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Interviews

Who Should Press the Reset Button?

Dr. Stephen Blank is a Research Professor of National Security Affairs at the Strategic Studies Institute United States Army War College, specializing in Russia, Commonwealth of Independent States and Eastern Europe. His two most recent books are Russo-Chinese Energy Relations: Politics in Command, and Natural Allies?: Regional Security in Asia and Prospects for Indo-American Strategic Cooperation. He holds a B.A. in History from the University of Pennsylvania, and a M.A. and Ph.D. in History from the University of Chicago. “What Russia is demanding right now from the United States is essentially surrender. No missile defense, no NATO enlargement, and recognition of Russia as a hegemon with a privileged influence in the CIS and in Afghanistan.”

-- 03/20

Soviet Collapse and Russia’s Path to the Present

Stephen Kotkin is a Professor of European history and Director of Russian Studies at Princeton University. He has written a two-volume study on the rise and fall of Soviet socialism as seen through the example of an industrial town—Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as a Civilization and Steeltown USSR: Soviet Society in the Gorbachev Era. “Most empires collapse with tremendous violence. So it’s already a big achievement that the Soviet Union collapsed more or less peacefully. That’s a big achievement not just for Russia but for everybody in the world.”

-- 03/13

Obama as a Reconstructive President

John W. Sloan is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Houston. He is the author of several books, his latest book is “FDR and Reagan: Transformative Presidents with Clashing Visions.” “Obama certainly has the opportunity to be a reconstructive president. He has come into office after the failed presidency of George W. Bush who claimed he was trying to fulfill the conservative visions of Ronald Reagan. Bush’s failures are giving Obama the authority to promote new policies that violate the dogmas of Reagan’s conservative regime such as raising taxes on the rich and increasing governmental regulations.”

-- 03/03