence they are doing so. They seem focused only on gaining larger majorities in those districts elsewhere where they already dominate. That will do no good.
35
I realize this is not the point but . . . Airplanes do not full out of the sky when they run out of fuel. They glide. In 2001, an Air Transat A330 jet ran out of fuel and was able to glide 120 km in 19 minutes to land safely.
9
Nothing good ever emerges from Vladimir Putin. Nothing good ever emerges from Donald Trump, even for folks who believe that bad is good. So, here we are promised the emergence of something from a Putin-Trump summit in Helsinki. What good emerge from that?
23
I agree with most, but "Trump won’t oppose Putin’s Russia under any circumstances" is not in agreement with the facts.
1. "US agrees to send lethal weapons to Ukraine, angering Russia
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, DEC 22, 2017
The new arms include American-made Javelin anti-tank missiles, that the Ukraine long wanted but that the Obama administration declined to deliver .
2. CNN, June 4, 2018
"A massive US-led military exercise involving 18,000 soldiers from 19 nations, primarily NATO members, kicked off Sunday along the alliance's eastern border.
Saber Strike 18 will take place until June 15 in Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
....
The exercise will be conducted amid heightened tensions with Moscow, which views any NATO military activities along its border negatively, maintaining that it increases "mutual distrust."
And Defense News
3 ."US Army executes active electronic attack in Europe for first time since Cold War June 29 2018
HOHENFELS, Germany, and WASHINGTON
The 2nd Cavalry Regiment conducted an active electronic attack — or jamming — within a European country for the first time since the Cold War this month during Saber Strike in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland. "
While Trumps words admire Putin, US actions against Putin's interest (including in Syria) are more decisive than those of the previous US administration.
7
The US action in Syria had nothing to do with Trump. US forces were in Syria with the Kurds, came under attack and defending themselves. The NATO exercises are business-as-usual.
Regarding the lethal arms to Ukraine, that was more of an apparently quid pro quo than an action against Russia. It is unlikely to be a coincidence that the arms shipment corresponded with Ukraine's permitting Konstantin Kilimnik, Paul Manafort's Ukrainian associate, to flee to Russia where he's out of Mueller's reach. Ukraine has also generally frozen cooperation with Mueller.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/world/europe/ukraine-mueller-manafort...
6
As usual, Cohen is all messed up. "Finlandization" is bad? Finland is one of the most prosperous nations in the world, managing to hold back the Russian bear from its borders like no other Soviet-contiguous country has done. Finland has a significantly lower Transparency International corruption index than the UK and certainly far lower than that of the crime-ridden U.S.
I would be happy to live in Finland. As long as we have peeople like May and Trump lording it over us, I'm not happy.
This is just a continuation of trashing countries he doesn't respect. Germany is No. 1 on his list of bogeymen but there are lots others. Join the club, Suomi.
25
There are a lot of bad things about Putin and Russia. But let's stop with Crimea and Ukraine. Crimea historically is Russian, and most Crimeans are glad to be reunited. Ukraine is like Russia's half-brother, and like it or not, it's really a family matter that never was any of Victoria Nuland's or Hillary Clinton's business.
12
No. Ukraine and Russia are separate countries, so an invasion of Ukraine by Russia is no more ‘a family matter’ than it would be if the United States invaded Canada or vice-versa. Furthermore, Crimea was part of Ukraine due to decisions made by the Russian-dominated Soviet Union.
43
Crimea has also historically been Greek, Roman, Mongol, and Ottoman. Which time frame is the official "historical"?
Should we support returning Manhattan to the Delaware tribe, or since would you prefer The Netherlands?
30
Crimea does not belong to Russia or Ukraine but to the Tartar nation. The Tartar were deported from Crimea by Staline and even if they were rehabilitated by Khrushchev they were not officially allow to be back. In 2014, the Tartars of Crimea massively boycotted the referendum about the annexation by Russia.
In the things the U.S. stands for Mr. Cohen forgot to mention unending foreign wars, inequality, and the world's most wasteful economy.
20
Amen. You should write the article, it would be more accurate and to-the-point.
1
I knew someone brought up in eastern Europe under Soviet domination. He went to school there, was doubtless given heavy doses of Russian culture and taught that the Soviet Union was the center of the universe and the future of mankind, He spoke fluent Russian and maintained close ties with friends in his native country. He had little reason to love the Russians and once told me, "the Russians are a brutal people". When Russian intervention in Ukraine began I asked him what he thought about it, I expected to get an earful, he said, "Ukraine was always part of Russia". Well, there you are, right from the horse's mouth, sometimes you just have to face reality. President Trump doesn't have to say he accepts Russian intervention in Ukraine and Crimea, but he shouldn't start war-dancing about it either. And, yes, Europe has been free-riding on U.S. defense spending for their benefit for 70 years now, it's time for them to quit crying and start helping out. Why is President Trump a bad person for taking realistic positions on these issues?
6
Ukraine and Russia, as I understand it, share much history. I believe you could say Russia was part of Ukraine just about as accurately as you can say ‘Ukraine was always a part of Russia’. But Ukraine and Russia are separate countries, as are the UK and the US, and as are the US and Canada, etc. Ukraine has a distinct language (which I’ve heard described ‘straight from the {Russian} horse’s mouth’ as a ‘stupid dialect’, by the way) and Ukrainians do not consider themselves Russian. If Russians in Russia are concerned about the rights and safety of Russians outside of Russia’s borders perhaps they should pay for those Russians to return to Russia. It would probably be cheaper than invading neighboring countries.
1
In Eastern Europe in Soviet times, the second language learnt in school was Russian.
But in Russia itself, the second language learnt in schools was....English!
1
Russia is the #3 supplier of aluminum to the US. But Russia faces no tariffs. Mexico is #5, Germany #8, France #13, Italy #15. Punish them!
http://www.worldstopexports.com/us-aluminum-imports-by-supplying-country/
Likewise, Russia is the #5 steel supplier, Germany #8.
https://www.statista.com/chart/13107/where-the-us-gets-its-steel/
Why has nobody, but nobody, pointed out this further example of Trump's big sellout to Putin and Russia?
363
Very good point.
Russia also brings our Astronauts from the International Space Station. Our relationship with Russia is more complicated than just the Trump connection.
Putin's Puppet is the appropriate label, and I don't see why the Democrats don't put it on the Prez and repeat it 'till it sticks.
1
I never realized how much Trump was like that erstwhile commie, Putin, until I read this insightful column. We need a new Joe McCarthy to out Trump and his fellow travelers. Keep up the good work Mr. Cohen.
18
Yes. The concern Trump will throw away what remains of our democracy is looming large. In late 2015 or early 2016, I surmised Trump was compromised in some fashion. No sane American presidential candidate would embrace a Russian murderer “president”, and Russian foreign policy designed to destroy western democracy, on purpose, but there he was on the campaign stage doing just that. I thought surely Congress would serve to check anything weird this guy would pull if he got elected. I was right about Trump, and wrong about Congress. They are not even holding hearings on the inhumanity occurring on the southern border by this administration. Republicans in Congress are now meeting with Russians. Why? I can take a good guess and suggest it has something to do with sanctions on Russian individuals, some who may have had a hand in attacking our election. Americans cannot allow our rights, freedoms, and liberties be destroyed by a selfish, greedy, small-minded president and a cowardly Congress.
115
Take a look at Russian colonization policies going back to Katherine the Great (Volga Germans), and post WWII in the Baltics.
But it didn't work in Finland. Why? Some would say the Finns killed all of the Russian 'colonists'. And they were happy to do it.
Russians need to stay in Russia; to leave Mother Russia for too long, as a Russian, will contaminate the Russian with Western ideas like free thought and action.
Everyone else needs to leave them alone. Give the Russians time to evolve, to hopefully become a people who don't worship hate and fear.
3
Volga Germans were Russian colonisation?
In fact, they were Germans (as well as other Europeans) invited in by Catherine the Great in the 18th Century to farm lands around the lower Volga, which was always part of Russia.
Exactly correct - "He is an off-the-charts repudiation of everything the United States has stood for since 1945: representative government, liberty, the rule of law, free trade, a rules-based international order, open societies, pluralism and human rights."
GOP'er leaders/donors pimped out the office of POTUS to an utterly unqualified and inexperienced doofus because: judges, tax cuts.
Now that they have their tax cuts, and Gary Cohn has exited stage right, His Unhinged Unraveling Unfitness takes his wrecking ball to the international trading system, imposing new taxes (they say tariffs, because they're GOP'ers) that will fall most heavily on his base.
GOP'er leaders should be forever tarred because they let a piece of work like the Orange Jabberwock anywhere near a ballot - and Mueller has produced plenty of indictments and pleas showing exactly the damage these Banana Republicans have inflicted.
83
Facts and figures on the robber barony gutting of the U.S. and unrestrained Vulturedom:
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/07/corporations-are-investing-...
3
How much time it will take for voters to decide if Trump’s goals align with United State goals regarding NATO and Russian sanctions. It is as if voters are swallowing Trump hook, line, and sinker with domestic concerns and promises overriding international concerns.
12
Cohen claims that postwar peace in Europe rests on "the principle that the presence of national minorities in other countries is not a pretext for war..."
But, the NATO war with Serbia was about just that: the presence of the Albanian (Kosovar) minority in the country. More precisely: an Albanian minority under violent attack.
Thus, attacks on European countries on behalf of (oppressed) minorities seems within the postwar rules, after all.
The situation of Russian-speakers in Ukraine is far from that of the Kosovars. Thus, Putin has no basis to invoke the NATO-Kosovo intervention.
However, the plight of Russian-speaking Ukrainians might well worsen and come to resemble that of the Kosovars of two decades ago. In that case, is the Russian minority to be cast adrift a la Cohen?
The Russian-speaking minority is one-third of Ukraine. The nationalist extremists who kidnapped the Maidan Uprising immediately banned Russian as an official language, even for the third of the country where it is the main tongue.
That's like banning French as an official language in Quebec.
One notes with apprehension that this assault on Russian language rights can easily serve as the start of something akin to the ethnic cleansing of Russian-Latvians carried out by Latvian racists.
Given the violent background of extreme Ukrainian nationalism, such ethnic cleansing of Russian-Ukrainians might well recall the plight of the Kosovars.
If this occurs, what should Russians do?
7
Thank you for this sober reminder that peace, stability and democracy are not givens.
41
The odd man out in NATO is Canada. A lot of people forget that Canada is part of the group as well, and always say Europe.
The reason why I point this out is that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is taking the best tact, and that is to bluntly say: '' that Canada will not be pushed around. '' This is also why the American administration has gone after him with such viciousness to knock him down. (especially because of NAFTA)
It is not working. The countries all know that this administration is not going to last more than 2 more years (if not sooner) and they are simply biding their time.
Until then there is a pause, but then will come a reset.
217
I hope you are right.
Mr. Cohen needs to define ‘Findlandiazation’ for readers:
nounhistorical
“the process or result of being obliged for economic reasons to favor, or at least not oppose, the interests of the former Soviet Union despite not being politically allied to it.”
To make a long story short in the case of Trump: follow the money from Russia saving him from financial collapse making him a potential asset for. Russians wanting to control our 2016 election.
233
@ JT Florida - Yes, Mr. Cohen failed seriously by not first a definition of Finlandization
I borrow a definition with key words capitalized:
The process whereby a country is induced to favour, or refrain from opposing, the interests of a MORE POWERFUL country,
Roger's choice of that word is unacceptable for many reasons, as I note in my main comment. The word is especially ill chosen given that the USA is the MORE POWERFUL country. Trump refrains from criticizing Russia for reasons yet to be fully revealed, not because Russia is the "more powerful".
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
18
apologies to a “disagreeable man"
Vladimir Putin, Trump does not see as an enemy,
He wants him as a partner, views it as a remedy,
T’will end intrusive hacking, with loans from Russian banks,
Enabling Trump to undertake a slew of hanky panks.
He’s very fond of little Kim, dictators he adores,
A role he’d love to carry out right on his native shores,
His ego has metastasized, his base swallows it whole,
But many others are convinced the Donald has no soul
And he can’t think why.
132
Props! An underappreciated G&S fave of mine.
8
With a little work, Larry, this would scan very well to the tune of "Modern Major General."
6
The tag "and he can't think why" suggests that this is intended as a parody of "Whene'er I spoke sarcastic joke replete with malice spiteful", from Princess Ida. Trump as King Gama -- sounds about right.
1
Donald Trump has roused many armchair psychologists, who usually diagnose him with narcissism, and its attendant paranoia. But there is a less often heard category that I think fits him better. That is "puer aeternus," or "eternal boy." It is defined in Wikipedia as follows:
"'Puer aeternus' (sometimes shortened to "puer"), Latin for 'eternal boy,' in mythology is a child-god who is forever young. In psychology it is an older person whose emotional life has remained at an adolescent level. The puer typically leads a provisional life due to the fear of being caught in a situation from which it might not be possible to escape. He covets independence and freedom, opposes boundaries and limits, and tends to find any restriction intolerable." http://tinyurl.com/y7y9gn8v
The limits and restrictions of the liberal mind, and the liberal world order, Trump finds intolerable. So, he takes every opportunity to disrupt and dismember them. Of course, there's no small measure of spite in his attacks, which he revels in.
I have no doubt that Trump has conspired with Putin to bring down the West, and will continue to do so. He is the Manchurian candidate of our worst nightmares. He must be stopped.
366
Trump may have all the syndromes you mentioned, but as a practical matter for the rest of us he is first and foremost a demagogue.
Everything he says and does appeals to the emotions of his base supporters (and they are very base). And one of the first rules for a demagogue is never to apologize but always to hit back when criticized, and Trump never fails. His phony sympathy for the little man, his hatred toward blacks and immigrants, his phony antagonism toward big business; all of these are classic tactics of American demagogues. His claims to have secret knowledge about his enemies (mainly Hillary), but which he never reveals, go straight back to Joe McCarthy and his famous attache case, always packed with dynamite news about "commies" but none of it actually displayed.
Trump's a demagogue for the 21st century, because he mastered long ago the art of projecting lies through television, and he's adapted that to the new social media.
That's how he ran circles around the less-skilled Republican demagogue candidates: Walker, Rubio, Huckabee, and Cruz (whom I thought was the most dangerous -- little did I know).
Sociopath, narcissist, eternal child? -- yes, yes, yes. But most importantly a demagogue.
1
'Puer aeternus' : Sounds like a description of the entire US right wing at present! It's long been noted that their idea of "freedom" is essentially "gross irresponsibility." Your definition just fleshes out their basic philosophy. Thanks!
No, arrested mental, moral, social, emotional, psychological development and continuing decay is part of the total person illness that any practicing addict experiences. That Trump is a narcissist addict is clear enough. His drugs of choice are adoration, acclamation, applause of any kind from anyone. He finds his stash (supporters, devotees, etc.) at golf courses, in the beings of his enablers (GOPers, etc.), random rallies and Mar el Lago. Deny him access to his stashes and watch him go crazy and do stupid/dangerous things; allow him access to the highs he gets from them, and he returns to public life emboldened to do stupid/dangerous things. From stupid and dangerous to stupid and dangerous, there seeming to be little to no middle state. In time his devotees and supporters begin to manifest his behaviors as his illness infects them, codependency for sure. Watch him as he feeds off the adoration from a Putin (or any other crazed authoritarian, Miller, et al) smile. Ish! We have a psychotic for a President meeting world leaders, some of whom are also deeply mentally ill. Look to it citizens. It can only get worse unless an intervention takes place. November?
1
Roger, I object strongly to your phrase The Finlandization of Trump's United States is complete. I was a Fulbright Lecturer in Geology in Oulu, Finland in 1967-68 and thanks to that have lived in its neighbor, Sweden, for 22 years maintaining close ties with Finland ever since.
To see Finland's relationship with the Soviet Union and now with Russia as having anything in common with Donald Trump's relationship with Putin and 21st century Russia is demeaning in the extreme.
Finland deserves an apology from you, and after you have apologized you might read Anu Partanen's book, The Nordic Theory of Everything, to learn how my USA might better become more like Finland, one of the Nordic countries.
Partanen is a Finn who moved to America thanks to marrying an American. By doing that she learned one shocking truth after another but perhaps is, nevertheless doing fine. I am an American by birth who learned one shocking thing after another about America by being in Finland in 1967-68, in Sweden 1991-92, and finally ever after from 1996 to this moment, 4 AM on Styrsö, SE.
During the Sanders campaign the New Yorker ran a cartoon with Bernie under a baseball cap Make America Sweden for all the right reasons. Your view that Trump Made America Finland apparently is expressed for one or more wrong reasons.
Not one of your better days, Roger.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
231
Mr. Lundgren, I couldn’t agree more with you. The equation between Trump’s relationship with Russia and Finland’s much more pragmatic stance towards Russia lacks any awareness about Finland’s difficult history with its neighbour. The term “Finlandization” in this case is utterly misplaced.
27
@ Dario - Thanks for the equation phrase, at 04:00 CET I could not come up with that. I guess Roger's European side doesn't extend that far north or that far back in time.
Larry L.
I must agree with Larry Lundgren's take on Roger's op-ed. I spent many years traveling to, working in and with Finns and Finnish companies, understanding how this small country has grown out of the economic devastation post WWII - beyond respect I learned to love this county. Were the climate more hospitable I might have chosen Finland over France for expatriation.
Roger, this time you are wrong.
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As a citizen of said country, I must strongly object to this revival of the slanderous term "Finlandization" that was invented by a German scandal sheet and gained some currency during the cold war. Every country has to take into account the wishes and policies of its neighbors, particularly if the country is small and its neighbor is big, mean and aggressive. Finland's accomodation was mostly of the verbal sort, its successful prevarications must have driven the Kremlin schemers raving mad.
Your article implies that Finlandization between EU-member Finland and Russia still goes on. In its pejorative cold-war meaning it does not. Foreign policies are designed to cope with the world situation, much as Canada today tries to cope with the United States.
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Very accurate and cogent reply. Most folks probably do not remember the Finnish-Russian War when the Finnish Ski Troops almost did in the Russians.
I strongly agree with you. The writer does use the term in a very confusing way. The term itself is a fuzzy and complex one even for specialists in international politics. "Finlandization" is certainly not the biggest problem or threat for America, president Trump, and polarization of U.S. politics are far more real ones.
Well-said, Ilmari. Cohen's use of the term says more about him than it does about Finland. I taught in Finland in 1995 (Turku) and 1999-2000 (Helsinki). ONe cannot do so without being mightily impressed by Finland and its people. I am aghast and embarrassed at the ignorance of Finnish history displayed by the use of this term.
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This is a theoretical American history - that things were fine and dandy and our European allies were helpful, i.e., "American prosperity grew". Not for long. Sadly, our European allies did not have the power to keep the US in check. In the decades after WW2, the US became a warmongering nation plagued by anti-Communist hysteria, engaged in horrendous and unnecessary foreign wars, and lurched into fiscal disaster, while European prosperity and social democracy grew, because they had pretty much given up on foreign wars and Capitalism. When we aren't making war overseas, we are making war on our own people, mainly, native Americans, African-Americans, and working class people of all backgrounds. We were backpedaling into feudalism long before Trump took office, and life under the liberals is, ironically, just as prohibitively expensive as life under Trump. The US has become not only a rogue nation, but a banana republic in which the rich loot the resources and exploit the workers. Can it be saved? Europe certainly won't save us from ourselves.
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European social democracy grew because they had pretty much given up on foreign wars as well as defense spending altogether - thanks to NATO and the American taxpayer.
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Stephanie Wood: IS THIS your explanation for why everyone wants to come here? 1 must endeavor to look at AMERICA with fresh eyes, as someone who has come from a third world nation where there is only the freedom to go hungry, to look often hopelessly for work where there is practically none, to hope that by a miracle your husband, if lucky enough to find work as a "chauffeur de taxi"can bring home enough to feed you and your brood, meanwhile praying that the brother in law, freshly arrived from his village in "la campagne,"will not put the arm on you for a pack of cigarettes, since it is customary to give even members of your extended family, everything they want! All of a sudden, America, land of opportunity and abundance, opens it doors, and you can become whatever, whoever you want to become, and earn a decent living.See this country with the eyes of someone who has come from a country where there is no hope, to one in which "tout est possible!"This great nation is full of folks who take its benefits for granted, unable to look at it as someone from a poverty stricken environment would .
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Pretty much given up on capitalism? With global players like Daimler, Volkswagen, BMW, Siemens, etc., driving their economic engine?
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Well said. Trump's foreign policies are not guided by rational reflection of what is best for America, but by the poor instincts of an angry old man who knows little, but believes he knows it all. Sadly, a weak mind controls America's future.
Trump's actions will lead to less freedom and a decline of America's importance on the world stage. In the past, similarly destabilizing and careless foreign policies laid the seeds for major wars. One can only hope that Trump is constrained or forced out of office before the U.S. finds itself in a major armed conflict.
There is only one recourse: Show up at the ballot box and vote him and the subservient GOP out of office, because our lives depend on it.
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November, 6 2018
I loved my Dad dearly, but, he was avid watcher of FOX news and his car radio was always tuned to Rush---so I am an expert on right-wing thinking, which perfectly aligns with Trump's "thinking." My Dad did see to it that I received a great education, which, let's say allowed me to see the shadows in his conservative cave for what they were---shadows. Whatever our future holds with this President, I believe that the American public will tire of living in this dark cave day after day---at some point---they want the sun light of morning in America.
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Maybe you are too young to remember, but "morning in America," was a Regan campaign ad.
If this opinion piece is accurate, its just a matter of time before Russia sends unmarked troops into a Baltic state and then Poland, while the US watches from afar. What Trump can't understand is that the future of America is, and has always been tied closely to Western Europe. If the EU falls into a undemocratic authoritarian chaotic state, it will mark the ascendancy of Russia and China as dominating the globe, and the demise of a USA isolated and economically disadvantaged.
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"What Trump can't understand is that the future of America is, and has always been tied closely to Western Europe. If the EU falls into a undemocratic authoritarian chaotic state, it will mark the ascendancy of Russia and China as dominating the globe ......"
Who did say that Trump does not understand this? May be he does! May be this is exactly what he is striving to achieve.
I think the US will beat the EU States into becoming undemocratic, authoritarian and chaotic. Our demise will spur theirs. It's already well in progress here (has been for a while). Only the 55% can stop the madness...but I am not optimistic. Admittedly, I'm seeing more and more people coming to the realization that Trump is guiding the US into the Russo-American white supremacist, anti-moslem, kleptocratic bloc.
NATO not USA alone would respond to such a foreign invasion of Poland, Russians of any sort not excepted.
Sir, I respectfully disagree. Finland faced immediate nuclear annihilation. Do we face that? Are Democrats so desperate that they prefer the dark days of the Cold War?
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Alex's, you would prefer the dismantling of our government and our alliances with our allies, piece by piece? To be what? Best buddies with a murdering, former KGB despot? What has happened to republicans?
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Stephanie, the US was involved in many wars and invasions before WWII. We weren't innocent back then. That's a myth. While what Trump is doing is despicable, your parchment-thin understanding of post-war history doesn't hold up. Everyone who has studied the United States seriously knows that mistreatment of minorities and women was far worse prior to the war. The KKK controlled the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1924. And, while we still have a lot of issues around race and misogyny, they have improved substantially since the 60s. On the economic front, social democracy and capitalism actually go together. Don't confuse it with actual socialism. If you want "socialism," try Eastern Europe from the 40s to the 80s, the USSR, and modern Venezuela.
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Aleks, Finland faced possible invasion, but never faced nuclear annihilation. The US, on the other hand, did. Try to get your facts straight.
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I have never heard of "Finlandization," and have no idea what it means. I was in Finland last summer and found it to be a beautiful, friendly country, and it has an excellent social support system, a well-educated population, and a fairly homogenous population. I doubt that is what the writer means by this apparently perjorative term. But if that is the meaning, I'm all for it!
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It's pretty easy to find out what it means through a bit of googling. Why didn't you do that?
Basically, it's what a small nation did to keep from being eaten up by a larger, more powerful one. I'm not ready to concede American power to Russia, thanks.
Maybe look into it before you commit to being so all-out for it.
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Roger, you are complicating things here. Trump is at minimum an ignoramus or at maximum a traitor. The real problem is our outdated political system that allows our Presidents to do mostly what they want without any restraints. At the moment, the cabinet works strictly and personally for the president and not for the "American people". Lets keep things simple.
And it will only get worse. Happy to be retired.
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See the following Wikipedia link for a definition of the term: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finlandization
America should only be so lucky as to Finlandize. It's a socialist country with an excellent educational system, a responsible program for dealing with nuclear waste and not a lot of income disparity. Internationally, it has a large agressive neighbour that it it manages to maintain a mutually respectful relationship with.
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