On March 11, 2022 at 12:00pm (EST) The Bay Atlantic University and the Global Policy Institute held a timely discussion titled “Will a Reborn NATO Contain Russia?” featuring US and European experts via Zoom.

The unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine demonstrated that the threat of massive economic sanctions did not deter Putin’s Russia. He went ahead and attacked a sovereign nation anyway. This is the first major war in Europe since 1945. Will this new reality of an aggressive Russia bent on retaking land lost after the demise of the Soviet Union cause a radical shift within the NATO Alliance? For years the European members of NATO neglected defense spending while enhancing their dependence on Russia for their oil and natural gas needs. But now, shocked by the attack against Ukraine, Germany, Europe’s most important economic power, declared that it will embrace a completely new course: much more money for defense, including the acquisition of US made state of the art fighter jets, and a determination to find alternatives to Russian energy supplies. Other NATO members seem to share this new attitude. Still, is this just the mood of the moment? Or are we witnessing a radical, lasting shift? Is NATO really determined to increase defense spending to a meaningful level, in order to recreate a serious deterrent aimed at discouraging further Russian aggression? Is the West really determined to contain Russia?

Panelists

Dan Gouré, PhD, Vice President, Lexington Institute

Dan Gouré, Ph.D., is a vice president at the public-policy research think tank Lexington Institute. Goure has a background in the public sector and U.S. federal government, most recently serving as a member of the 2001 Department of Defense Transition Team.

Prior to joining the Lexington Institute, Dr. Goure was the Deputy Director, International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. At CSIS, Dr. Goure was responsible for analyses of: U.S. national security policy, the future of conflict and warfare, the information revolution, counter-proliferation, and defense industrial management. From 2001-2007, Dr. Goure was an adjunct professor in graduate programs at the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown University, and an adjunct professor at National Defense University from 2002-2009 — teaching a Homeland Security course at both.

Dr. Goure holds master’s and Ph.D. degrees in international relations and Russian Studies from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in Government and History from Pomona College.

Ewald König, Founder of Berliner Korrespondentenbüro

Ewald König (bornin Vienna, Austria) is a European correspondent and analyst based in Berlin, Germany. He is the owner of the Berliner Korrespondentenbüro -­- International Media Projects, book author, moderator, TV host and commentator on foreign TV channels.

He has been a journalist for 45 years. He was the only correspondent who was accredited in both West and in East Germany and became eyewitness of the fall of the Berlin Wall. He wrote several books about this time. For five years he was chairman of the Federal Association of the Foreign Press (VAP) in Germany (500 correspondents reporting to media in 60 countries).

He was correspondent for an Austrian daily, then editor-­-in-­-chief and publisher of a pan­-European online medium. Since then, he has been editor-­-in-­-chief of the Berliner Korrespondentenbüro – International Media Projects, TV moderator, commentator in foreign (mainly Arabic) TV broadcasters and organizer of the so-called correspondents’ cafe (www.korrespondenten.cafe) with German and foreign politicians.

Michael Binyon, Senior Foreign Affairs Writer, The Times London

Michael Binyon has been an editorial writer, columnist and foreign correspondent for The Times (of London) since 1971. For 15 years he was based overseas, reporting from Moscow, Washington, Bonn and Brussels, before returning to London to be diplomatic editor in 1991 and becoming the main foreign editorial writer in 2000. He retired from the staff in 2009 but still writes for The Times and other publications and is a frequent broadcaster for the BBC and French, German, Canadian, Russian and Middle Eastern radio and television.

He published “Life in Russia” in 1983, has won two British journalism prizes and was awarded the OBE by the Queen in 2000.

Moderator

Paolo von Schirach, GPI President, and Chair Political Science and International Relations, Bay Atlantic University