US ‘Information War’ and the Embryonic Kerry–Lavrov Détente

Is the recent tsunami of anti-Putin news reports meant to undermine US–Russian negotiations on Syria and Ukraine?

Nation contributing editor Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor continue their weekly discussions of the new US-Russian Cold War. (Previous installments are at TheNation.com.) The Kremlin is charging that a spate of news allegations about financial dealings of Russian President Putin—not only the Panama Papers investigation of offshore investments but also regarding apartments purchased for his daughters and Putin’s “suspected” involvement of the death in Washington of a former top Russian official—are an organized attempt to disrupt US–Russian relations at a critical moment. Cohen is unsure whether these reports—including another alleging Putin’s romance with Rupert Murdoch’s ex-wife—are related or organized, but he recalls that similar anti-Soviet “news” regularly appeared during the preceding 40-year Cold War when relations seemed headed toward détente. Certainly, he emphasizes, this is such a moment in the new Cold War when negotiations between Secretary of State Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov suddenly seem promising, especially in regard to the Syrian cease-fire and possibly even the Ukrainian crisis.

Indeed, in the aftermath of the Syrian-Russian victory over the Islamic State at Palmyra and elsewhere, “moderate oppositionists” backed by the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey seem to be violating the cease-fire agreement by attacking Syrian forces. Meanwhile, news reports about Putin’s alleged personal “corruption” are clearly intended to present him as an unfit American ally in Syria and anywhere else.

http://www.thenation.com/article/us-information-war-and-the-embryonic-kerry-lavrov-detente/