"Russia is by far the best anti-terrorist state ally in the world that the United States could have," the American scholar said, adding that no other country in the world is better equipped or has more experience when it comes to counterterrorism.
Cohen mentioned four reasons that make Moscow a perfect partner in any anti-terrorism coalition. These include geographic location, diverse ethnic and religious population, as well as history and experience.
Cohen also noted that Russia "has the kind of intelligence that we don't have," citing the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings as a case in point. Russian intelligence agencies warned their American counterparts that Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his brother Dzhokhar could have been radicalized. The US did not listen.
"We were warned and we did nothing about it. And the reason we did nothing about it was Cold War hostility," the analyst observed, referring to the increasingly strained relationship between the Kremlin and the West following the outbreak of the Ukrainian civil war and Crimea's democratic reunification with Russia.
Earlier this week, Lord Lloyd Webber called Vladimir Putin's "unopposed meddling in Syria" the greatest single threat to peace, in both the United Kingdom and Europe, prompting Kim Sengupta, defense correspondent at the Independent to suggest that the world-famous composer "could have a second career as a stand-up comedian."
"One of the reasons for relations being so bad, however, has been fairly constant criticism of Russia by British ministers which many Western European diplomats find irritating as it hinders collective dialogue with Moscow, especially over Syria," the journalist added, calling for more cooperation with Russia on fighting terrorism.
For its part, Russian officials have urged the US-led coalition to join forces in Syria and fight Daesh together. Vladimir Putin mentioned a broad anti-terrorist front last week during a meeting with Russian Federation ambassadors and permanent envoys.
