If Vladamir Putin returns to Russia’s presidency, will it damage US foreign policy in the region? In a thoughtful discussion with Dan Rather on HDNet’s Dan Rather Reports, Russian scholar and Nation contributor Stephen Cohen discredits the mainstream media’s assumptions that a Putin presidency would have a detrimental effect on both the Russian people and American diplomacy. Read Professor Cohen’s past analyses of Russian foreign policy here. Go here to watch this full epsiode.

—Teresa Cotsirilos