Synopsis
War with Russia?: From Putin & Ukraine to Trump & Russiagate, published in 2019 by late scholar and Russian affairs historian Stephen F. Cohen, serves as a dissenting counter-narrative to standard Western geopolitical policy. Compiling years of articles, essays, and public commentaries written between 2014 and 2018, Cohen argues that the United States and Russia entered a "New Cold War" that was far more dangerous and volatile than its 20th-century predecessor. He contends that unlike the original Cold War—which was tempered by institutional guardrails, mutual diplomatic respect, and active peace movements—this modern standoff is defined by an absolute collapse of diplomacy and unprecedented military friction directly on Russia’s borders.
At the heart of Cohen's argument is a critique of post-Cold War American foreign policy, which he asserts laid the groundwork for the modern crisis. He outlines how decades of NATO expansion toward Russia's frontiers, paired with Western interventionism in regions like Yugoslavia, Iraq, and Syria, eroded strategic trust between the two nuclear superpowers. Examining key flashpoints—particularly the 2008 Russo-Georgian War and the 2014 political crisis in Ukraine leading to the annexation of Crimea—Cohen challenges mainstream Western media accounts. He asserts that these conflicts were not driven purely by unprovoked Russian aggression, but were instead predictable reactions to Western-backed efforts to bring neighboring post-Soviet states into the political and military orbit of Washington and NATO.
The book also heavily critiques the internal American political landscape surrounding the "Russiagate" investigations during Donald Trump's presidency. Cohen argues that domestic political accusations alleging collusion between Trump and the Kremlin created a toxic atmosphere akin to a new era of McCarthyism. In his view, this hyper-partisan environment demonized Russian leadership, criminalized ordinary diplomatic contact, and systematically crippled any potential efforts by the U.S. administration to negotiate detente or cooperate on shared global perils like nuclear proliferation and counterterrorism.
Ultimately, War with Russia? functions as a urgent warning against the dangers of bipartisan groupthink and anti-Russian hysteria in Washington. Cohen warns that by treating Russia as an irredeemable adversary rather than a necessary partner in global stability, the West risked stumbling into a direct, disastrous hot war between two nations armed with immense nuclear arsenals. While the book cemented Cohen’s status as one of America's most controversial and polarizing Russia scholars, it presents a sustained plea for a return to realist diplomacy, mutual security considerations, and open democratic debate on foreign policy.