Vladimir Putin — president of Russia during 2000-2008 and again from 2012 to the present — has been a controversial and contentious figure on many fronts. Dr. Norman Pereira will focus on his foreign policies; in particular Putin’s relations with NATO and the United States, the annexation of Crimea and support for pro-Russian insurgents in the Donbas, and the intervention in the Syrian civil war.

Who is Putin and what are his goals? What approach should the West adopt in combatting and/or influencing him? Is he an existential threat to the vital interests of the West and, if so, in what ways?

Speaker’s Biography
Dr. Norman Pereira, Professor Emeritus of Russian Studies and History, Dalhousie University, is one of Canada’s leading authorities on Putin’s Russia.

After completing graduate studies in Russian history at the University of California, Berkeley (during the halcyon days of the Free Speech Movement), Dr. Pereira taught for four years at Middlebury College before coming to Dalhousie in 1974. Shortly thereafter he founded the Intensive Russian Programme, which for the first time sent Canadian undergraduate students from Dalhousie and other universities to study Russian language and culture during a semester in Moscow or Leningrad/St. Petersburg. He has visited Russia on 27 occasions, starting with the full academic year 1968-69.

Date and Time
Tuesday May 24, 2016
12:00pm to 2:00pm

Venue
Dalhousie University Club
Alumni Room
1 Alumni Crescent
Halifax, NS  B3H 4J1

Registration
CIC Member ………………$10.00
CIC Student Member ………Free
Non Member……………….$15.00

Event Contact
Paul Bennett | (902)233-2414 | director@schoolhouseconsulting.ca