Annual KU security conference to focus on “Russia along NATO’s Borders”


LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Office of Graduate Military Studies, Center for Global and International Studies (CGIS), Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies (CREES) and Department of Political Science will host a half-day security conference April 15. The conference will be 2 p.m.-6 p.m. in Alderson Auditorium at the Kansas Union, and it will focus on “Russia along NATO’s Borders.”

Speakers at the event include Adrian Karatnycky, senior fellow, Atlantic Council’s Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center; Roger Kangas, dean, Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies; Mariya Omelicheva, associate professor, political science; Aric Toler, consultant, Bellingcat; David Trimbach, doctoral student, geography, and Thomas Wilhelm, director, Foreign Military Studies Office. The afternoon will feature a keynote address by Karatnycky on the conflict in Ukraine and its broader implications, as well as two panels, the first focused on several real or potential conflict zones and the second on the drivers of Russian security policy.

“CREES and CGIS, working together with the Office of Graduate Military Studies and Political Science, organize an annual conference where KU faculty and students come together with leaders in the military community to examine issues of national importance," said CREES Director Vitaly Chernetsky. "In the past, these conferences have focused on issues of migration, shifts in global power and the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, among other issues. This year, we are examining a number of potential conflict zones from NATO’s perspective, as well as the policies that underlie some of Russia’s actions in these areas.”

The conference is free and open to the public, and participants need not register to attend. Members of the military community at KU and Fort Leavenworth are especially welcome for this event, intended to bring together faculty, students and military leaders to discuss issues of national security.

Fri, 04/01/2016

author

Bart Redford

Media Contacts

Bart Redford

Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies

785-864-4248