The U.S. and Russia have been holding high-level talks over Ukraine and Moscow’s proposal to refashion post-cold war security arrangements that have been in place for the past quarter century. While meetings between American and Russian diplomats are welcome, we might also recognize that President Biden’s pursuit of “stability and predictability” with Russia may find more success if he embraces the idea of “strategic empathy.”

In a recent article for Responsible Statecraft, American Committee for US-Russia Accord (ACURA) Board Members Katrina vanden Heuvel and James Carden write that such a course “simply requires that the President and his national security team ask themselves: How might they react if the military and economic pressure the U.S. routinely applies against designated adversaries was aimed in our direction?” In a panel co-sponsored by the Quincy Institute and ACURA, we will explore how the Biden team might scale back the escalatory approach and replace it with some simple strategic empathy. Joining us will be Gov. Jerry Brown, author and columnist Robert Wright, and Professor Nicolai Petro. Katrina vanden Heuvel will moderate.