Dr. Thomas Graham, distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, presents his insights on the situation in the world today, the objectives of Russia and the West, as well as the priorities of U.S. Russia policy going forward.

This event was recorded via Zoom on July 6, 2022 as part of the Monterey Summer Symposium on Russia. 

This is a conversation about the notion of the free world, stemming from a May 6, 2022 Foreign Affairs article published by Peter Slezkine (East China Normal University). In this article, Slezkine argues that the Cold War idea of the free world maps only inaccurate onto the current war in Ukraine. Joining him to debate this idea are Anatol Lieven (Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft) and Jeffrey Gedmin (American Purpose), who offer their perspectives on the proper connections between the Cold War past and the 21st-century present, asking not just about the trouble with the "free world” but whether the free world is itself in trouble or whether the free world is once again salient and ascendant. 

This conversation takes up the work of two leading English-language journalists, Joshua Yaffa (The New Yorker) and Anton Troianovski (The New York Times), both of whom are covering the war in Ukraine. At issue is the challenges of covering this war, the difficulties of writing about Russia when so many non-Russian journalists have either left the country or been expelled, and the uses and abuses of information in this first major twenty-first century war.

In this Monterey Conversation, Michael Kimmage (The Catholic University of America), Olga Malinova (Higher School of Economics), Will Pyle (Middlebury College) and Jade McGlynn (Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies) examine the politicized memory of the 1990s and its role in shaping Russian society, attitudes towards the West, and sense of national humiliation. They contrast this with the economic reality of that era, outlining how the turbulence was used to fuel a sense of grievance and consider where memory and history diverge and how political uses of the 1990s are changing against the backdrop of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

For this Monterey Conversation, Michael Kimmage (The Catholic University of America), Max Bergmann (CSIS), Hans Kundnani (Chatham House), Jade McGlynn (Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies) and Rachel Rizzo (Atlantic Council) explore the many European reverberations of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This panel assesses the war itself as a threat to European security and the challenge the war presents to NATO and the EU as well as the long-term opportunities that may result from this terrible war. Recorded via Zoom on June 6, 2022.

The Ukraine Scenarios

Since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, many predictions about the course of the war have been put into question. In this conversation, Michael Kimmage (The Catholic University of America), Justin Vogt (Foreign Affairs) and Liana Fix (Koerber Foundation) will discuss the multiple pathways of this war - and the consequences for US and European security if the war doesn’t end.

Prisoners of History?: Memory, Myth-Making, and Russia’s War on Ukraine

In this Monterey Conversation, Ivan Krastev (Centre for Liberal Studies), Jade McGlynn (Middlebury Institute), and Michael Kimmage (Catholic U.) discussed the role of historical myths in justifying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as well as how the systemic flaws of the authoritarian power vertical in Russia contributed to masking reality and the extent to which analysts overlooked the role of emotion and messianism in Russian decision-making. Recorded via Zoom on April 15, 2022.

Professor Serhii Plokhii, Director of Harvard University’s Ukrainian Research Institute, discusses the competing narratives surrounding Ukraine’s national identity – both their historical origins and their modern implications. This is Part 3 of a three-part lecture series, "Understanding Ukrainian History" which serves as an introductory module to the Monterey Summer Symposium on Russia. Recorded via Zoom on June 27, 2022.

Professor Serhii Plokhii, Director of Harvard University’s Ukrainian Research Institute, discusses the competing narratives surrounding Ukraine’s national identity – both their historical origins and their modern implications. This is Part 2 of a three-part lecture series, "Understanding Ukrainian History" which serves as an introductory module to the Monterey Summer Symposium on Russia. Recorded via Zoom on June 24, 2022.

Professor Serhii Plokhii, Director of Harvard University’s Ukrainian Research Institute, discusses the competing narratives surrounding Ukraine’s national identity – both their historical origins and their modern implications. This is Part 1 of a three-part lecture series, "Understanding Ukrainian History" which serves as an introductory module to the Monterey Summer Symposium on Russia. Recorded via Zoom on June 22, 2022.