August 18^th, 2020

2:00pm – 3:00pm (EST)

Zoom Webinar

Read Event Summary Here

Since the end of the Cold War, American-Russian relations have waxed and waned, depending on the administration in Washington, following a pattern of a ‘reset’ and then decline with each successive presidency. Although President Trump sought better relations with Russia, the bilateral relationship has been difficult due to a number of security and geopolitical issues. Strategic competition has been accompanied by assessments and allegations about continued Russian interference in US domestic politics. Nowhere is the continued great power rivalry between the U.S. and Russia more evident than in the Middle Eastern theater, including Syria and Libya. The SETA Foundation at Washington DC is pleased to host a webinar discussion on the future of US-Russia relations and its impact on the Middle East.

Register Here

Speakers Angela Stent, Director, Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies, Georgetown University Mark Katz, Professor of Government and Politics, George Mason University and Nonresident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council Moderator Kilic B. Kanat, Research Director, The SETA Foundation at Washington DC   Bios Angela Stent is Director of the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies and Professor of Government and Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She is also a Senior Fellow (non-resident) at the Brookings Institution and co-chairs its Hewett Forum on Post-Soviet Affairs. During the academic year 2015-2016 she is a fellow at the Transatlantic Academy of the German Marshall Fund. From 2004-2006 she served as National Intelligence Officer for Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council. From 1999 to 2001, she served in the Office of Policy Planning at the U.S. Department of State. Stent’s academic work focuses on the triangular political and economic relationship between the United Sates, Russia and Europe. Mark Katz is a professor of government and politics at George Mason University. He earned a B.A. in international relations from the University of California at Riverside in 1976, an M.A. in international relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in 1978, and a Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1982. During 2017, he was a visiting scholar first at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington (January-March), and then at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs in Helsinki (April-September). During 2018, he was a Fulbright Scholar at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London (January-March), and was then the 2018 Sir William Luce Fellow at Durham University in the UK (April-June). In February 2019, he was appointed a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. Kilic B. Kanat Kilic Bugra Kanat is the Research Director at the SETA Foundation at Washington DC. He is also Assistant Professor of Political Science at Penn State University, Erie. Dr. Kanat received his PhD in Political Science from Syracuse University; a Master’s in Political Science from Syracuse University; a Master’s in International Affairs from Marquette University. Dr. Kanat’s writings have appeared in Foreign Policy, Insight Turkey, The Diplomat, Middle East Policy, Arab Studies Quarterly, Mediterranean Quarterly, Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, and Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. He is a columnist at Daily Sabah. He is the author of A Tale of Four Augusts: Obama’s Syria Policy.