Sunday, November 29, 2015

Roundtable Discussion of Russia's War on Terror

On Monday, November 16, Dr. Michael Slobodchikoff and Dr. Tomasz Pudlocki led a roundtable discussion on Russia’s War on Terror, as part of the History and Political Science Speaker Series.  The event was well attended, as Drs. Slobodchikoff and Pudlocki spoke to over 100 people in the audience. 



Dr. Slobodchikoff spoke about Syria’s civil war and how ISIL factors into the problems in Syria, as it is the major opposition faction in Syria.  He also spoke about Russia’s interests in Syria as well as the surrounding Middle Eastern region.  These interests include preventing extremism and terrorism from spreading to Russia, protecting long-time allies, protecting military bases, protecting business interests, among many others. 



Dr. Slobodchikoff also spoke about recent terrorist activity.  Russian Flight 9268 crashed en route to St. Petersburg, Russia from Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt.  ISIL took credit for the crash, which Russia responded to by cancelling all flights to and from Egypt.  He also spoke about the recent attacks on Paris, France.  ISIL has also claimed credit for the bombings and death of over 100 people in these attacks. 



Dr. Pudlocki spoke about the Syrian crisis from the perspective of Central Europe.  He discussed the current refugee crisis as a result of the Syrian civil war, economic downturn, and terrorist activity.  He commented on how central Europe has been responding to the influx of refugees and the struggles faced by these refugees fleeing terror in their home countries. 



The Department of History and Political Science would like to thank Dr. Slobodchikoff and Dr. Pudlocki for an engaging roundtable on this very relevant topic.  We also thank the Division of Arts and Sciences for co-sponsoring the event.  

For more information on this roundtable discussion, you can see press coverage of the event at the links provided below.  The History and Political Science Department was happy to see some of our students featured in the reports!  

1 comment:

Averill said...

Really great event, H&P. The Q&A was particularly engaging.

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