WKTV Staff
Is Russian President Vladimir Putin envisioning a new Soviet Union of satellite countries under the control of Russia? Is a new Cold War brewing?
These and other questions will be discussed Monday, March 12, as part of the next World Affairs Council of Western Michigan’s 2018 Great Decisions global discussion series, a series which bring leaders in international theory and action to Grand Rapids for lectures.
“Putin, Russia and the New Cold War” will be title of a discussion by Susan B. Glasser, chief international affairs columnist at POLITICO and co-author of “Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin and the End of Revolution”.
The series will offer two options to attend. There will be a daytime lecture, noon-1 p.m. at the Calvin College Recital Hall in the Covenant Fine Arts Center, and then 6-7:15 p.m. at the Aquinas College Performing Arts Center.
There is a $10 admission fee per discussion, with no reservations needed and free parking. For more information on sessions, dates and times, as well as detailed information on speakers, visit worldmichigan.org .
According to supplied information, Putin has spent years consolidating his leadership, moving the country closer to an authoritarian state. For what end? To bring former Soviet satellites once again into the Russian fold and expand its global influence? Is a new Cold War brewing? How will the U.S. respond?
Glasser, who served as founding editor of the award-winning POLITICO Magazine and went on to become editor of POLITICO throughout the 2016 election cycle, has reported everywhere from the halls of Congress to the battle of Tora Bora.
The former editor in chief of Foreign Policy magazine, she spent four years traveling the former Soviet Union as the Washington Post’s Moscow co-bureau chief, covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and co-authored “Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin and the End of Revolution” with her husband, New York Times chief White House correspondent, Peter Baker.
Before that, Glasser worked for a decade at The Washington Post, where she was a foreign correspondent, editor of the Post’s Sunday Outlook and national news sections and political reporter.
A graduate of Harvard University, Glasser lives in Washington with Baker and their son. She serves on the boards of the Pew Research Center and the Harvard Crimson student newspaper and is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Discussions will continue through March 26. The reminder of the 2018 series will feature:
Monday, Mar. 19: “South Africa at a Crossroads: Implications for U.S.-South Africa Relations”, with Desirée Cormier, Senior Director, Africa Practice, Albright Stonebridge Group (ASG).
Monday, Mar. 26: “Global Health: Equity, Ethics, and Eradication”, with Ambassador Mary Ann Peters (ret.), CEO, The Carter Center.
