Ukraine, Russia, and the Long Shadow of Nuclear Weapons

Emma Belcher, president of Ploughshares Fund, joins a national panel of experts for a vital look at the future of nuclear security policy at a time when the United States, Russia, and other nations continue to maintain enough nuclear weapons to destroy life on earth.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine emphasizes the ever-present threat of nuclear war, raising urgent questions:

• Did the U.S. possession of weapons utterly fail to deter Russian aggression?
• Did Russia’s possession of nuclear weapons embolden it to invade Ukraine, a nation that gave up nuclear weapons at the end of the Cold War?
• What is the wisdom and what are the risks of continuing to maintain large numbers of nuclear weapons in a world marked by growing authoritarianism in Russia, China, and elsewhere?
• What are the implications of the crisis in Ukraine for the global movement to abolish nuclear weapons?

Please join us for this virtual conversation. Register now!

Introduction

Peter Katzenstein, Walter S. Carpenter Jr. Professor of International Studies, Director, Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, Cornell University

Panelists
Fiona Cunningham, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania

Mariana Budjeryn, Senior Research Associate, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Pavel Podvig, Senior Researcher, United Nations Institute For Disarmament Research 

Moderator
Emma Belcher, President, Ploughshares Fund

***

Hosted by the Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, part of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, with additional support from Einaudi's Institute for European Studies and the Institute of Politics and Global Affairs. The event is part of the Einaudi Center's Democratic Threats and Resilience research priority.