NATO Expansion: An Idea Whose Time Has Gone?
The Ukrainian government has issued a new request for an Action Plan leading to NATO membership, even as the situation on the ground between Ukrainian and Russian-backed forces in eastern Ukraine has deteriorated badly, as have U.S.-Russian relations. This panel will examine the wisdom of further NATO expansion, ask what should be the correct role of NATO in defending U.S. and European security, and whether NATO ambitions and America’s military role in Europe need to be scaled back. The discussion will take place on Tuesday, May 11, at 1 pm ET, and will feature former U.S. Ambassador Jack F. Matlock, former British Ambassador Sir Rodric Quentin Braithwaite, and author and former U.S. Air Force Lt. Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski. Quincy Institute Senior Research Fellow Anatol Lieven will moderate.
Panelists
Jack F. Matlock
Ambassador Jack F. Matlock joined the US Foreign Service in 1955 and served among other places in Austria, the USSR and Czechoslovakia. From 1971 to 1974 he was Director of Soviet Affairs at the State Department, and from 1983 to 1986 as Special Assistant to the President on European and Russian Affairs at the National Security Council. From 1987 to 1991 he was US ambassador in Moscow. After retiring from the Foreign Service, he was Professor of the Practice of International Diplomacy at Columbia University and George F. Kennan Professor at Princeton. He is author among other works of Autopsy on an Empire: The American Ambassador’s Account of the Collapse of the Soviet Union; and Superpower Illusions: How myths and false ideologies led America astray, and how to return to reality.
Karen Kwiatkowski
Karen Kwiatkowski grew up in western North Carolina. She joined the U.S. Air Force in 1983 and served tours in Alaska, Massachusetts, Spain and Italy. She later served in communications and political military analysis at the National Security Agency and Pentagon, retiring after 20 years as a Lt Colonel. While at the Pentagon, she wrote two books relating to air power and US policy in Sub-Saharan Africa. Since her retirement, she has spoken out against an interventionist foreign policy and written numerous essays and articles, most of which are available at lewrockwell.com. She is currently a member of the Eisenhower Media Network, and has been featured in several documentaries including the award-winning, Why We Fight. She holds advanced degrees from Harvard University, the University of Alaska and a Ph.D. from Catholic University in world politics.
Sir Rodric Quentin Braithwaite
Sir Rodric Quentin Braithwaite, Grand Cross of St Michael and St George, is a British diplomat and author, who served in Italy, Indonesia, Poland and the USSR. From 1988 to 1992 he was British ambassador in Moscow. From 1992 to 1993 he chaired the British Joint Intelligence Committee. Sir Rodric is author of several books including the memoir Across the Moscow River: the World Turned Upside Down, Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan, 1979–8; and Armageddon and Paranoia: The Nuclear Confrontation.
Anatol Lieven (Moderator)
Anatol Lieven is senior research fellow on Russia and Europe at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He was formerly a professor at Georgetown University in Qatar and in the War Studies Department of King’s College London. He is a member of the academic board of the Valdai discussion club in Russia, and a member of the advisory committee of the South Asia Department of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He holds a BA and PhD from Cambridge University in England.