While Professor Caitlin Talmadge will have to be rescheduled, soon she and we hope, for her Casual Conversation about the geopolitics of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we have the privilege of Russian/Putin expert Professor Robert O. Freedman as a guest for a Casual Conversation on Tuesday, May 24 at 5 pm Eastern Time (US), which is sponsored by the Jewish Culture Group. Add to Professors Freedman and Talmadge, Dartmouth Professor Brooke Harrington, an expert on the oligarchs who we anticipate will join us toward the end of this June. Two-thirds of this up-to-minute, in-depth analysis of the breaking news in Europe is brought to you courtesy of our own Tex Talmadge, father of Caitlin and sponsor of Brooke. The other third of our Troika, Professor Freedman, comes to us courtesy of his friend and neighbor Sandy Benney, who was first with us for Dr. Paul Offit’s Casual Conversation, Sandy being a member, as is Arthur, of the Baltimore County shul where Dr. Offit was Bar Mitzvah 57 years ago.
Sandy sent the following description:
Professor Dr. Robert O. Freedman
Dr. Robert O. Freedman is a Peggy Meyerhoff Pearlstone Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Baltimore Hebrew University, and is a Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University where he teaches courses on the Middle East and on Russian Foreign Policy.
He is the author of five books on Soviet and Russian foreign policy; the editor of 14 books on The Soviet Union/Russia, Israel and the Middle East.
As past president of the Association for Israel Studies, Dr. Freedman has served as a commentator on NPR, BBC and Voice of America, and is a consultant to the US State Department and the CIA.
Following the 9/11 terrorists attacks, he participated as the American representative in three conferences in Europe with European political leaders and scholars who dealt with the problem of improving UA-European cooperation in the Middle East.
He has lectured to the Israeli Defense Ministry and the Israeli Foreign Ministry, and regularly appears on the London-based Arab TV station.
He has held talks with Palestinian Authority Presidents Yasser Arafat and Mahoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Ministers Rabin and Sharon as well as other leaders and diplomats.
Dr. Freedman received his BA from University of PA in Diplomatic History and his MA and PhD from Columbia in the field of International Relations.
Here is his current page at Johns Hopkins University: https://politicalscience.jhu.edu/directory/robert-freedman/ .
Here is the announcement for his appearance at the Baltimore Council of Foreign Affairs in 2017: https://www.bcfausa.org/professor-robert-o-freedman . In Daniel Nozick’s article on that appearance, the Baltimore Jewish Times reported: “In his remarks, Freedman was skeptical of the benefit of Russian cooperation in conflicts and the United States’ ability to trust Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.”
Please join us for this Casual Conversation. We urge you to join us for all three concerning Russia and Ukraine, and perhaps you can then issue yourself a certificate reflecting your new status as an expert on Putin’s Russia, artwork optional. If you do want to be part of this important discussion, please send an email confirming your attendance to Arthur at arthur.fertgenson@ansalaw.com by the close of business the Friday before, May 20.
Bruce Alpert, Chair, Jewish Culture Group, and Arthur Fergenson, Mini-Reunions Chair