“What do we do next if we manage to avert the worst in Ukraine?” That was the question The Nation’s Stephen Cohen raised when he joined The Thom Hartmann Program last week to discuss the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and the diplomatic strategy that the United States will need to mend its declining relationship with Russia.

The answer, Cohen said, could be found in lessons from the previous Cold War, when a group in Washington sought peace through cooperation.

“The American political establishment had to recognize the Soviet government as a coequal great power with legitimate interests and on that basis negotiate where cooperation was possible,” Cohen said. “We need a new détente.”

Later in the show, Cohen explained why the crisis in Ukraine is drawing the U.S. closer to a “hot war” with Russia and how U.S.-Russian relations will influence the 2016 presidential campaign.

—James F. Kelly