Why did Vladimir Putin’s decision to withdraw the Russian military forces from Syria take US hawks by surprise? Maybe, it’s because Washington’s party of war believes its own propaganda more than reality on the ground, Stephen F. Cohen notes, commenting on Russia’s pullout.

The leitmotif of Russian President Putin’s foreign policy is the demilitarization of the ongoing new Cold War in the Middle East and also in Ukraine, Stephen F. Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian studies at New York University and Princeton University, noted in his latest interview on The John Batchelor Show.