For those of us who regularly read the NYT and check out the comments, it seems these aren't the usual contributors to the discussion. Stick around long enough and the names become like a family of sorts.
Most of the comments have a shrug and wink attitude. What's the big deal, nyet?
Russian bots?
I mean what's wrong with Putin? At least during the Cold War, they were indeed a superpower. Look at Russia's per-capita GDP and realize that nowadays, they're more like a 3rd world country. Yet they flex their muscle round the globe.
Because you know there's nothing wrong with Assad either. Sometimes you have to kill lots of your own citizens and drive millions of others out of the country to maintain power.
Yeah, Germany had lots of famous artists, writers, composers, musicians, and whatnot. Like any of that negated the fact that the Nazis weren't such good guys. Btw Germany also promoted its culture across the USA. German American Bund, which replaced the Friends of Nazi Germany in 1936 and whose goal was to promote a favorable view of Nazi Germany. We know how that turned out.
Btw the Chinese are doing exactly the same. There's a Chinese Students Association on every large college campus in the country, and the Chinese nationals availing themselves of our institutions of higher learning don't exactly have freedom of speech.
20
Current student at American University. Had never heard of this before.
1
I have yet to same level of concern for all the AIPAC junkets for members of Congress over the years.
5
There is no doubt that Russia meddled in the ‘16 elections as part of a global effort to sow chaos and discredit democracy, which serves to help Russia’s current rulers and/or asset grabbers stay in power.
That said, must we assume that the students that attend these events are too dense to make distinctions? As a Russian studies student, I gobbled up everything related to Russia any time I could. How are we supposed to develop the next generation of US Russian experts?
The fears expressed in this piece remind me of the overreach demonstrated by the Butina case: the guy she “reported” to in Moscow, a Mr Torshin, is always described as “close to Putin,” when in fact anyone who knows the country’s power structures and personnel at all knows he is Pluto to Putin’s sun. If you go by most US media accounts, everyone and their babushka is a buddy of Putin’s! It smacks of ignorance and paranoia, one of the very few Kremlin criticisms of the present climate in America that actually has validity. Enough with the hand wringing.
15
Russian culture is great. Nothing wrong with promoting it.
9
The WWII alliance with the Soviets and the sacrifices they made at the Siege of Leningrad and 20 million Soviet dead is essential history - as is the Hitler-Stalin non aggression pact and their agreement to split Eastern Europe - Hitler invaded Poland from the West on Sept 1 1939, Stalin from the East on Sept 11.
6
There is no doubt in my mind that the Carmel Center is used as a vehicle by the Kremlin to influence US pubic opinion.
So , dear readers, is the much of social media - including the NY Times comments.
It is very important for all of us to understand that the Russian Federation is trying to amplify domestic political differences in the United States. Much of Russian commentary here at the Times is incredibly insightful , focused, occasionally quite funny - and almost always divisive.
The sooner we all begin to appreciate this fact , the better for all concerned
17
Read the entire article. Ms Carmel, "beyond the Institute, has helped finance other events that celebrate Russian culture. She threw parties at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago in 2015 and 2016 that honored Valery Gergiev, the conductor of Russia’s celebrated Mariinsky orchestra, an ally of Mr. Putin and a supporter of his annexation of Crimea". A great philanthropist,with no other agenda than cultural interchange, yea right.
19
Throughout the US, there are Jewish studies programs, and Mideast studies programs, which have been criticized for being biased for or against Israel, respectively. I will let Michelle Goldberg and Barri Weiss fight that out.
There are also privately-funded university "think tanks" like the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, which covers the ideological spectrum from A to B. If the pro-Russian tilt of the Carmel Institute upsets you, you can always get relief from Hoover's Russian experts.
I went to college right after the McCarthy days, and some of my teachers were enjoying their new freedom after being blacklisted. They taught me their version of freedom of speech, which is, listen to all sides, challenge their ideas, and form your own opinion. That advice, of course, will get you into trouble even today. You might wind up a socialist.
I watch Al-Jazeera and RT (formerly Russia Today), because they often give me ideas and thinkers that I can't get elsewhere. Where else can I get an interview with Noam Chomsky or Marxist economist Richard Wolff? Who else was reporting on single-payer health care before Bernie Sanders?
I must admit there is a problem with getting all sides. You have to think for yourself, make decisions, and sometimes get more facts and admit that you don't know. I realize this is an unreasonable burden to place on the vast majority of internet users. That's why we have TV.
21
The U.S. State Department used to send Louis Armstrong to Leningrad . . .
Why not give peace a chance?
8
Putin's Russian ambassador is a spy. But we still don't get it?
No wonder they laugh and call us naive Americans!
10
Beware that those pesky Rookies will try to teach unsuspecting US students that the Crimean Peninsula became part of Russia in the 1780's and was added to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic by Khrushchev in the 1950's essentially as part of a gerrymandering scheme - oh wait, that actually happened!
9
Quite right -- let's keep the Russians off American campuses! And as long as the Times is looking into untoward foreign influence on American universities, it might usefully investigate my own alma mater, Cornell, for its dubious alliance with Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology. Technion has close ties to the IDF, for which it has developed several technologies that abet Israel's repression of the Palestinians.
6
Now that we have the privilege of knowing the details of Mr. Mueller's investigation, we know how adept Putin's government is at understanding our society and manipulating it. Why would anyone not think that this program is just more of the same effort?
Our universities are blinded by money and hubris and have endangered our national security by bringing in foreign students and giving access to research that may benefit China, Iran and others who would do us harm.
It is much the same as what corporations have done by giving away their technology to gain markets and cheap labor in China.
We can study culture without hobnobbing with thugs who have robbed Russia blind and only want to take us down.
11
I can certainly understand the indignation of many commentators to this article over what they see as a McCarthyite attitude toward Russia's promotion of its great culture. And it is true that the United States and many other countries do the same kind of outreach. However, it is important to be aware of what may be the motivation behind Russia's efforts in this regard. In December 2015, a large number of Russian classics which had been donated to that country's rural libraries by George Soros' Open Society Foundation were burned. The reason of course was not a hatred of Pushkin, Dostoevsky, and Chekhov, but the fact that these books had been given by a man who promoted liberal ideas. Putin, like authoritarians in other countries, considers Soros to be an enemy and saw his generosity as a weapon against his regime. It would not be too far fetched to think that Putin considers his own "generosity" in the form of subsidized trips to Russia and events hosted by the Russian embassy in Washington as an arrow in his own quiver or a Trojan horse in his battle against Western culture.
12
Ms Carmel provides funding to the Russian Embassy for their events. These events are not associated with the Carmel Institute (except for the film screenings which are also paid for by Ms Carmel). There is no cultural diplomacy as she carefully controls the guest lists. Her lavish expenditures on past Carmel Institute events at the Library of Congress, the National Building Museum and other venues give pause. What exactly IS the purpose of the Institute? And how is the money transferred to the embassy?
There are certainly more questions than answers.
12
Apparently, the writer of this article has not spent much time in DC. Every single embassy in Washington does this kind of cultural outreach, and the U.S. government does precisely the same thing overseas. That kind of "soft power" projection is a fundamental, core function of diplomacy. Second, the premise that America's youth will be somehow corrupted by greater access to the stunningly rich cultural patrimony of Russia is facially absurd. Going to college in DC provides many such opportunities, and it is undoubtedly one of the key benefits to attending AU. Finally, of course the Russians will want to display their own history in a favorable light. So what? I suspect few programs in the U.S. embassies overseas focus on lynchings in the Jim Crow south or the internment of Japanese Americans in WWII. Does that mean America has nothing whatsoever to teach the rest of the world? Really, such silliness hardly deserves a place on the front page of the NYT.
39
@W
I agree, except on the last line. This kind of McCarthyism belongs on the front page of the NYT because that is the sort of culture we live in. It will make it easier for future historians to document what sort of era this was, assuming there isn’t a nuclear war which makes it a dead issue,so to speak.
I remember a time when liberals ridiculed conservatives for this kind of hyperventilating. It wasn’t that long ago.
8
This is precisely what the United States does worldwide - hosting American films, music, history, politics, and literature-related events at its embassies, consulates and United States Information Service (USIS) locations.
The images presented of the US are skewed. There is little or no reference in this programming to pervasive racism, sociocentrism, police brutality, paranoia, the relentless persecution of African-Americans, or the expropriation of government by big money or by the war economy.
Nevertheless, the images are certainly true as far as they go. Nothing, generally, is made out of whole cloth. I was invited, before I came to the US, to a series of screenings of American films in India. They were "Drums Along the Mohawk" set in upstate New York during the Revolutionary War, "The Right Stuff" and on "Golden Pond."
A month before I left India for the United States, I went to the local USIS library and borrowed Jan C Scruggs's book about the making of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC and a biography of Martin Luther King, "Let the Trumpets Sound" by Stephen B. Oates.
These were all programs about real people and real events in American culture and history in same way that the Russian programming at American university is true. What's so wrong then about seeing Russia in a less disdainful, condemnatory way? Strong cultural ties between Americans and the countries and peoples of the world are an absolute sine qua non for a peaceful future. Strengthen it.
27
@Siddhartha Banerjee
Don't see a parallel between info at consulates and embassies or USIS and a school program where students can meet with top Russian officials who would probably ban War and Peace if they could.
Comparing books borrowed to read up on a place to which you plan to emigrate is certainly not equivalent to the concerns expressed in this piece.
I wonder why it's important to have an "institute" for Russian lit and culture of the past and not equal time on their current society. That would be the same as our starting up a similar program in Russia on the civil war and it's literary icons with no mention of who we are now.
7
@Blanche White
It is true that there is no comparison between Russia and US efforts to promote its culture and the view of the world in other continues. The US budget is 100x bigger. Everything that Russia does in this area, it learned from "the best in the business", including the programs sponsoring universities and even public schools.
2
@X-Rusky
Somehow I doubt that we have much involvement in the schools and universities of communist Russia and China.
While, on the other hand, we have been wide open and ready for business from them.
No matter the seeming positives on some of these comments, it's past time we took our blinders off where Russia and China are concerned. I do wish it were different but it's not and we'd better accept it.
Just an example...I recently read an article of an investigation by a group of techie people who did an amazing bit of research using all kinds of meta data to determine that Russia was in Yemen's skies when many of the hospitals were bombed with great loss of life.
That's what Russia is like. So, no thanks to any whitewashing there.
7
If the exhibits are showing Russian culture and art, which have been of the highest order, but without a hint of politics, and without any sinister intent, I have no problem with these efforts. It is possible to despite Putin and his henchmen, and still be a fan of genuine artists. Art has no national boundaries. I would not recommend throwing out the baby along with the bathwater
12
Is this 1954? Do we need a new HUAC too?
Not trusting the Russian government, and shuddering when our putative President cozies up to a icily anti-democratic Putin is perfectly appropriate.
But this piece sounds like an inverted FOX piece. It seems to be arguing that university students will be brainwashed by exposure to Russian culture. It has the ring of the old fears that learning too much is a dangerous thing. Better dead than red! And underlying this view is a belief that our population is so illiterate that Putin might become as popular as a winning NASCAR driver, and the US will entirely dismantle its nuclear defense system.
What exactly the writer thinks will happen is not so clear. They'll start a Marxist Revolution here? No, that's not even popular there. They will have more respect for Russian history? They may conclude that peace between the nations would actually be a good thing. Terrifying. It's even more frightening that the Goodwill Games.
The only red flag at all - might be if, in fact, certain pieces of history are off limits for discussion. That is a restraint on learning that is not tolerable. If that is the case in studies in this country, it should be addressed.
But relationships between countries - including the US and the USSR back in the day, are also always fraught with the issues that cannot be discussed broadly in the host country. We all do nonetheless, benefit from contact.
14
Actually, more information on Ms Susan Carmel, the founder of the Carmel Institute, who runs a commercial real estate firm, might be relevant.
Specifically interesting would be to know how many deals her firm handles involving Russian money and oligarchs, and whether or not property values in these deals are in keeping with local values or inflated.
The use of real estate in money laundering is a topic needing more sunlight. Ms Carmel may indeed be on the up and up, but her business and contacts suggest a moral hazard is likely.
13
If the intentions of Russian teaching programs -in art or culture or whatever at US universities or institutes bring US and Russia closer for world peace then it is good idea. In fact we should sponsor joint scientific conferences in mathematics or on health related topics to benefit humanity.But if such interaction is used to spy on each other then there should be no such interaction. More than 30 yrs ago I thought of having a Russian university in US and prepared a draft on it to bring the two nations closer together and planned to sponsor joint US-Russian conference on Turbulence field.But due to lack of funding support nothing moved forward.Positive thoughts should always be encouraged if done in good intentions.
5
I can't believe that the NYT published this article. It panders to liberal Russian Derangement Syndrome (RDS). Liberals have to believe that everything Russian is bad. Portraying liberal education as Russian propaganda? Equalizing liberal education with Russian interference in our elections?
Not so few years ago, the NYT would have published articles about Russian culture and the Russian people and our historic partnership with the Soviet Union in World War II. Now we get hints, winks, and nods that a Russian election interferer has somehow managed to hoodwink Americans with cultural education?
Shame on the NYT. Stop the pandering to liberal fears and be a a non biased newspaper again. (PS. I am a liberal.)I can't believe that the NYT published this article. It panders to liberal Russian Derangement Syndrome (RDS). Liberals have to believe that everything Russian is bad. Portraying liberal education as Russian propaganda? Equalizing liberal education with Russian interference in our elections?
Not so few years ago, the NYT would have published articles about Russian culture and the Russian people and our historic partnership with the Soviet Union in World War II. Now we get hints, winks, and nods that a Russian election interferer has somehow managed to hoodwink Americans with cultural education?
Shame on the NYT. Stop the pandering to liberal fears and be a nonbiased newspaper again. (PS. I am a liberal.)
22
A May 2017 article in the American University student newspaper (The Eagle online 5/23/17) raised this issue.
5
These types of exchange programs work when they are set up to afford opportunities in both countries for knowledge and cultural exchanges. I know of no such efforts on the part of Russian Universities to afford Russians students exposure to American history and culture. The only outreach we have been provided is through Facebook and involves our elections. Learning about how wonderful the literature and culture of historical Russia was does nothing to mitigate the horrible state and intentions of their current government under Putin's Kleptocracy. Keeping your enemies close while knowing their harmful intent falls into the stupid category.
3
@Dennis W If you know no such efforts on the part of Russian universities to expose their students to US culture, you've never heard of the Fulbright program. Which is one of the most successful US gov't outreach programs there is in the history of US soft power.
2
@David The Fulbright Program was established by our Congress in 1946 to fund exchange programs. Russia has nothing to do with this initiative. What are you talking about?
3
There is nothing wrong with American University's program to introduce Russian history and culture to American students, provided those programs are not just another outlet for Kremlin propaganda. We need more programs like this, when Russian studies in general are declining in the United States.
There are caveats, however. For example, are there any Russian Universities who are allied with the U.S. Embassy to promote similar history and culture programs about the United States? In view of the Putin regime's efforts to clamp down on such contacts, my guess would be no.
In addition, where do people like Maria Butina figure in such programs? Are there other "students" like her who have a dual mission?
These are questions that need to be answered fully before we can make a final evaluation of the American University Carmel Institute program.
4
Imagine! Those Russians have art and music they want to push into the soft brains of American youth! Heavens to Betsy! What next?!? Russian cuisine?
21
Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Turgenev, Pasternak, Pushkin, Chekov, Nabokov.
Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Scriabin, Borodin.
Diaghilev, Balanchine, Nureyev, Plisyetskaya, Vaganova.
Bakst, Chagall, Goncharova, Kandinsky.
35
@Artemisia And let us wonder whether the readers who feel so threatened by the idea of American students studying Russian culture even recognize any of those names. . .
Sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia - we will soon be able to add "Russianism."
11
I can't believe the NYT would print this article. Oh wait...I can. Let's for a second pretend this article was about another country...would the NYT really have allowed it? Russia is an enormous country--eleven time zones compared with our three. It has a rich history and produced some of the best writers and artists in the world. And BTW--it has been our ally in both world wars. That is something most Americans don't know. Really truly. Is Graham Bowley really so ignorant that he suggests we ignore study of this country? What really frustrates me is people's lack of knowledge about Russia. I majored in Russian and studied there and also worked there for three years. My husband is Russian. My kids are half Russian. It's absolutely fine in the US for people to bash Russia and Russians--an entire nation! Russian is synonym for bad person, and my sons get that all the time in school and out of school. The goal of institutions like this is to bridge a further understanding of our commonality. I think we could use some enlightenment.
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@carrie
I think this issue at hand is simply about the content in the course, not the course itself. For example, if the course claims to present a multitude of perspectives, how come the only example they could muster in response to charges of bias was a movie about a counterculture jazz movement? Furthermore, why aren't they talking about pussy riot, or the annexation of crimea?
One could argue the course is about history. Yet, what is the value of history segregated from contemporary issues? Isn't their value in connecting what was to what is.
I'm not suggesting they get rid of the program. I'm not suggesting theirs any inherent danger in learning about Russian history and culture either. Still, its fair for anyone to question the curriculum of any course. It's what makes learning a fluid and evolving community based learning experience.
I get that this is emotional for you. your kids deal with anti-russian bias. Your husbands not a bad guy. But if these students are only seeing a limited piece of russian history. If the only learn about tolstoy and tchaikovsky, but not progroms, the gulags, and other forms of repression and political violence, are they really learning anything of value? i think not.
8
@carrie You write, "Let's for a second pretend this article was about another country...." Have you missed the coverage in the NYT and elsewhere about the Confucius Institutes (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/30/us/politics/universities-foreign-donations.html)?
1
Russia is an organized crime state lead by a dictator mob boss. Russia invaded and occupies portions of the sovereign nations of Ukraine and Georgia. Russia chooses to de-stabilize other countries and cyber-attacks elections and democracy. It is an international pariah. Marina Butana is a spy and was sent by Putin to funnel money to the Russian Republicans through the NRA. Study Russia all you want, but it should have zero role at any American university.
20
@Joe B. Actually, look up the Marina Butana [Sic! Maria Butinas] case. You'll find that it fell apart—one more example of American russophobia dictating the terms of engagement. The NYT bears some of the blame for this fiasco as well—a McCarthy-like rush to judgement.
2
@Joe B.
Gosh, they sound really bad. Btw, ever hear of what we’ve been up to in Yemen for the past few years?
4
Thank goodness American high-school and college history courses never present a "too favorable" view of the US. Nothing for us but the unvarnished truth about ourselves, from slavery to Vietnam and Iraq and onward.
9
Isn't it normally the Republicans who like to accuse academia of being a bunch of commie spies? There is real collusion going on in the White House and Congress, but we must not allow that to drag us into paranoia and baseless finger-pointing. Apolitical cultural exchanges are nothing to fear. We all benefit from Russia's grand tradition of music, arts, ballet, etc., even as we must all rally against their present day crimes against our country and others.
10
I don't want to be russian to judgment, but I'd say the Carmel Institute has been putin us on.
14
@Alex Cody
Too clever and also accurate.
That's a line I will always remember.
We can have Russian studies in school without wallowing in a lovefest with the mobsters running the country.
Who doesn't admire Tolstoy would have to be ignorant indeed but palimg around with Putin's friends is a bridge too far.
...and programs should be financed by this country and not those who would imsimuate themselves in our society for nefarious purposes as we have so plainly seen.
Don't be fooled.
3
There is a line from the ancient Chinese writer Sun Tsu's work "The Art of War" which states - Know Your Enemy as much as you know yourself. Having knowledge of Russia's history, language and its fabulous literature would help and not hinder the relationship between the countries. It might improve our understanding and for US to win the war. Actually, I think reading Pushkin, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Chekhov, etc. is a good idea for our students and helps to understand our "enemy."
4
@EMM
The USA and EMM need to get over the idea of us vs. them when it comes to the rest of the planet. US citizens and Russian ones have many more similarities than differences, and increasing cultural awareness and constructive ties between the two large countries can only improve the world. I frequently believe that when my country, the US, has run out of constructive and innovative ideas, too many of its writers decide to bash other cultures and civilizations.
4
@Cheesecake Because we have been in cold war mode with Russia, I referred to the Art of War by Sun Tse and knowing your so called "enemy." I agree totally with increasing cultural awareness and knowledge of other countries. I am not a a "us vs. them" believer but because most Americans think of Russia as the enemy because of the Cold War, I used that metaphor.
1
@EMM
Might even find out we're not your enemy.
3
That the institute avoids talking about Putin and current Russian behavior toward the US presents a very incomplete picture. It remains a dictatorship with very tight control and does not respect the independence of other countries. They clearly have plans to interfere again in the 2020 elections to get Trump re-elected, as he is so easily manipulated to do their bidding. The cultural stuff is fine, but it deserves a warning label - buyer beware!
12
Russia propaganda institute should not be in an American University or anywhere.
2
There are two important cultural fact about Russia that students to learn.
1. Russia went from authoritarian monarchy to authoritarian communism to authoritarian kleptocracy.
2. If in a society everyone was told "Property is theft. Capitalism is a crime." for 70 years, when everyone is told to acquire property and become capitalists, the leaders of the society become thieves and criminals.
The culture of Russia is a product of those facts. Love the novels, the films, the music, the architecture, but keep in mind those facts.
18
@Brad
If you were imparting such cultural wisdom about Americans different from you, your action would be called a "microaggression"
I recently saw an interview with Ms. Butina, in which she claimed her actions were intended only to improve person-to-person comity between America and Russia, and she denied that she was an agent of the Russian Government. We can believe her or not. If we choose, we can believe that she was charged as a Russian spy because American officials conflate the Russian public with the Russian Government and prefer not to improve relationships. We can decry ms. Butina's cavorting with the National Rifle Association. Or not.
2
@DMH
An excellent article that argues she is just what she said:
The New Republic
March 2019
"The Spy Who Wasn't"
2
If students would like to study Russian Culture & History should they then go to Russia? Once in Russia believe you me they would get a skewed view view of the country and not just in culture and history.
But are we really so paranoid to let adults study about Russia in the US for fear of subversiveness?
I would rather a long hard look at taking the guns out of teaching institutions.
6
Just another indication of the sweep of the Russian campaign to influence US attitudes and therefore polices, from sophisticated cultural and educational initiatives all the way to the blunt-force tool of its most powerful asset and Putin's greatest coup, the president of the United States.
9
@Alan D
For many years the US ran "America House" in a number of countries to increase global awareness of US culture. In such a place in a foreign city, one could always find TIME magazine, a stocked library, and cultural programs.
This president, in not wanting a return to The Cold War, and in not wanting a hot war over the Ukraine, unlike his recent female competition on the Democratic Party ticket, is not entirely off base.
3
@Cheesecake Not entirely off base? He is sitting on the visiting team's bench.
2
Doesn't China do this more than Russia?
6
In no way is sharing the arts and humanities between any two countries a bad thing, in fact its a very constructive and enlightening thing. It's only when the insertion of Putin and the Kremlin begins to take place does a good and noble effort becomes extremely tarnished. Kind of like inserting Trump and his sick ideologies into our Constitution.
21
When will we learn? They play by different rules in Russia and those rules allow them to run circles around us.
Don't forget, under Communism you had to play the system to get anything at all. Coal miners couldn't even get soap! Coal miners! So gaming the system is a go-to survival mechanism in that culture.
Day after day, I read one yucky story after another about Russia and Russians. Everything to do with that place gives me the CREEPS!
If I were an honest Russian, I would be mortified.
6
@Northpamet
The Russians, with a Gross Domestic Product the size of little Portugal's when Putin was first elected, do not run circles around us. They suffer from the same human problems as many Americans, addictions being at the top of the list.
Honest Americans are mortified here, too. Just look at the genocidal policy of drone warfare; Charlottesville; unending racism; one out of every 15 US citizens dealing with awful food insecurity, the lack of immunizations for children, and falling literacy rates in usually competent places such as The Commonwealth of Virginia.
Let's get rid of the motes in our collective US eye before we attempt to remove the specks in our brother's.
2
And the beat goes on. Fear Russia. What you see something positive in their culture? Dangerous. The NYT which I love to read for domestic news still has so little credibility in my mine with it's hawkish views on foreign affairs. Remembering weapons of mass destruction?
16
@Sandra larson
So because Bush lied 18 years ago, no other threat will ever be credible?
2
@Jay Becks
It wasn’t just Bush that lied. It was the so called liberal press that went along with it. That includes this paper and The New Yorker.
And it wasn’t something out of the ordinary either. Few Americans, liberal or conservative, knew that the US decided to support the Saudi bombing of Yemen in 2015. That war became a humanitarian catastrophe by 2016. It wasn’t until the murder of Khashoggi that it became widely known.
Generally speaking, if you want to know about the darker side of US foreign policy you won’t learn about it very quickly if you rely on the mainstream press.
Does Russia pose a threat? Yes, but not one that justifies the level of hysteria one sees in some liberals. I remember the good old days when lefties made fun of conservatives for their paranoid McCarthyite tendencies. Those days are gone.
1
What is this the Red Scare? I can't believe I'm reading this in the New York Times. It reads like a paranoid blog entry. The Italian government has a similar institute at Columbia. Where's your article on that?
44
@K Marie with due respect K Marie, there is a world of differences between Russia and Italy. I would really expect someone from Cambridge to have at least some modicum of understanding those differences. Russia is a real and constant threat to our country. Italy ?? Not so much. Pretty simple actually.
8
@dennyb "Russia is a real and constant threat to our country" - this is pretty much the definition of the Red Scare.
3
Good will between people. What a subversive idea! Stomp it out!
28
The less students know about Russian history and culture, the better off we'll be as a nation....or...not.
6
Russian government has been laughably bad and nearly as corrupt for a good percentage of their history.
2
@T
Corruption in government is international, a reflection of the fallen and sinful state of humankind, and sociopathic personalities tend to desire power and the abuses therewith over others.
1
How dare they promote peace and friendship between the world's two nuclear superpowers? Where's Joseph McCarthy (or John McCain) when we need him?
39
@Mark In PS Perhaps you are threatened by open discussion of the actual history of the relationship between the United States and "the wolf' - i.e. only country which has sided with us in our War of Independence, the War of 1812, the Civil War, and both WWl and WWll, as well as today's undeclared "war on terror."
6
@Mark In PS I'd say you need a time out. Every effort we make in the US to improve understanding of foreign countries is a good thing, and it comes from many sources, missionary work, junior years abroad, cultural exchange programs like the one mentioned here. Rather than breeding foreign spies, such programs provide a solid base of informed citizens. Your comment reminds one of the concern that Vindman might be of questionable loyalty given that he speaks Ukraninan. The corrolary of that is that we should prefer people like Sondman or Guiliani, secure US patriots.
2
@jdd As the actions of Russia have scarcely been aimed at amity between the US and itself, your sarcasm is misplaced.
Russia needs a time out. Entertaining the wolf in your parlor is an invitation to disaster.
9
More New Cold War US paranoia: the fear that Russian Culture will influence America. Influence!
But culture seeks to affect people, even foreigners. To worry that the arts of others are subverting the country and ban them from entry is the act of uncultured know-nothing xenophobes.
For more than a century, the world has considered our Russian literature, dance, and music unsurpassed, and a gift to humanity.
It's not a suitcase H-bomb. It's a case of fine vintage wine, cognac, and pretty good vodka. BTW, sorry for offering wine to your college students. Our European manners, you know.
Horrors! We dare to remind Americans that the two countries were once alllied. But why not?
Russia supported the US in the Revolutionary War.
Russia was the only US ally during the Civil War. The 1863 visits of a Russian fleet to New York and San Francisco backed the British off from open support of the South.
Lincoln and Tsar Aleksandr II admired each other as emancipators of the slaves (for Russia called "serfs" in English). Two of the millions of slaves freed by the Tsar were my great-grandparents.
In the later 19th century the British, needing an Imperial heir, gussied up the Americans, now half of "The Anglo-Saxon Peoples". The US fell for it, now runs what used to be the British Empire, and fawns on The Royals and Downton Abbey.
Even so, driven to the wall, the US was happy to back up Russia in WWII.
The US and Russia faced your three greatest crises together.
13
Because the study of world history in American schools (primary through undergraduate college) has been neglected since we began our 'race to the moon' circa 1960, the typical American educated since then has little understanding or interest in Russian history. Compounding this intellectual deficit is the Trump-Pence team who claim Russia is a close friend and not responsible for hacking USA elections, planting false stories in social media, and has the right to expand into Ukraine.
A modestly educated individual must ask them self: Has Russia ever abandoned their autocratic governance, their imprisonment of vociferous opponents, and their expansionist desires? Since the days of the Czars (beginning more than 1,000 years ago) Russia has been a dictatorship and today under Putin, nothing much has changed.
16
The profit driven debasement of post-secondary education has reached into every corner of academia.
Science professors need to bring grants with them to entertain any possibility of a job much as a hairdresser needs to rent a chair at a salon.
Humanities educators need to have an award winning publication to avoid being an adjunct instructor at pitiful wages.
Demand for college has soared yet expenditures per capita for instruction have dropped. All this while expensive, glitzy buildings with donor names spring up.
The two metrics that drive colleges today are the US News & World Report rankings and total revenues.
Until the nation wakes up and ends this madness we will see nothing but the ruin of education through the fast-foodification of waht should be world class scholarship.
14
Interesting article. I guess I’d side with Wesleyan president Roth’s view, as long as those other university classes provide that context, other viewpoints.
But this article raised the question in my mind- do Russian universities provide classes, institutes, access, for, positive images of the U.S? Our culture, history, music, etc.?
All countries have some history they’d rather, downplay. And all want to highlight the better aspects. At the college level, most students surely know what they’re getting, or should. I’d be interested in a follow-up article on Russian universities and their treatment of, us.
5
@Jo Williams
My answer: yes , Russian universities ( even high schools) give causes on World history ,including United States , on literature,Art,Science, economy etc. Russian student are very curious and believe me , know and read more American literature , that US student even do not exposed .
There is appreciation of US freedom and economical system, there is idealistic vision on US with idea to learn capitalism from US, as most effective system. Russian student do not know all problems of US, and cannot imaging high price of education or medical system, because historically this Russian system are free or much less costly .Still all scholars who would come to Russia would be met with open hands for shaking , they would be invited to Russian families for dinners and tea. Russian people are very friendly and educated. Cooperation is always better then political wars. I think this small drops of real Russian culture in US universities will open US people to new vision and their own ideas how to see each other in future .
4
The short answer to your headline question is Yes, American University is far too cozy with Russia. I've spent nearly 50 years in higher education and watched, time and again, as institutions talked themselves into questionable relationships with autocratic regimes. The allure of money and access seems to overwhelm common sense.
36
@Neal So true. But it's not just autocratic regimes these schools have questionable relationships with. Corporations and partisan foundations and think tanks are also adept at waving money at universities who are all too quick to gloss over any questionable ethics in order to get the cash.
9
@Neal
And not just institutions of higher learning, but esteemed institutions do not look very closely at how wealthy benefactors made their sausage, either, as long as they get a nice piece.
But the fear of getting to some place where a censor or monitor of programs can dictate what is offered is much greater than the fear of a program teaching the "wrong" approach.
1
@Austin
Yep
1
Trust in Russia is misplaced. Time after time they have disappointed and despite open hands of friendship, will always be a tough competitor, using every way to gain advantage. China is in the same boat. Global political reality.
12
@BroncoBob
And not only didn't they accept our open hands of friendship, but wouldn't accept them even after we marched all the way to their border!
3
A russophobic low for the NYT. The institute in question was founded during a time of UR-Russia optimism associated with the Obama-era "reset" and Medvedev's presidency and indeed challenges Washington's Cold War 2.0 consensus today. Cultural contacts are absolutely imperative to maintain at a time when know-nothing political appointees are being allowed to privatize US foreign policy and uninformed critics from across the spectrum resort to knee-jerk Russia-baiting. Susan Carmel and American University should be commended for their commitment to this project; Anders Aslund discredits himself and the Atlantic Council with this sort of unfounded speculation.
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@David The institute has found a way to monetize it's relationship with Russia. American University is scarcely unique in this regard.
Cultural contacts are important but the fact is that the know-nothing/criminal amateurs in the administration are, in fact, aiding Russia as it attempts to deconstruct our democracy: A project that has met with unexpected success.
Until the conditions change and the Russians see no advantage in such a course, they will then engage constructively much as Gorbachev did with the economic collapse of Russia and the Eastern Bloc. Right now they feel they are winning.
10
@David
Washington's Cold War reset has to do with resentment and remembrances of what Stalin, who was Georgian, did to independent Ukrainian farmers in the 30s. Stalin's forced collectivization of agriculture is a living memory for descendants of those who escaped to the West. DC's Cold War reset also has to do with greed: conquering the Ukraine for Western capitalist corporate entities and their stockholders, regardless of how many Slavic lives would be lost, is a demonic stance to take and unfortunately, there are those in and around DC who do not value the lives of others elsewhere, only the bottom line.
4
@David
I would expect nothing better from the Atlantic Council. What’s funny to me is how all these think tank experts are so frequently cited when one would like to know where they get their funding and what sorts of people and policies they have supported.
6
The Russians used to serve *wine* to our innocent, naive students?! I’m shocked *shocked* at this transparent attempt by the Russians to corrupt our country’s noble youth (thank God, according to the article, this practice stopped - yet and still . . . )
29
Money talks and nothing else matters for a second or third tier university.
18
The United States has done the same thing for years! Back in the day, the United States Information Agency (USIA) sponsored tours by classical, jazz, and other musical groups; arranged for speakers on topics of interest; and established outlets on embassy grounds or at remote locations -- like the Benjamin Franklin Library in Mexico City -- to soften the image of the US. Such efforts continue to this day. When USIA became part of the State Department the only thing that changed was the name of the agency: now known as the US Information Service. Get over it!
32
@Juan Cultural diplomacy is a common practice. This article is pointing out the Russian Government's ongoing ties to and American institution of higher learning... that is more that presenting music, theater, literature or a cultural offering. So it's suggesting that this is something of a different order and might be influencing the critical discourse about Russia and global politics at an American academic institution.
7
@CS We´re talking about a difference in degree, not in kind. Touring speakers who evangelize about the wonders of US democracy or Voice of American broadcasts criticizing one´s government are intended to foster a more benign view of the US and a less accepting view of one´s own government, cultural values, etc. In either case, it is up to the audience to evaluate what they´re being told. Surely, US university students are less likely than most audiences to be sucked in.
4
It seems that since the wall that divided Berlin has fallen that perhaps we have let our guard of Russia down. Just as rock and roll infiltrated their society it seems they are trying to affect us through cultural exchange in various forms.
Let's face facts. Putin, a former KGB officer is now Ruler for Life. He used to switch titles between Prime Minister and President but I think most people now recognize him as a dictator.
He has bamboozeled Trump, which isn't hard to do considering he helped get the fool elected. I really think these friendly overtures from them should be looked at
carefully to make sure they aren't Trojan Horses.
19
There is nothing wrong with bridge-building as long as it is based on fact and history and not propaganda. Russia has much to be proud of, but also much to be critical about. It is the same for the United States.
50
Russia IS a cultural superpower. The same can be said for other nations that have difficult relations with the United States, including China and Iran. Poor political relations should not render a nation culturally taboo. Recognizing the richness and beauty of Russian culture and its influence on the West does not mean that one is blind to the machinations of the Putin regime. To the contrary, students of Russian history should easily be able to see Putin as one who manipulates the past glories of the Russian empire for the benefit of himself and his wealthy supporters.
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@Alex
Dear Alex :
While I'm not a right winger who sees Commies under every bed I am concerned as to where the Bromance between Putin and Trump is going.
If this is a chess match Putin is 50 steps ahead of our guy who owes his election as President to the former KGB field agent.
In certain respects I view these events similar to the movie, The Manchurian Candidate.
24
@Benito
Here's why Trump was elected, and it has little to do with any Russian and I did NOT vote for Trump nor H. Clinton, and I voted:
1. Donald Trump promised not to draft women. The number of female US citizens killed and injured in the long copper, lithium and oil wars and residing in VA Hospitals or in the ground is a shame, to say nothing of the wounded men. People were sick, are still sick of war.
2. Trump also took an interest in the many parts of the country where there are no decent blue-collar jobs because thousands and thousands of US factories have shuttered their doors. There is pain and suffering on Lake Erie, across Ohio, in MI, across the Southeast where an honest high school grad could once feed an entire frugal family on "mill work" in textiles, or in other manufacturing fields, and the Dems labelled these folk "deplorable."
3. What's sick and unfortunate about the current DC regime is its lack of respect when it comes to valuing The Bill of Rights and general thoughtfulness for others, especially the hungry (15% of population in many places) of all ethnic backgrounds and people of African and Native American background. A certain man needs to repent, and also quit making up economic "facts" and lead better or graciously step down. Quantitative measurements should not be toyed with, nor invented on the spot. The attention the press pays to Putin is just a sideshow to take the US public's attention off of what's really going on under our noses.
2
@Benito Sorry to break it to you, but Trump "owes his election" to the screwed up Electoral College voting system and the complacency of the ruling elite, which ignored and continues to ignore the changes in the popular sentiment. Not to Putin.
And the failure to recognize this is setting the stage for another 4 years of Trump.
1