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From Vilnius to Washington D.C.: NATO Summits and the future of Ukraine

Webinar · 23.01.2024 16:00 - 17:00

TRANSATLANTIC CURRENTS
From Vilnius to Washington DC: NATO Summits and the future of Ukraine

Tuesday, 23 January, 2024 at 16:00-17:00 EET/15:00-16:00 CET

At the Summit in Vilnius, NATO announced that Ukraine was on an expedited path to membership, although it did not relieve the country from meeting the criteria of a Membership Action Plan. The upcoming Washington Summit in July 2024 under the Biden Administration may be a platform to advance Ukraine’s NATO integration with a formal invitation to begin accession talks. Yet, since the Vilnius Summit, new packages of security assistance from key allies for Ukraine’s battle against Russia have stalled. In the US, requests for Supplemental funding for Ukraine are tied up with assistance to Israel and additional funding for US border security. Recent US polls indicate that a slim majority of Americans continue to support providing assistance to Ukraine, but opinions vary greatly between the major parties. Questions are arising on both sides of the Atlantic on Ukraine’s ability to sustain a counteroffensive and whether to encourage Ukraine to negotiate with Russia to end the conflict.

In this webinar to discuss all these elements is General (and Ambassador) Douglas Lute, former US Ambassador to NATO, Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan and Director of Operations on the Joint Staff. Currently, he is the Chair of the International and Defense Practices, BGR Group, the CEO of Cambridge Global Advisors, LLC and the Distinguished Chair of Social Sciences at the US Military Academy at West Point.

Programme

Opening words: Charly Salonius-Pasternak , Leading Researcher, FIIA

Speaker: General Doug Lute , former US Ambassador to NATO

Chair: Deborah McCarthy , Ambassador, Non-Resident Fellow, FIIA

Register to follow the webinar here .

Talare

opening words

Charly Salonius-Pasternak

Leading Researcher, FIIA

Charly Salonius-Pasternak is a Leading Researcher at FIIA and leads the work of the Center on US Politics and Power (CUSPP). His work at FIIA focuses on international security issues, especially Nordic and transatlantic security (including NATO), as well as U.S. foreign and defence policy. Recently he has focused on Finnish-Swedish defence cooperation and the evolution of US and NATO alliance reassurance approaches in light of the changed regional security situation. In 2017, he was a visiting research fellow at the Changing Character of War programme at Pembroke College (Oxford University), where he studied the hybridization of warfare and the impact of the Information Age on the character of war.

keynote

Doug Lute

former US Ambassador to NATO

Douglas Lute is the Chair of the International and Defense Practices at BGR Group. Over his long, distinguished career in the U.S. military and as a senior White House advisor and diplomat, Ambassador Lute has built extensive relationships with national security, diplomatic and military leaders in America and around the world.

Ambassador Lute spent six years in the White House during two administrations, including the entire first term of the Obama-Biden Administration where he served as Coordinator for South Asia. During the second Obama-Biden term, he was U.S. Ambassador to NATO where he focused on the 30-nation alliance’s responses to new security challenges in Europe and the Middle East. He was Director of Operations on the Joint Staff overseeing U.S. military operations worldwide. He also was Director of Operations at U.S. Central Command in the Middle East, had several tours as a NATO commander, and served in combat during Operation Desert Storm.

chair

Deborah McCarthy

Non-resident fellow, fiia

Ambassador (ret) Deborah A. McCarthy is an expert on U.S. foreign and national security policy. Currently, she is the Senior Advisor on U.S. Engagement in the UN Ad Hoc Committee on Cybercrime in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement at the U.S. Department of State. She is also a non-resident Fellow at the Atlantic Council Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. Recently, she was a Senior Fellow at Harvard University.

In her diplomatic career, she served as the U.S. Ambassador to Lithuania (2013-2016), Deputy Ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in Greece and at the U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua. In Washington, she was the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Narcotics and Law Enforcement, Senior Advisor for Counter Terrorism and Special Coordinator for Venezuela. Other diplomatic postings include Consul General Montreal, Economic Counselor U.S. Embassy Paris, Financial Economist U.S. Embassy Rome and assignments in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Ms. McCarthy received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia and a joint M.S. in Economics and Foreign Service from Georgetown University. She serves on the Boards of the Academy of Diplomacy and of the Command and General Staff College Foundation. She is a member of the Advisory Council for the MSFS Program at Georgetown University.