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**Please note that the views expressed by our guest lecturers do not necessarily reflect the views of The Institute of World Politics.**
About the lecture: Charlie Chaplin, Daffy Duck, Dr. Seuss, Team America, and Winnie-the-Pooh have entertained audiences using humor. What is perhaps less known about these entertainers is how their humor and images have been used to denigrate and ridicule dictators and authoritarian regimes. When thinking about propaganda and mass influence, humor and ridicule do not often come to mind. However, humor and ridicule are powerful tools of influence and can be used to encourage opposition to authoritarian rule. This talk will explore what makes humor and ridicule such effective tools of influence and why authoritarian regimes fear ridicule so much. About the speaker: Dr. Schindler is a Research Professor at The Institute of World Politics and Adjunct Professor at Patrick Henry College. In addition to teaching, Dr. Schindler works for a U.S. Defense contractor providing subject matter expertise research and analysis to various government customers’ operations and programs. Dr. Schindler obtained a Master of Arts in Strategic Intelligence from the Institute of World Politics in 2010 and completed her Ph.D. on the historical origins of U.S. public diplomacy at the University of Leeds. Dr. Schindler authored The Origins of Public Diplomacy in US Statecraft: Uncovering a Forgotten Tradition, published by Palgrave Macmillan. Dr. Schindler’s current research is focused on the origins and evolution of Russian political warfare.
About the lecture: In 1915 Germany's successful offensive in the east resulted in the occupation of the Western chunk of the Russian Empire, a swath of land between the Baltic and Black Seas. We refer to it as the Intermarium, and it is essentially coterminous with the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Germans shared their conquest with their junior partners, the Austrians. Both made sure not to include the captured lands into their own partitions of Poland. Instead, they kept them apart as the so-called Polish Kingdom and, further east, the Ober Ost. In the former, the Germans favored the Poles; in the latter, they advantaged the Lithuanians, Belarusians, and Jews. In neither place did the occupiers agree to serious political concessions; they permitted local autonomy at best. It was a classical divide et impera situation. The main objective of Berlin (which by 1918 totally dominated its Viennese partner) was to gain a permanent geopolitical advantage and to exploit the area's economy and labor. The Second Reich pursued a similar policy toward Ukraine when it expanded there in the wake of Brest Litovsk in February 1918. Ultimately, however, Germany's plans collapsed as a result of its defeat on the Western Front. About the speaker: About the speaker: Dr. Marek Jan Chodakiewicz holds The Kosciuszko Chair in Polish Studies at The Institute of World Politics and leads IWP’s Center for Intermarium Studies. At IWP, he also serves as a Professor of History and teaches courses on Geography and Strategy, Contemporary Politics and Diplomacy, Russian Politics and Foreign Policy, and Mass Murder Prevention in Failed and Failing States. He is the author of Intermarium: The Land Between the Black and Baltic Seas and numerous other books and articles. He holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and has previously taught at the University of Virginia and Loyola Marymount University.
About the lecture: Since 1972, the nuclear disarmament community —led by major self-described arms control organizations— hasn’t supported any serious nuclear arms control ideas. They’ve supported dangerous ideas such as the nuclear freeze, opposed American strategic nuclear and missile defense modernization efforts, and denounced the most revolutionary and beneficial agreements such as INF, Start 1, and 2. Nearly 50 years after the SALT 1 nuclear agreement, it has become increasingly difficult to secure genuine and verifiable nuclear agreements such as Start 1 and INF. The United States has entered into nuclear deals with Iran, North Korea, and Russia that do little to improve America’s security. In many respects, the global zero campaign has significantly distorted the debate on nuclear security issues. America’s enemies are increasingly expanding their nuclear arsenals and adopting strategies of using nuclear weapons for coercive and hegemonic objectives. A growing narrative among the media, academia, and some politicians is that nuclear arms control is on the ropes. That’s true, but the reason is not the Trump administration, it is the fault of the US disarmament community and global zero advocates that have effectively killed arms control and repeatedly pushed the USA into bad nuclear deals. About the speaker: Mr. Peter Huessy is President of his own defense consulting firm, GeoStrategic Analysis, founded in 1981, and since 2016, Director of Strategic Deterrent Studies at the Mitchell Institute on Aerospace Studies. He was the senior defense consultant at the National Defense University Foundation for 22 years. He was the National Security Fellow at the AFPC, and Senior Defense Consultant at the Air Force Association from 2011 Mr. Huessy has served as an expert defense and national security analyst for over 45 years, helping his clients cover congressional activities while monitoring budget and policy developments on terrorism, counter-terrorism, immigration, state-sponsored terrorism, missile defense, weapons of mass destruction, especially US-Israeli joint defense efforts, nuclear deterrence, arms control, proliferation, as well as tactical and strategic air, airlift, space and nuclear matters and such state and non-state actors as North Korea, China, Iran, Syria, Venezuela and Hezbollah, Hamas and Al Qaeda. This also includes monitoring activities of think tanks, non-governmental organizations, and other US government departments, as well as projecting future actions of Congress in this area. His specialty is developing and implementing public policy campaigns to secure support for important national security objectives. He is on the Board of the InSeries Theater in Washington; EMPACT, the organization devoted to protecting the US from EMP threats; and MTA, the Maryland Taxpayers Association. He authored legislation calling for the divestment of US pensions from any company doing business with Iran and testified before a number of state legislatures on this subject and on counter-terror policy, including whether or not drivers licenses should be made available to those illegally in the US. He is also a member of Secure American Energy, an organization devoted to breaking the back of OPEC and providing the US with American sources of energy. He has lectured around the world and across the USA on nuclear terrorism, nuclear deterrence, missile defense, homeland security, counter-terrorism policy, and strategic threats to the US and its allies.
This event is part of the Intermarium Lecture Series sponsored by The Institute of World Politics. About the lecture: Ambassador Nersesyan will present the developments following the Azerbaijani attacks on the Tavush Region of Armenia on July 12th, and the political and military response of Armenia. The Ambassador will also reflect on the role of Turkey in the recent escalation and its ramifications on the Karabakh Peace Process, and overall regional developments. The reaction of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and in particular, the USA will be discussed as well. About the Speaker: His Excellency Varuzhan Nersesyan is a career diplomat. He was appointed to the post of Ambassador of Armenia to the USA in 2018. Prior to that, his most recent professional experience included serving as Assistant to the Prime Minister of Armenia, and from 2012 to 2018 – Assistant to the President of the Republic of Armenia. His Excellency holds two Master’s Degrees in International Affairs from Yerevan State University, and The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. In addition to his native Armenian, Ambassador Nersesyan is fluent in English, German, and Russian. Please note that that the information for this lecture, including the description, reflects the views of the speaker and not necessarily the views of The Institute of World Politics. In addition, the views expressed by our faculty, research fellows, students, alumni, and guest lecturers do not necessarily reflect the views of The Institute of World Politics.
This lecture is part of the 10th Annual Kościuszko Chair Spring Symposium in honor of Lady Blanka Rosenstiel sponsored by the Kościuszko Chair of Polish Studies and the Center for Intermarium Studies. About the lecture: Reinstatement of political relations between the Polish government-in-exile and the Soviet government in July 1941 resulted in so-called amnesty for the Polish citizens deported to USSR between 1940 and 1941. The lecture will discuss the circumstances accompanying the evacuation of Polish children-deportees from the USSR as a part of the so-called General Anders' Army. About the speaker: Mrs. Maria Juczewska is a communication specialist with versatile international experience. Her education in linguistics, culture studies, and international affairs, combined with years of living abroad, makes her point of view unique and comprehensive. Mrs. Juczewska has worked for the Kościuszko Chair of Polish Studies since 2014. In her scholarly work, she is especially interested in propaganda.
This lecture is a part of our 10th Annual Kościuszko Chair Spring Symposium in honor of Lady Blanka Rosenstiel. This event is sponsored by the Kościuszko Chair of Polish Studies and the Center for Intermarium Studies. About the lecture: Dr. Chodakiewicz is going to discuss the nature of the political movements and ideological developments in White Ruthenia in the aftermath of World War I. About the speaker: Dr. Marek Jan Chodakiewicz holds The Kosciuszko Chair in Polish Studies at The Institute of World Politics and leads IWP’s Center for Intermarium Studies. At IWP, he also serves as a Professor of History and teaches courses on Geography and Strategy, Contemporary Politics and Diplomacy, Russian Politics and Foreign Policy, and Mass Murder Prevention in Failed and Failing States. He is the author of Intermarium: The Land Between the Black and Baltic Seas and numerous other books and articles. He holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and has previously taught at the University of Virginia and Loyola Marymount University.
This event is part of the 10th Annual Kościuszko Chair Spring Symposium in honor of Lady Blanka Rosenstiel sponsored by the Kościuszko Chair of Polish Studies and the Center for Intermarium Studies. About the lecture: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth’s small armies, based around a seemingly outmoded form of heavy cavalry, Winged Hussars, were able to hold their own against numerically superior foes, including those using tactics and weapons designed specifically to defeat such cavalry for more than two hundred years. This lecture discusses how armies of the Commonwealth and their commanders successfully used a combination of troops and tactics to “shape the battlefield” and overcome superior enemy forces time and again. About the speaker: Dr. John Radzilowski has taught history, art history, and geography at University of Alaska Southeast on the Ketchikan campus since 2007. Prior to moving to Alaska, he taught history courses at the University of St. Thomas, Hamline University, and Anoka-Ramsey College in Minnesota. Dr. Radzilowski also served as assistant project director at Center for Nations in Transition, at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota where he helped design and administer USAID and State Department-sponsored training programs for business, economics, and political science faculty and NGO leaders in Ukraine and east central Europe. Dr. Radzilowski’s research and teaching interests are wide-ranging and diverse: immigration and ethnicity, military history, war and genocide, the impact of technology on the history and geography of the Great Plains and Midwest, local and regional studies, and the history of Poland, Russia, Ukraine, and central and eastern Europe.
About the lecture: Buoyed by the victory in the east sealed by the Treaty of Brest Litovsk in March 1918, Germany and her allies scrambled to transfer their forces to deliver a decisive blow on the Western front. Unfortunately for them the United States came to the rescue. America's intervention reversed the fortunes of war. By August 1918, the Second Reich suffered its first serious reversal. In September, Germany was retreating in the west and collapsing at home, where mutiny and revolution pushed Berlin to its knees. The Germans thus sought an armistice. Against the advice of the American military leaders, who called for an unconditional surrender, the rest of the Allied, in particular liberal prime minister David Lloyd George, agreed. This was a lethal mistake. By failing to defeat Germany decisively, the Armistice paved the way to the Second World War. About the speaker: Dr. Chodakiewicz currently serves as a Professor of History at The Institute of World Politics, where he holds the Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies. He also leads IWP’s Center for Intermarium Studies. At IWP, Dr. Chodakiewicz teaches courses on Contemporary Politics and Diplomacy, Geography and Strategy, Mass Murder Prevention in Failed and Failing States, and Russian Politics and Foreign Policy.He was formerly an assistant professor of history of the Kosciuszko Chair in Polish Studies at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at University of Virginia. He also served as a visiting professor of history at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
About the lecture: In this lecture, Dr. Sara Vakhshouri will discuss the fundamentals and changes in the energy market, and Mr. C. Derek Campbell will talk about physical security of energy infrastructure and cyber security. This lecture will cover themes from Dr. Vakhshouri’s IWP course on “Energy Security and the New Geopolitics of Energy.” The course focuses on the transformation of energy use over the past century and on expanding our understanding of today’s concepts of energy and how they fit within the rubric of national security. About the Speakers: C. Derek Campbell is the Chief Executive Officer of Energy & Natural Resource Security, Inc., an international security company providing “best-inclass” physical and cyber risk mitigation solutions for Critical Energy Infrastructure and Natural Resource assets. In this role, he leads the strategic engagements of the company and directs the development of all market entry strategies. In the public sector, during 2016, Derek served as a Special Security Advisor for the U.S. Special Envoy’s Office on South Sudan, where he lead the South Sudanese Ministry of Interior in the development and implementation of the Joint Operations Center(JOC) which is charged with de-militarizing and establishing police primacy for security in the capital city of Juba, South Sudan. As a United States Marine Officer, Derek served as the Marine Liaison Officer to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) where he oversaw all Marine Corps Counter-Threat initiatives: CounterDrone/Counter-UAS, Counter-IED, Counter-Tunnel and the like from 2016 to 2019. From 2014 to 2015, Derek served as the Chief of Military Plans for the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) – a Chapter VII Peace Enforcement Mission. Derek is a regular on the international Oil & Gas/Energy speaking circuit speaking as an authority on topics such as Energy Security and the Extractive Industry geo-political and market dynamics in Africa. Dr. Sara Vakhshouri is founder and president of SVB Energy International, a strategic energy consulting firm with offices in Washington DC and Dubai. Dr. Vakhshouri has about two decades of experience of working in the energy industry with an extensive experience in global energy market studies, energy strategy, energy security and geopolitical risk. She has consulted numerous governments, public and private entities, and international organizations like IMF & World Bank. She is also member of the Energy Task Force of the Cyprus Climate Initiative which was launched and initiated by the President of the Republic of Cyprus. She is also Professor of Energy Security at the Institute of World Politics. Dr. Vakhshouri has been a keynote speaker at prestigious energy conferences including the World Energy Congress, Chatham House Middle East & Energy Conference, Platts Oil and Middle East conferences and the Global LNG Congress. She has also been a keynote speaker at Duke University, Sciences Po university in Paris and Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Vakhshouri is frequently quoted and has appeared on Bloomberg, the BBC, The Financial Times, Reuters, Platts, The Wall Street Journal, Energy Intelligence, Foreign Policy, The Washington Post and Voice of America. She is the author of The Marketing and Sale of Iranian Export Crude Oil since the Islamic Revolution. Dr. Vakhshouri has a PhD in Energy Security and Middle Eastern Studies. She has an MA in Business Management (International Marketing) and another MA in International Relations. She has been a Senior Energy Fellow at the Atlantic Council and at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. Dr. Vakhshouri has also experience of working in both public and private sectors of the Iranian energy industry.
About the lecture: With the pandemic receding in much of the world, government and business leaders are starting to think about the geopolitical and geoeconomic impact of the crisis. In this webinar, Dr. Glancy will discuss his assessment of how the international environment and great power relations will likely change over the next 2 to 5 years in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Participants in the session will also take away a framework for putting unfolding events into a better context going forward. About the Speaker: Dr. David Glancy, currently a Professor of Strategy and Statecraft at IWP, formerly served as an Associate with Booz Allen Hamilton, where he worked on education technology issues with National Intelligence University. Prior to joining NIU, Dr. Glancy served as an Assistant Professor (contractor) with the College of International Security Affairs (CISA) at National Defense University. Before being assigned to CISA, Dr. Glancy provided advice on strategic communications issues to a variety of government clients for Booz Allen Hamilton. Dr. David Glancy has also held positions at both the State Department and Defense Department. At the State Department, he served as a Senior Advisor for Political-Military Affairs and was responsible for handling a number of high-profile issues (coalition political-military efforts in Iraq, issues related to our global military posture, piracy off the coast of Somalia). At the Defense Department, Dr. Glancy was a policy analyst and advisor with the Office of the Secretary of Defense. During his time at the Pentagon, Dr. Glancy served as the Director of the Global War on Terrorism Communications Group and worked as a special assistant with the Eurasia policy office.
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