Don't miss the annual World Russian Forum. The 2008 Forum will be held at the US Capitol in Washington D.C. on May 19-20. Please, visit the Russia House website to find out more about the forum and register for the event. Also see the extended post for the event agenda. Yours truly, Yuri Mamchur, will be a speaker on the panel "Russian Diaspora in the U.S and Its Role in Bolstering U.S. - Russian Relations."
"WORLD RUSSIAN FORUM 2008"
RUSSIA - USA
Towards Economic, Political and Military Alliance
May 19-20, 2008 Washington, DC
United States Capitol
Day 1, Monday, May 19
Hart Senate Office Building , Room 902
8.30 - 9.00 AM: Registration
9.00 - 9.15 AM: Welcoming Remarks by His Excellency Yuri Ushakov , Russian Ambassador to Washington
9.15 - 11.00 AM : Russian Economy and U.S. Russia Economic Cooperation
Laura Brank, Partner, Chadbourne & Parke
Vladimir Golovnev, Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation
Ruslan Grinberg, Director, Institute of Economics,Russian Academy of Sciences
Trevor Gunn, Director, International Relations, Medtronic, Inc.
Aleksander Lebedev, President, National Reserve Bank of Russian Federation
Aleksey Shishaev, Head of Economic Section, Russian Embassy
Charles Taylor, Former Member of Congress
Curt Weldon, Former Member of Congress
11.00 - 11.30 AM : Coffee Break
11.30 AM - 12.45 PM : World Security Issues: Iran Nuclear Program, Missile Defense, NATO Expansion
Gen. Vladimir Dvorkin, Institute of World Economy & International Relations
Robert Nurick, Monterey Institute of International Studies
Lt. Gen Henry A. "Trey" Obering III, Director of the Missile Defense Agency
John Steinbruner, Center for International and Security Studies, University of Maryland
1.00 - 2.00 PM : Lunch. Senator John McCain (Invited)
2.00 - 5.00 PM : U.S. – Russia Relations at Crossroads
Thomas Graham, former director of the Russian desk at NSC, presently with Kissinger
Andrew Kuchins, Director of Russian and Eurasian Programs, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Edward Lozansky, American University in Moscow
Robert Legvold, Professor of Political Science, Columbia University
Andranik Migranyan, Head of U.S. Division, Institute for Democracy and Cooperation
Sergei Rogov, Director, Institute of USA and Canada, Russian Academy of Sciences
Margarita Simonyan, Editor-in-Chief, Russia Today TV
6.30 - 9.30 PM : Reception at the Russian Embassy hosted by His Excellency Yuri Ushakov, Russian Ambassador to Washington
During the Day: Exhibition "Women in Art. Selections from the Kolodzei Art Foundation Collection of Russian and Eastern European Art"
Day 2, Tuesday May 20
George Washington University, 209 Phillips Hall, 801 22nd Street, NW
10.00 - 12.00 AM "Everything you wanted to know about doing business in Russia"
Maria Bourlatskaya, Lauder Institute at the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania
Dmitri Dubograev, International Legal Counsels
Natalia Lazareva, JSC Asset Management Company NEOFITOUS
Richard Robin, The George Washington University
Alexei Sidorov, American University in Moscow and Law Firm "Sidorov, Khokhlov, Uskov LLC"
Russian Cultural Center, 1825 Phelps Place, NW
2.00 - 3.15 PM : U.S. - Russia Science, Education, and Cultural Cooperation
Edward Burger, Eurasian Medical Education Program
Greg Guroff, President, Foundation for International Arts and Education
Norman Neureiter, Center for Science, Technology & Security Policy, American Association for the Advancement of Science
Carl Waltz, U.S. Astronaut
Valery Zaboristov, Institute of Bioenergy
3.30 - 5.00 PM : "Russian Diaspora in U.S and Its Role in Bolstering U.S. – Russian Relations"
Gennady Baryshnikov, International Union of Russian Compatriots
Greg Guroff, President, Foundation for International Arts and Education
Yuri Mamchur, Director - Real Russia Project, Discovery Institute
Nikolai Mikhailov, Foundation "Russkiy Mir"
Marina Soboleva, Congress of Russian Americans
Anatoly Sorokin, Deputy Head, Department of International Relations of the Moscow Government
5.00 - 7.00 PM Concluding Reception and Award Ceremony
Comments
Good luck.
They will start getting more serious when I'm invited to speak at such gatherings.
Bet!
Posted by: Michael Averko | May 16, 2008 5:34 AM
I dont really see the point of this as it wont change perception of how Washington or the West view Russia. They have a fixed perception that will never change and it isn't a good one.
Perhaps they should discuss how communism was installed in Russia through a foreign invasion before assessing the Russia psyche.
Its a well known fact that western Russian disporia hate Russia you only have to read webblogs of Russians who are US citizens. Counting on them to improve Russia/US relations would be a hugh trojan horse.
Posted by: james | May 16, 2008 5:38 PM
Did McCain show up?
He likely didn't since there was no apparent answer from him.
If so, the WRF wasted a slot to score a propaganda point, while not giving time to a different and more plausible perspective than McCain's.
Posted by: Michael Averko | May 16, 2008 9:45 PM
Last posted submission should've read: will McCain show up?
Russian-American views are diverse. Russian-Americans having a fondness for Russia have been muted over the decades. Not having them properly represented is a continued fault line.
How much in depth focus has there been on matter like the bigoted anti-Russian Captive Nations Committee, which succeeded in getting the Captive Nations Week passed?
When Russians make statements deemed as offensive to a given ethnic group, there's a good deal of highlighting. On the other hand, not much is comparatively said in opposition to when the reverse is true. Like remarks made in 1983 by the wife of the current Ukrainian president. There're a number of other examples as well. The individuals who are well acquainted with them should be represented at panels discussing the Russian-American community.
The "it's not what you know, but who you know saying" often applies to who does and doesn't get invited to speak at such gatherings.
Assuming Margarita Simonyan is there (as slated), it can perhaps suggested to her that RTTV would benefit from having some other analysts on her station.
Posted by: Michael Averko | May 17, 2008 12:09 AM
James:
At least allow it to put its best possible step forward.
I agree that it's a waste if that goal isn't realized, with the not so Russia friendly crowd either ignoring such an event or taking pot shots at it.
With all due respect, I think that your characterization of the Russian-American community isn't accurate. The White Russian community in America tends to be fond of Russia. The 1970s and after refusenik era emigres from the USSR are mixed. I know because of my frequent contacts with them.
Posted by: Michael Averko | May 17, 2008 9:03 PM
Will anyone bring up the realities of Kosovo and what the KLA has and is doing there. Kosovo is the crime centre of Europe run by terrorist who dominate every aspect of government there. Mabye the US should reflect on that before it lectures Russia on human rights and government power.
Posted by: james | May 19, 2008 9:13 AM
Michael,
"It's not what you know, but who you know" - instead of just complaining, why didn't you just show up and introduce yourself to Mrs. Simonyan?
Posted by: John | May 20, 2008 12:23 PM
"Mrs."
She was supposedly going to meet me awhile back. For whatever reason, this didn't materialize. Meantime, I make myself readily available as several relatively well placed folks know.
I saw part of this recent event on CSPAN. Its structure gave me the impression that it would be difficult for someone in the audience to have an extended conversation with her.
The onus isn't on me when it comes to what's wrong about the former Communist bloc coverage.
At that televised CSPAN event, she seemed very chummy with Andrew Kuchins. Among others, I don't think that Kuchins has been the best available alternative for more accurately understanding Russia. I sense that some people with Margarita Simonyan's authority are possibly misled at times.
I've the staisfaction of knowing that one of her former key level employeees met me and concluded that I'm a viable real deal option to consider.
Regretfully, there appears to be some form of intimidation in acknowledging this in the open.
James:
At a recent media gathering in Kazakhstan which was attended by Margarita and Yuri, Kosovo Albanian nationalist media and Western NGO funded Serb media outlet B92 were represented. There was no media representation from the disputed former Soviet territories. Likewise with a Serb view running opposite the B92 slant.
Posted by: Michael Averko | May 20, 2008 9:07 PM