With its Russia policy "reset," the Obama administration is increasingly turning its attention to the former Soviet states of Eurasia. Last month in New York, two of President Obama’s handful of bilateral meetings during the U.N. General Assembly were with his counterparts from Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan. Earlier in the summer, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Ukraine and the three states of the South Caucasus. And a heads-of-state summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is set to take place in early December in Kazakhstan.
Despite the diplomatic flurry, questions linger about U.S. strategy in the region. Following an initial focus on ensuring the Eurasian states’ independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the past decade saw U.S. policy toward these countries devolve, becoming mired in outright U.S-Russia strategic competition. Although that competitive dynamic has diminished significantly over the past year and a half, a coherent alternative—that is, a clear articulation of U.S. interests, capacities, and policy objectives in the region—remains elusive. Please join the Center for American Progress for an event featuring leading experts and former U.S. government officials to discuss this important set of issues. The event builds on a recent article for Foreign Affairs by Charap and Petersen entitled, "Reimagining Eurasia."
Introduction by:
Dr. Samuel Charap, Associate Director for Russia and Eurasia, Center for American Progress
Moderated by:
Fred Hiatt, Editorial Page Editor, The Washington Post
Featured panelists:
Alexandros Petersen, Senior Fellow, Eurasia Center, Atlantic Council
Dr. Fiona Hill, Director and Senior Fellow, Center on the United States and Europe, Brookings Institution and former National Intelligence Officer for Russia and Eurasia
The Hon. William Courtney, Former U.S. Ambassador to Georgia and Kazakhstan