Michael McFaul Russia: From Cold War to Hot Peace

While the Cold War may have ended in 1991, Michael McFaul, former US Ambassador to Russia, says that it really just transitioned to a “hot peace”. McFaul, one of America’s top experts on post-Soviet Russia, will speak about the turbulent past and future of the US-Russia relationship at a LAWAC dinner on Thursday, May 24. McFaul, who was President Obama’s adviser on Russian Affairs before he served as Ambassador in Moscow from 2012-14, will talk about the character and the goals of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. He will discuss the allegations that the Kremlin was behind the nerve agent attacks on a former Russian spy and his daughter in England. He will also address the most recent updates in the special investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 US election, including whether US sanctions will have any effect on the country. He will also discuss the war that is still waging in Ukraine, four years after Russia invaded.

Read a review of McFaul’s latest book From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin’s Russia.

Michael McFaul is Professor of Political Science and a Director at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University.  He joined the Stanford faculty in 1995. He is also an analyst for NBC News and a contributing columnist to The Washington Post. In 1994 he was a founder of the Moscow Carnegie Center, a Russia-based think tank that is affiliated with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington DC.  McFaul earned his BA and MA in Stanford, and spent time studying Russian as a student in the 1980’s.  He was a Rhodes Scholar, and earned his DPhil in international relations from St John’s College at Oxford in 1991.

Please reserve no later than 12:00 pm on Monday, May 21. Cancellations must be made by 12:00 pm on Monday, May 21 in order to receive a refund.