PUTIN’S RUSSIA: INSIDE OR OUTSIDE THE INTERNATIONAL ORDER? An evening with Stephen Kotkin

Tuesday, January 9, 2018
It was called the “End of History”, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. An event long hoped for in the West but that few expected to ever see. The United States, European Union and Canada all poured billions of dollars into Russia’s development. Russia was invited to join the G7 making it the G8 in 1998. Vladimir Putin became Russia’s Prime Minister in 1999 (the same year NATO expanded into the former East bloc) and its President in 2000.
In the 17 years he has been in power Putin has become more authoritarian, and in Russia at least, more popular. He described the collapse of the Soviet Union as “the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century.” He hosted the lavish 2014 Sochi Olympics and then seized Crimea from Ukraine. Putin worked with the US to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons and then sent his troops to help President Assad maintain grip on power. Now Russia, under Putin, is accused of using its “cyber-power” to undermine the 2016 US Presidential election.
Where is Putin leading Russia? Was the West suffering from post-Cold War naiveté or did it betray Russia by expanding NATO and reaching too far into former USSR territory, such as Ukraine?
To help answer these questions the CIC National Capital Branch is pleased to welcome Stephen Kotkin, a highly sought after Russian specialist: Professor in History and International Affairs at Princeton University, director of its Institute for International and Regional Studies and co-director of the Program in the History and Practice of Diplomacy. The New York Times said the just published second volume of his Stalin trilogy Stalin: Waiting for Hitler: “will surely stand for years to come as a seminal account of some of the most devastating events of the 20th century.”
Our commentator is Piotr Dutkiewicz, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Governance and Public Policy at Carleton University. He is the author or editor of 13 books largely focused on Russia and a member of the Valdai Club, a Russian think-tank founded in 2004. President Putin has met club members every year since then.
Robert Hage will chair the event. As a diplomat he served as director general for Europe and for legal affairs and as Canada’s ambassador to Hungary and Slovenia. Trained as a lawyer with an LL.M from University College London he is a Fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and Executive Fellow with the University of Calgary School of Public Policy.

[@richardcory5024]

Professor Stephen Kotkin of Princeton talks more sense about the subject of Russia than possibly anyone other than Professor Timothy Snyder of Yale. They are equally deserving of being listened to.

[@sidd-artha]

0:15:11 is the starting point. Before there are just bureaucrats kissing the behinds that empower them.

[@sidd-artha]

It restarts at 1:06:20. There is a pause from an incoherent individual who can walk with the agility he can think or express himself in English.

[@AndreAndFriends]

@@sidd-artha this guy is 100% commie. Basically he said I'm a very famoust scientist, Canada is a hammer and Russia is a nail. ....... I just saved you +30 min of listening to a verbal diarrhea. You are very welcome.

[@MrChet407]

Yeah it's disgusting

[@BrotherCreamy]

@@sidd-artha I thought he was alright

[@TheDavidlloydjones]

Prof Kotkin starts at 15:15

[@siegavi18]

Most crucial three minutes: 1:23:16-1:26:17

[@lawjef]

15:30 (which is 11+ min after she says “in conclusion…”)

[@jstanley011]

Russia's GDP is behind Italy and Brazil. Overcoming Russia's demographic deficit after the country's best and the brightest perished in the gulags is a project that will take generations.

[@danielhutchinson6604]

The US seems to confine some of the best and brightest in the US are confined to reservations. What is your point?

[@user-ru8wg9di1l]

Kotkin wins the debate

[@vladislavzaytsev6883]

and why

[@thomasd2444]

Margaret Huber, President National Capitol Branch of C.I.C. 0:03:30 - 0:05:00 - 0:07:05 - Paul Durant 0:08:34 - Robert Hage , Chair this N.C.B. of C.I.C event 0:10:00 - 0:12:55 - Where did the (dis-engaged) West go wrong ? . ____________ Stephen Kotkin, Professor in History and ____________ International Affairs at Princeton University, ____________ Director of its Institute for International and ____________ Regional Studies and ____________ Co-director of the Program in the ____________ History and Practice of Diplomacy . 0:15:35 - Great to be here (in a functioning Canada) 0:16:05 - So here (the just prior to dinner speech) goes ____________ Joke 0:17:37 - Boris Nic-o-li-a-vich, can you describe in one word : Good 0:18:22 - Boris Nic-o-li-a-vich, can you describe in 2 words : Not Good 0:18:35 - So that's the point of my talk 0:20:45 - Russia's sense of self 0:21:23 - You'll notice that your new landlords 0:21:55 - A gap between capabilities & aspirations (better-than-you) 0:22:25 - To close the gap 0:30:00 - 0:35:00 - 0:37:00 - 0:38:42 - Focus Danielson 0:40:53 - U 0:41:18 - Hard to see strategic gain 0:41:28 - 0:41:38 - R 0:41:53 - Voluntarily turn on 0:42:14 - 3rd point 0:47:00 - 0:45:00 - 0:49:14 - A fundamental clash of interests 0:49:29 - Primary value : Freedom from THE STATE 0:49:47 - Primary value : THE STATE 0:50:00 - 0:50:10 - Differences can be managed 0:50:42 - 0:51:00 - Difficult without understanding values & interests . 0:51:30 - commentator : Piotr Dutkiewicz, ____________ Professor of Political Science and ____________ Director of the Center for Governance and ____________ Public Policy at Carleton University 0:52:04 - E-Europe : EXCELLENT but not hopeless 0:52:22 - Wrong Question which assumes an international order 0:52:44 - 1st point (system was permitted to decay) 0:54:35 - The Q is : Why stick to the nonexistent ? 0:55:03 - 0:56:03 - 2nd point Geo-politics with neighbors 0:57:00 - Perceives a threat 0:57:45 - Russia seeks rules change w/o World War : A positive 0:58:00 - Can-Rus relations 0:58:52 - Incentives on each side 0:58:56 - Then and now 0:59:35 - Our fault and their fault : No plan no future shock-absorb-rules 0:59:48 - Our old policies (HAMMER ) ___________ (But the new, Almost-free Russia) ___________ we treated as if the historic, Czar-One-man-rule (NAIL) __________________ [Someone, scholarly, also noticed. I feel better]. 1:00:05 - 1:00:49 - One problem: Hostage of Ukraine minority 1:01:40 - 1:02:18 - In conclusion 1:02:38 - Confront not harmony (Big enemy outside distracts from inept inside) 1:02:45 - Declared (by inept inside) was putting trust in West (outside) 1:02:53 - Yeltsin 1990's . . . Today (public-line) do it to West as they did it to Russia 1:04:49 - Russia will mirror not what West has done to Russia ___________ BUT what Russia dreams the West - did, does, will do - to Russia. 1:04:55 - Same with the West. We dream too. . 1:06:10 - Q & A

[@stepsvideos]

Piotr Dutkiewicz sounds like a defense lawyer, blaming society for the crimes of his troubled teenage client (Putin).

[@vladislavzaytsev6883]

who is the boss

[@jhance11]

Oh my God, please get her the stage

[@jamesh8654]

What a “distinguished” long winded intro

[@DavenH]

I always skip these intros. I don't know why they're customary for lectures. Waste of everybody's time.

[@pdd60absorbed12]

A basic part of the adversarial nature of Russia vs West: more cheerleaders against the West among the civilian population in Russia compared to the number of Russian cheerleaders among the civilian population in the West. The fabricated Trump/Russia accusation has exacerbated this paradox. And who benefits? Russian strategists.

[@DJEDzTV]

The George Bush joke was good :D

[@vinm300]

22:00 "Russia's belief in its special place and power" I'm reminded of Fall of Eagles when the Tsar sends his fleet to sort out the Japanese , "those little fellows", and we all know how the Battle of Tsushima ended up : a turkey shoot. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tsushima

[@01denese]

Putin says NATO puts missiles in NATO countries that could be pointed at Russia. Pay is stagnant in the US too.

[@leechristy7003]

Kotkin says NATO is "not a threat" to Russia. At that point, he revealed himself as an ideologue himself as it's a plain lie. No wonder the Hoover Institution employs him as well.

[@maxovgrom]

@@leechristy7003 Wrong. Obviously no direct threat. At least much lower threat than its corruption, demorgaphy, wealth disproportion and lack of succession principle. In order to blur this real threats, you better inflate NATO threat. Good strategy to fool russians and to offshore hidrocarbon dollars flowing from those horrible NATO states

[@brombo00]

Everything Stephen Kotkin says about Russia accords with the narrative of the US State Department. I wonder why?

[@thevale2456]

Maybe because what he says is true, he’s been studying Russia all his life.

[@DenofLore]

Great opening joke. Someone gets it.

[@krzysztofsobolewski3749]

Piotr are you Russian agent?

[@iD-ne1eh]

It seems like!

[@lamprecchtm]

Are you an polish Stalker ?

[@AndreAndFriends]

38 min. The best joke of the 21st century.

[@mirandac8712]

What does it say that this guy is legitimately more hilarious than any working comedian? (Okay, except two and three.)

[@TheDavidlloydjones]

On which planet? That was from the Borscht Belt of Kotkin's grandparents' generation; it's been run by Sicilians all his lifetime.

[@vaultsjan]

Speaking of apologist

[@normanbravo8438]

Too much partial point of view, my endurance last until minute 13

[@svendbosanvovski4241]

You should have stayed longer.

[@aksekhiddelll8900]

ditch the french, it is an insult to canadians

[@wsg4847]

Can't just do a speech on topic, has to do anti-Trump.

[@valentino1000]

Occasionally, he has defended Trump.

[@DavenH]

Trump is one of the foremost individuals on the world stage. He's also a bit of a dummy. So, anti-trump is just a normal logical consequence.

[@Piper44LMF]

@@DavenH Trump was the biggest joke. He treated the presidency like his failed reality (not real) show. While he gave conservatives what they wanted in terms of judges and tax cuts he failed to govern. All he cared about was his name in lights and creating controversy. Instead of taking care of things he played the same game the authoritarians play and he was a failure. "Make America Great" all he did was make us into a joke and every conservative that has sworn fealty to him are not fit to represent the people. Worship him all you want. He made 2 assessments that were correct and one was about some NATO nations not fulfilling their agreement. Of course he followed it up saying we were footing the bill which NOT how it works. His 2nd assessment imo was the trade with China but here to he failed to understand that Tariffs don't hurt the exporter the hurt the importer and the consumer. He failed at business and has been bamboozling everyone for decades. So he's not a "bit" of a dummy he was an embarrassment. He also lost an election to boot and isn't man enough to accept it

[@alvarogines6788]

russia will always survive. infinite resources and small population

[@listener523]

Oh, like Canada.

[@annexcanada9987]

Canada will be subsumed by the US. Russia will never be a world power again. 1991 was the end.

[@goedelite]

I heard nothing in the introduction to the two speakers that spoke of fairness in assessing the situation of Russia with regard to the expansion of NATO to the Russian border. I heard nothing that hinted at any acceptance of blame for the Ukrainian civil war, the destruction of the legitimate government of Ukraine in 2014 by the EU and the US support for a fascist coup in Kiev. There is no reason for me to believe that what was coming from the guest speakers would be anything better than the same neocon generated propaganda.

[@neilhillis9858]

What a load of stupid nonsense. Russia is to blame for the Ukrainian civil war, the US supported but by no means started, nor were they the driving force in it at any point. The overthrown Putin-puppet deserved what he got, and Putin will get his as soon as Russians decide they don't need a boot on their neck.

[@neilhillis9858]

*US supported but by no means started nor drove the Maidan protests.

[@SuperRash67]

When dealing with Russia, the U.S government hires advisors like this guy. That is why their policy's towards Russia have been huge failures. This guy is clueless (Kotkin).

[@memishelkin8055]

They tried to brainwash Americans for so long! Pathological liars now believe themselves

[@KingDerp69]

Why is he clueless?

[@broquestwarsneeder7617]

S Rasko, wow, what a helpful useful comment; must have some clear-cut well-argued reasoning behind it, just not important enough to either articulate, or maybe too obvious to even bother stating. Thanks, "S Rasko", i'm sure *you* of all people have the correct idea.

[@SuperRash67]

Wes Wesern, sure Wes. What do you want to argue about? Lets talk about Russia and how all the info that comes from the west about Russia is bullshit propaganda.

[@Surokh]

S Rasko Kotkin generally i believe bases his opinion on history and pragmatist geopolitical thinking. He rarely goes into any sort of propaganda and his arguments stem from academic knowledge. I agree that the fearmongering sentiment in the west is bad. Russia should not be feared and the west should be more confident in committing to proxy wars.

[@nicholashomyak2473]

I like Russia and they are after all humans peopling from Russia..I prefer Soviet Culture rather than our form of corruption no health plan subsidized by the common or reasonable rents, food prices..Capitalism is not free however its exploitation and waste, pollution and fantasy

[@oneiroy]

Sorry to spoil it to you but Soviet Union was no paradise either. Jokes about multy year queues and gulag were some of the not many ways to comment the Soviet reality. Imho western European style social capitalism is the closest to the idealised version many think USSR represented.

[@edtwardus180]

Who is this guy Dutkiewicz?

[@pullmanjr]

Putin did not invade Ukrainian but sent volunteer mercenaries like USA does everywhere. If the Russian army invaded they would be in Poland in two weeks

[@TheDavidlloydjones]

At least six lies in two sentences.

[@bridge12582]

hmmm