11-15-2016 (Photo: 1987 Ronald Reagan and Secretary Gorbachev signing the Nuclear Arms Reduction Treaty. ) http://JohnBatchelorShow.com/contact http://JohnBatchelorShow.com/schedules http://johnbatchelorshow.com/blog Twitter: @BatchelorShow

New Détente for the New Cold War: Trump and Putin Speak. Stephen F. Cohen, @NYU, @Princeton University. EastWestAccord.com.

“…MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and President-elect Donald J. Trump spoke by telephone for the first time on Monday, agreeing to review what both consider the poor state of relations between the two countries, according to a statement from the Kremlin. The two agreed “on the absolutely unsatisfactory state of bilateral relations,” said the statement, and they both endorsed the idea of undertaking joint efforts “to normalize relations and pursue constructive cooperation on the broadest possible range of issues.” The issues discussed included trade and economic ties as well as combating terrorism. Mr. Putin was one of the first world leaders to congratulate Mr. Trump last Wednesday, sending him a telegram about an hour after he had emerged the victor, but the two men have not met nor had they spoken previously. Mr. Putin repeated the congratulations over the phone. The Russian president said he hoped that Moscow could build a “collaborative dialogue” with Washington on the bases of “equality, mutual respect and noninterference in the other’s internal affairs,” the release said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/15/world/europe/putin-calls-trump.html?_r=0

“YESTERDAY by: Gideon Rachman What is going on between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump? That question hung over the US election. Now that Mr Trump has won the presidency, the question of his relationship with the Russian leader assumes global significance….”

https://www.ft.com/content/9bef31a4-aa57-11e6-a0bb-97f42551dbf4?accessToken=zwAAAVhpyBDIkdOb7zGkqlcR5tOgu5f0JVHb9A.MEQCIHGBgPJ8lu5xVSfe9hrzNL6td_mA42pTHaRpw8K0mSyWAiB53riCyn8nSqovy4NKyX03iFnkBGj3Y09bB4b-p30TgA&sharetype=gift

“…The House bill would authorize the State Department to assist in the collection and preservation of evidence for war crimes trials. Secretary of State John Kerry last month called for a war crimes investigation of Russia and Syria, a move that escalated already heated rhetoric against Moscow for its part in a deadly military offensive in Aleppo, Syria's largest city, and its longstanding support of Assad. The Syria legislation, formally titled the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, is named after a crime scene photographer for the Syrian military who was reassigned to photograph the bodies of imprisoned Syrian rebels and dissidents after the conflict began. He later defected, and his archive of images of more than 10,000 bodies was smuggled out of the country. He went by the pseudonym Caesar, and he testified in disguise in July 2014 year before Foreign Affairs Committee, saying he had witnessed a "genocidal massacre."…”

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/house-oks-bills-crack-syria-renew-iran-sanctions-43560379