Nation contributing editor Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor continue their weekly discussions of the Ukrainian crisis and new US-Russian Cold War. Heading this installment are mounting signs that Kiev may be planning a renewed military assault on the rebel strongholds of Donetsk, Lugansk, and other Donbass areas. If so, Cohen points out, this raises two large questions. Since Kiev alone cannot hope for a military victory and would likely suffer a crushing defeat, is it counting on US/NATO support. And if such support is forthcoming, will Russian President Putin have any choice except to send in his own forces, resulting in war between the United States and Russia? Other topics discussed are the faltering status of the Minsk agreement for a negotiated settlement of the Ukrainian civil war; Putin’s visit to the annexed peninsula of Crimea; and recent episodes of neo-McCarthyism in mainstream American political discourse, one directed against Senator Bernie Sanders, the other against Representative John Conyers.
