Vanderbilt University virtual event explores evolving crisis
Vanderbilt University and the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy hosted a virtual panel on the evolving crisis between Russia and Ukraine featuring Vanderbilt University faculty historians and foreign policy experts such as Lt. Gen. Jack Gardner (US Army, retired), former deputy commander of the United States European Command in Stuttgart, Germany; and Peter Pomerantsev, a Ukrainian-born British journalist senior fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. The panel will address the historical context of the relationship between Russia and Ukraine, the circumstances around an invasion of Ukraine and attempted Russian takeover, the perspective of potential U.S. military involvement and alternative conflict resolution, the impact on the U.S. government, geopolitical implications and the humanitarian crisis for those caught in the crossfire.
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The virtual panel was moderated by Samar Ali, a Vanderbilt research professor of law and political science, Muslim-American expert in international conflict resolution and co-chair of the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy. Other panelists include:
- Kathryn David, Vanderbilt assistant professor of Russian and East European Studies, has expertise on the history of the Soviet Ukraine and Russia. Her current book project One Ukraine, Under God examines how the officially atheist Soviet state used religious institutions to govern and transform its newly Soviet populations in western Ukraine during and after the Second World War.
- Frank Wcislo, professor of history and Russian studies, emeritus, has expertise on modern Russia and the politics, society, economy and culture of the prerevolutionary Russian Empire.
- Lt. Gen. Jack Gardner, former deputy commander of the U.S. European Command and Unity Project board member, has expertise in military operations abroad.
- Peter Pomerentsev, journalist and senior fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, co-directs the Arena Initiative and has expertise on Russian propaganda.
About the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy is a nonpartisan initiative that aims to elevate research and evidence-based reasoning into the national conversation. Drawing on original research, evidence-based papers and crucial conversations from Vanderbilt’s world-class faculty and visionary thought leaders of all political persuasion, the timely endeavor aims to give policymakers and the public the tools needed to combat conspiracy and unfounded ideology with evidence, data and respectful discourse. The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy can make a meaningful contribution to solving society’s most pressing challenges and bridging our deepest differences.
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