World Affairs Council of Charleston presents
“Russia and the Baltic Countries”
When: Monday, December 11, 2017
5:15 pm – 8:00 pm
Where: The Citadel Alumni Center
69 Hagood Ave.
Charleston, SC 29403
Topic:
“Russia and the Baltic Countries: Anxieties mount as Putin steps up pressure and NATO and the U.S. deploy military forces.”
Description:
Beyond Russia’s annexation of the Crimea and subversion in Ukraine, its pressure on Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania is growing steadily with dangerous air tactics over the Baltic Sea and large-scale maneuvers close to their borders. Norway, Sweden, Finland and Poland are also very concerned. NATO has responded with deployments to the Baltic countries, including U.S. troops now stationed in Poland and Estonia. Moscow’s strategy and intentions are opaque. What is it up to? Where all this will lead is very uncertain.
Speaker:
Jon Gundersen – WACC member and former Acting U.S. Ambassador in 
Ukraine, Estonia, Iceland and Norway. Mr. Gundersen will review these developments, drawing on a historical and policy perspective reflecting many years experience as a diplomat in the Nordic region, as an arms control negotiator, and policy planner in the State Department.
Jon Gundersen was an Army officer in Vietnam. He opened the U.S. Embassy in Kiev; served in Moscow; was Political Adviser to the Special Operations Command; and Senior Advisor for Iraqi Reconstruction in Baghdad. He is currently Chair of Nordic Studies at the Foreign Service Institute in Washington and teaches at the Joint Special Operations University. Mr. Gundersen is a graduate of California Polytechnic State University.
-Submitted by Barbara Burgess