to my left is the senior director of russia and eurasia and the national endowment for democracy.ternational affairs from boston university and she's been following the developments in the civil society many years and we are delighted to have here with us today -- have her with us today. this event is cohosted and cosponsored by the united states commission on international religious freedom which cap he represents your today. -- kathy represents here today. analyst senior policy -- she has really been an expert on not just the soviet situation this post soviet situation, but also the soviet era. kathy, thank you for joining us. next to kathy, we have our colleague who is research fellow -- hannah has been spending a lot of time in ukraine. she is a peace corps volunteer there. she's been following political and domestic development in russia, including a lot of research she has done on mr. putin himself as a personality and political leader. thank you for joining us. hannah, i want to start with you. you've been following the domestic political policies in putin since his last te

laura: a short time ago i spoke with the director of the russia and eurasia program at the center for strategic and international studies joins me -- here in washington. what does it say about president karimov that his death was so mysterious? turkey announced it first and finally state television. >> this isn't unusual. this notion of what i call the trojan dictator or you don't know if they are alive or dead for a while and people try to figure out if they have all the plans in place. we have seen that happen in other places. what i thought was striking was they did announce he was very ill over the weekend. i think presumably before he was dead. i think that shows they didn't think they had a plan in place and they were not going to keep his illness quiet. and it was serious enough that she probably would not participate in the anniversary celebration. laura: who succeeds him? not his daughter, under house arrest. >> he has another daughter who has been sending facebook messages of how heartbroken the family is and so forth. she is a very unlikely successor as well. we are looking

we talked to the president of the eurasia group about the implications of these travels. g-20, obama's trip to asia, how would you assess it? >> well, you know, the big question is how does the united states get better outcomes when its negotiating position globally is deteriorating? and obama, yes, toward the end of his term, that's part of it, but it's broader than that. china always makes it hard on the united states to get what it wants, especially in china's backyard, and that sparring is only getting more challenging. we saw it, obama leaving out of the bottom of his plane and all these things that make the american look weaker on the international stage than they have historically. i mean, this is not a united states that's showing up at the g-20 and setting down the rules and setting the agenda and getting what it wants. >> rose: is it simply a case of the united states losing that dominating factor or a realization that china is moving into that role? >> i think it's a little bit of both. i mean, there is no question that the trans-pacific partnership which you a

for more on the obstacles and opportunities have come we are joined by a latin american analyst at eurasia. she's based in london. thank you for joining us. explain the significance of this agreement and what is next for it to come into force. i think the peace deal comes in three main prongs. first is security. security has improved over the of ayear as a result cease-fire that fark has complied with. agreement would witht the security gains the level of violence related to this conflict. has to do with policymaking and this is quite important for market. the government has been delaying tax reforms to compensate for the revenue and it would allow the administration to redirect resources in areas that have been put on hold. reform tolow a tax compensate for the loss of oil revenue. joe: talk to us about the couldic ways getting this change the trajectory of columbia's economy guest:. with respect to the impact that going to have on the economy, it is less clear in the short term. government has been .pportunistic i more cautious about the short-term impact and i think going to be up 50% b

. >>> now a discussion with eurasia policy experts. they discuss the consequences of new anti-terrorism american ours civil and religious liberties. and the influence of these laws on the u.s. and europe. this is about 90 minutes. >> good morning. we're going to get started. thank you for joining us today oriole a friday. i'm the deputy director. those of you watching this event online, be sure to follow us. it is my pleasure to moderate this distinguished panel today on a really important set of laws that was passed in russia that unfortunately we haven't heard very much about in the american or western media. the atlantic council has been very engaged to highlight the increasingly repressive regime under president putin in russia, going from the closure of the civic space, the media space and also increasing repressions of human rights under putin today. to date we've hosted approximately 20, almost 20 events to highlight these issues on russia. we work very closely with what is considered the emerging or the consistent russian oppos

the senior director for russia and eurasia is to my left.e has a ph.d from boston university and developed a civil society state for many years and thank you for being here. next to him we have -- this event is co-hosted and co-sponsored by the national religious freedom association. kathy is part of the staff on international religious freedom as a senior policy analyst in 2003. she has been an expert on not just the administration but the soviet era and she has lived in many places across western and eastern europe doing during the tough times in the 1990's and before even. and then last about not least we have an our colleague who is a research study. she has been spending a lot of time in ukraine. she is a peace core volunteer there. she has done a lot of research on mr. putin himself as a personality and political leader. hannah, starting with you. you have done a great deal of work on this. ... >> anti- extremism and antiterrorism, can we go down to civil society. another form of free expression. my question to you, is this recent by t

he is the president of the lobal risk consultancy eurasia group. to have him back on the program. the trip to asia, how would you assess it? ian: the big question is how does the united states get outcomes when its negotiating position globally is deteriorating and obama, yes, towards the end of his term, that's part of it, but it's broader than that. china always makes it hard on the united states to get what t wants, especially in china's backyard and that sparring is get morgue challenging. we saw it. obama leaving ou negotiating position globally is deteriorating and obama,t of of his plane and sort of you could only take one journalist with you to a meeting and all of these things that make the look weaker on the international stage than they have historically. the g-20 itself, of course, was not look very much, but the dir bilateral meetings, the russians and the turks on the one hand having their bilaterals looking close, the americans also trying to work, curry turkey's favor, even if it throws the kurds under the bus, obama and putin with

the managing director for the eurasia group is with us. what is he trying to do today?er of things. the first is a recognition that the member states are divided in the aftermath of brexit, and he sees an opportunity to advance the commission off agenda and interest, which is to push for federal response to brexit. the, i don't think commission with mind and the u.k. ended up with a heart brexit, which is a clear signal that you shouldn't play with populism, because if you do, the consequences will be material. guy: where does the balance of power lie at the moment? you look to the germans and get the sense that is not their objective, but nevertheless the institutions of the european union sitting there at number are bothe commission, very hostile to the u.k. >> i agree. i think the commission definitely has a lot of influence over the brexit negotiation. if you talk to european councils, member states, they think they will run the negotiations, that this will be a merkel and may show, and much of the discussion will happen at that level. that is what they want to see

the court will note our moderation to defend against east asia and eurasia. the proposed recently to build an incredible wall and have been paid for it. that they refuse, if it's not our fault. now petitioner says you should be able to sue the officials who interrogated him for damages citing x partake merriment. x partakemarrinan, that one show of group judicial force assisted by the heroic lincoln . yes, lincoln arrested and exiled operation. yes, he shut down newspapers. but like president freeman, he conceded these temperatures would be temporary. out by the reflecting pool that each year attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors and pigeons, what does he imagine that he sees? that pawnee memorial? number he stands with lincoln and by the officers who acted on the authority of the order issued in the constitutional tradition he forged so allow me to close now in the words of shakespeare. when this shall see uprising in our throne, his season will sit blushing in his face, not able to endure the site of day, the self provided tremble at his skin or to put

would like to introduce a distinguished panel to to my left does the senior director for russia and eurasia at the national endowment for democracy. she has a ph.d. in international affairs from boston university and she's been following developments in the civil society space for many years so it's a delight to have her with us today. next to murial we have kathy. the religious freedom which kathy represents here today. kathy joined the commission on international religious freedom as a senior policy analyst inas 2003. she has really been an expert on not just the soviet situation but the soviet era as she has been in many places across western europe during some of those most tumultuous times, the 1990s and even before. kathy thank you for joining us. next to kathy lee have our colleague who is a research fellow at the hudson institute and hanna has been spending a lot of time in ukraine through the peace corps volunteer there but has been following the political domestic development in russia today very closely including a lot of research she has done on mr. putin himself ar a political

>> russia is eurasia.so it will always perhaps be, you know, and they kind of -- thank you. >> it is a little bit of a slope between the two. is -- i think it is a hope that a lot of people have. you go to russia. cities,arly the larger it does feel more open than it would have in 1989. there has been a change in the everyday lives of people. they have been much freer now for 25-some years. well succeed in closing that space again, but i have a hard time believing it will ever go away among that generation of people who came of age during perestroika and glasnost. off and die, i have a hard time thinking the country will ever go all the way back to the 1930's. but the symptoms are there. bes something we should extremely worried about. russia -- kaplan: russia is the most religiously diverse and ethnically diverse country in the world, and instead of making the most of this, it doesn't, as we have been discussing. you abouting to ask two different russian dissidents. ov, wholexandra yan published a book ca

>> russia is eurasia so it will also be in a -- >> thank you. it is split between the two. i don't think any of us have a crystal ball to say what is going to happen. when you go to the larger cities >> it was year after the killing in moscow and it was decided that no one should speak because we shouldn't be politicized. there was a small group of people and an exhibit of photographs and it was starting to rain and we said we are not going to politicize. there is the rain starting and people are standing around awkwardly. it was mostly people that worked with her and her friends. at one point there is an older gentlemen with an umbrella and a younger man is helping him. he takes off his raincoat and he is wearing a vest and he starts to pray. and he turned around to us and said what is this faith that you are supposed to have? what is it? and it is [speaking in native tongue]sk f. we recognize both of them. admiral mike mullein who is of course the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. and on my right, former senator sam nun who is the chief executive officer of th

panel members, cia's deputy assistant director, europe and eurasia peter clement. former director and cia director, john hopkins, sias, john mclaughlin. georgetown professor and former cia and national security council east asia expert dennis wilder. please welcome them to the stage. [ applause ] >> well, good morning, everybody. we're going to have interactivity later, want to make sure we're here and ready to go. i'm frank sesno. it's a tremendous pleasure and challenge to address this topic, rivalry, a thing of the past, we'll come around with microphones to take your questions. i would ask you when we do that if you're in the middle move to the aisles, someone will have a microphone. if you can, ask your question and make it as succinct as possible so we can cover as much terrain as possible. so our discussion here today resolves around this notion of great power rivalries, which we spend a lot of time historic context in institutions as where you are. we want to look at a couple of key questions. how do we look at the potential for great powers and great power

>> i'll say russia, eurasia. so it will always perhaps be, you know, in a kind of -- >> thank you. >> it is a little bit split between the two. i don't think any of us have a crystal ball to say when what is going to happen, but it's, i think, a hope that a lot of people have when you go to russia, you go to particularly some of the larger cities, it does feel much more open than it would have in, say, 1989. there has been a change, and the everyday lives of people have been much freer now for 25-some years. and it's perhaps the putin regime will succeed in closing that space again, but i have a hard time believing it will ever completely go away unless that generation of people who came of age during -- until they move off and die, i have a hard time thinking that the country will ever completely go all the way back to the 1930s. but the fact that those symptoms are there is something that i think we should be extremely worried about. >> russia is the most ethnically diverse and religiously diverse country in th