Coast To Coast AM 2014.04.29 - US-Russia Relations - Unconventional Healing

US-Russia Relations - Unconventional Healing

Audio Bit Rate: 48 kbps Sample Rate: 44100 Hz Mono MP3

Date: 04-30-14
Host: George Noory
Guests: Stephen F. Cohen, Brad Willis

In the first half, a leading scholar of Soviet and post-Soviet Russia, media commentator, and the author of several widely

acclaimed books, Stephen F. Cohen discussed the current dynamics of the U.S. relationship with Russia, as well as the Cold

War with the Soviet Union. Much of the analysis we're being fed regarding Ukraine is misleading, and this could be leading

up to the most serious international situation since the Cuban Missile Crisis, he contended. The US policy since the 1990s

is the main driving force behind the Ukraine crisis, not Russia, he argued, adding that the demonization of Putin is not

analysis, understanding, or policy, but an excuse not to engage in those things. Putin is not an autocrat, he added, but

part of the Russian political class.

Chances to negotiate a non-war solution are being lost, mostly by the US and Western Europe, he said, and now NATO and

Russian troops are on the move. Everything in Ukraine is descending into chaos and if the trend is not reversed soon,

there will be a catastrophic war -- probably beginning with civil war in Ukraine and then Russian and NATO intervention on

the opposing sides. No one in the US political-media mainstream establishment has an open mind, in contrast to how Reagan

met Gorbachev halfway in bringing an end to the Cold War, he remarked. Cohen, who befriended Gorbachev back in the 1980s

and has remained in touch with him, said that the former Soviet leader is tormented by what is happening in Russia today.

More here.

In the latter half, former war correspondent for NBC News, Brad Willis, (now known as Bhava Ram) shared his amazing

journey from hardened broadcast journalist, to terminal cancer patient. He recounted the series of events that inspired

him to refuse his morphine drip and reach out for unconventional activities including yoga to restore his mobility, which

ultimately set him on a path leading to remission and restoration of his health. As an esteemed journalist, he was one of

the only ones from the West to get deep into Afghanistan during the Soviet Occupation in the 1980s. But eventually his

career collapsed when he broke his back, had a failed surgery, a dire cancer diagnosis, and a dependence on pain

medications.

His turnaround began when his young son said simply "Get up Daddy," and he went into detox, and then got involved in

mind-body techniques at a pain clinic. It was there he began a yoga practice, and studied the ancient Ayurvedic system.

After going home, he focused on yoga postures, breathwork, and meditation for 8-12 hours a day, as well as a dietary

switch to veganism, and frequent fasting. Over a six month period, he shed 80 lbs. of excess weight and "1,000 lbs. of

darkness off my mind, my emotional body," he said. Two years into this practice, he was completely healed and cancer-free.

For more, check out this video of Bhava Ram's TEDx Talk in San Diego.

News segment guests: Catherine Austin Fitts, Lauren Weinstein
Website(s):

jordanrussiacenter.org
bhavaram.com
deepyoga.com

Book(s):

Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives
The Victims Return: Survivors of the Gulag after Stalin
Warrior Pose: How Yoga (Literally) Saved My Life