Global Tennessee

In Focus: Russia's Invasion | Ukraine Update | The Humanitarian Dimension

Jan 25, 2023

The unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine has been catastrophic for the Ukrainian people. Millions of refugees have fled to neighboring nations to the west, horrendous war crimes have been committed in areas controlled by Russian forces and nation-wide attacks against civilian areas and infrastructure have caused extreme hardships in cities large and small. We continue our "In Focus" series on Russia's invasion with a conversation with Anna Novosad, former Minister of Education and Science from Ukraine and an education activist working to rebuild and restore schools and education infrastructure. She will join us from Kyiv where she is among her countrymen under constant Russian bombardment. We're also joined by Elena Byrd and Dr. Madeleine Byrd, a Nashville mother-daughter team who put everything else on hold to go to Warsaw, Poland to work in a refugee center aiding Ukrainian refugees. Don't miss these powerful stories.

Veteran Irish diplomat Geraldine Byrne Nason is the Ambassador to the US from the Republic of Ireland. She served as Ireland's Ambassador to the United Nations before assuming her post in Washington in August 2022. (Complete bio in our TNWAC.org archive.)

In this interview with TNWAC President Pat Ryan, Ambassador Byrne Nason talks about the transformation in relations -- both Irish-US and Irish-Tennessee ties -- including the economic, political and cultural ties alongside people to people and business to business connections. The conversation includes discussion of Ireland's reaction to Brexit and its leadership in the European Union. Ryan and Byrne Nason conclude with questions on the nature of global stability and security in light of recent tumult in regions and on critical issues -- areas she is able to expertly comment upon. Don't miss this enlightening conversation about Ireland and Tennessee, the US and the world.

The Tennessee World Affairs Council in association with the American Council on Germany and with Belmont University Center for Global Citizenship, University of Tennessee Center for Global Engagement and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce

In Focus: Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

via Zoom

Putin and Russia’s War: What Makes Putin Tick?

with

Katja Gloger

Journalist and Author

Andrew S. Weiss

James Family Chair and Vice President for Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Monday, November 14, 2022

@ 9:00 a.m. CT

It is being reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not travel to Bali next week to participate in the G20 Summit. This was confirmed overnight by Moscow’s embassy to Indonesia. At the same time, we are seeing reports that the Kremlin is withdrawing its troops from Kherson, the only regional capital it managed to capture since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February. The retreat from Kherson is one of the most serious blows to Russia in Putin’s war. Just a month ago, he declared that Kherson and three other regions in Ukraine are part of the Russian nation at an event in Moscow’s Red Square.

Join us for a discussion with Putin biographers and Russia experts Katja Gloger and Andrew S. Weiss about the war in Ukraine.

Cyber Threats Across the Spectrum and What's Being Done

With Former NSA Director Admiral Michael Rogers

Former Director National Security Agency and Commander U.S. Cyber Command

Tuesday, November 8, 2022

1:30-3:00 p.m. CT

With Moderator

Congressman Jim Cooper (TN-5th)

House Armed Services Committee

Chair, Subcommittee on Strategic Forces

And Panelists

Ms. Casey Santos

CIO, Asurion

Mr. Paul Connelly

VP Information Protection and Security at HCA Healthcare

Dr. Brandon Prins

Political Science Department Head, University of Tennessee Knoxville

Curtis Clan

Chief Information Security Officer

State of Tennessee

The Tennessee World Affairs Council and Belmont University Center for International Business, University of Tennessee Center for Global Engagement and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce

GLOBAL DIALOGUE SERIES

Via Zoom

The Geopolitics of Central Asia

October 13, 2022 | 1 pm CT

A Conversation With Professor John Miglietta

With Moderator

Professor Thomas Schwartz

Professor John Miglietta who teaches international politics at Tennessee State University recently completed a year in Tajikistan as a Fulbright Scholar. In this Global Dialogue he will discuss the geography of the region, the politics and governments of the region and how these countries emerged from the Soviet Union. He will conclude by discussing the roles of China, Russia, and the US. Distinguished historian Professor Thomas Schwartz will moderate the conversation.

Understanding developments in Central Asia is key to understanding developments in Russia and China and American interests in the region.

Professor John Miglietta

John Miglietta is a political scientist who focuses on the study of American foreign policy in the Middle East with an emphasis on international security issues. He is the author of American Alliance Policy in the Middle East, 1945-1992 (Rowman and Littlefield, 2002). This is a study of the dynamics of U.S. alliances in the region focusing on Iran, Israel, and Saudi Arabia. Dr. Miglietta also has research interests in studying American foreign policy in Central Asia, as well as weapons proliferation.

Professor Thomas Schwartz

Thomas Alan Schwartz is a historian of the foreign relations of the United States, with related interests in American politics, the history of international relations, Modern European history, and biography. His most recent book is Henry Kissinger and American Power: A Political Biography (Hill and Wang, 2020). The book has received considerable notice and acclaim.

The Tennessee World Affairs Council in association with the American Council on Germany and Belmont University Center for International Business, University of Tennessee Center for Global Engagement, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and the World Affairs Council of Harrisburg

SPECIAL EDITION

GLOBAL TOWN HALL SERIES

In Focus: Russia's Invasion of Ukraine

Ambassador John Kornblum

Former U.S. Ambassador to Germany and Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs

Professor Marieta Velikova

Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for International Business, Belmont University

with moderator

Dr. Breck Walker

Vice President and Board Member, Tennessee World Affairs Council

August 25, 2022 @ 1pm CT

The unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine has increased the friction between the United States and the Russian Federation on many fronts. Our conversation with Professor Thomas Schwartz on August 18 put the relationship in context by exploring the history of the Cold War and relevancy to today's challenges. Our August 25th session of "In Focus: Russia's Invasion of Ukraine" will bring that conversation up to date. We'll talk with Ambassador John Kornblum, former top American diplomat to Germany and numerous European affairs institutions, about the state of the US-Russian relationship, what underpins the diplomatic, political, security and economic factors, and where we're headed.

We'll also talk with Professor Marieta Velikova, Director Belmont University Center for International Business, about the internal dynamics of Russia in the wake of the invasion. What impact has there been from the historic breadth and depth of Western sanctions, what are Russians able to learn about the outside world in a propagandized media environment, and how are Russians reacting to the consequences of Moscow's attack on its neighbor.

Historian Dr. Breck Walker will moderate this insightful hour of insights and perspectives on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Join us.

The Tennessee World Affairs Council in association with the American Council on Germany and Belmont University Center for International Business, University of Tennessee Center for Global Engagement and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce

SPECIAL EDITION GLOBAL TOWN HALL SERIES

via Zoom

In Focus: Russia's Invasion of Ukraine

Cold Wars

Prof. Thomas A. Schwartz

Distinguished Professor of History, Vanderbilt University

August 18, 2022 @ 12:00 p.m. CT

with moderator

LCDR Patrick Ryan, USN (Ret)

President, Tennessee World Affairs Council

The Cold War was a period of intense competition and geo-strategic struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union and their allies in the Western and Eastern blocs following World War II. At times it threatened to turn hot -- potential battles between combatants armed with thousands of nuclear weapons -- but always featured political, economic, ideological and military confrontation. The post-Cold War era saw the Russian Federation and the United States work together on bilateral and global issues, a spirit of cooperation. That has evolved into the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine, the extensive support of Kyiv by the United States and its allies, the expansion NATO in reaction to Russian aggression and a disruption in global stability and international norms.

Is this a new "Cold War?" Or is it something else? Join Vanderbilt Distinguished Historian Professor Thomas Schwartz in a conversation about Cold Wars, the "big one" and the current confrontation between Washington and Moscow and their allies.

The Tennessee World Affairs Council in association with the American Council on Germany in association with Belmont University Center for International Business, University of Tennessee Center for Global Engagement and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce

SPECIAL EDITION

GLOBAL TOWN HALL SERIES

via Zoom

The War in Ukraine: How Will This End?

Ambassador John Kornblum

Former U.S. Ambassador to Germany and Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs

Wednesday, April 13, 2022 @ 10:00 a.m. CT

with

Dr. Liana Fix

Resident Fellow at the German Marshall Fund Washington office

And Moderator

Dr. Steven E. Sokol

President, American Council on Germany

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The War in Ukraine: How Will This End?

Although there has been a withdrawal of Russian troops in the north of Ukraine, the images of death and destruction from places like Bucha mark a grim turning point in Russia’s war in Ukraine. Join the American Council on Germany and the Tennessee World Affairs Council for a discussion with Ambassador John Kornblum, former U.S. Ambassador to Germany, and Dr. Liana Fix, Program Director in the International Affairs Department of the Körber Foundation in Berlin, about the latest developments of the conflict in Europe and its lasting consequences.

Join the American Council on Germany and the Tennessee World Affairs Council for a discussion with Ambassador John Kornblum, former U.S. Ambassador to Germany, and Dr. Liana Fix, Resident Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States (invited). They will talk about the latest developments of the conflict in Europe and put it in perspective by discussing the implications and possible paths ahead.

Dr. Roger Kangas, Ph.D.

Academic Dean and Professor

Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University

TNWAC Global Town Hall at Belmont University, March 31, 2022 @ 6:00 p.m. CT

with Moderator, Dr. Thomas A Schwartz, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of History of U.S. Foreign Relations, Vanderbilt University

Transcript available at TNWAC.org | Support the Tennessee World Affairs Council by becoming a member and making a contribution | Sign up for the newsletter | All on TNWAC.org

Dr. Roger Kangas – Academic Dean and a Professor of Central Asian Studies at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies. Previously Dr. Kangas served as a Professor of Central Asian Studies at the George C. Marshall Center for European Security in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany; Deputy Director of the Central Asian Institute at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, DC; Central Asian Course Coordinator at the Foreign Service Institute for the U.S. Department of State; Research Analyst on Central Asian Affairs for the Open Media Research Institute (OMRI) in Prague, Czech Republic; and as an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Mississippi.

Dr. Kangas has been an advisor to the Combatant Commands, NATO/ISAF, the US Air Force Special Operations School, National Democratic Institute, International Research and Exchanges Board, American Councils, Academy for Educational Development, USIA, USAID, and other US government agencies on issues relating to Central and South Asia, Russia, and the South Caucasus. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University. Dr. Kangas holds a B.S.F.S. in Comparative Politics from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Indiana University.

Dr. Thomas A. Schwartz

Thomas Alan Schwartz is a historian of the foreign relations of the United States, with related interests in American politics, the history of international relations, Modern European history, and biography. His most recent book is Henry Kissinger and American Power: A Political Biography (Hill and Wang, 2020). The book has received considerable notice and acclaim. Harvard’s University’s Charles Maier has written: “Thomas Schwartz’s superbly researched political biography reveals the brilliance, self-serving ego, and vulnerability of America’s most remarkable diplomat in the twentieth century, even as it provides a history of U.S. engagement in global politics as it moved beyond bipolarity.” Earlier in his career, Schwartz was the author of America’s Germany: John J. McCloy and the Federal Republic of Germany (Harvard, 1991), which was translated into German, Die Atlantik Brücke (Ullstein, 1992). This book received the Stuart Bernath Book Prize of the Society of American Foreign Relations, and the Harry S. Truman Book Award, given by the Truman Presidential Library. He is also the author of Lyndon Johnson and Europe: In the Shadow of Vietnam (Harvard, 2003), which examined the Johnson Administration’s policy toward Europe and assessed the impact of the war in Vietnam on its other foreign policy objectives. He is the co-editor with Matthias Schulz of The Strained Alliance: U.S.-European Relations from Nixon to Carter, (Cambridge University Press, 2009).

The Tennessee World Affairs Council in association with the American Council on Germany and with Belmont University Center for International Business, University of Tennessee Center for Global Engagement and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce

SPECIAL EDITION

GLOBAL TOWN HALL SERIES

via Zoom

The Implications and Consequences of Russia’s War in Ukraine

Ambassador John Kornblum

Former U.S. Ambassador to Germany and Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs

with Moderator

Dr. Steven E. Sokol

President, American Council on Germany

Check TNWAC.org archives for video link and transcript.