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Off to a New Start?
George W. Bush Goes to Europe: A New Atlantic Initiative Briefing
11:00 a.m.–noon

Officials in Washington and European capitals are now speaking of one another in less acrid terms than they did a year ago, but new divisions over such issues as the Iranian nuclear program and Brussels's plan to end the arms embargo on China may reignite tensions. On February 22, President George W. Bush will meet with NATO and European Union leaders in Brussels before embarking on a visit to other countries. Will his trip set the transatlantic alliance on a new course? This and other questions will be the subject of the New Atlantic Initiative briefing. Participants include Klaus Peter Gottwald, deputy chief of mission at the German Embassy; Thomas Donnelly, resident fellow at AEI; Simon Serfaty, director of European Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; and Adrian Wooldridge, Washington correspondent, The Economist. Radek Sikorski, the New Atlantic Initiative's executive director, will moderate.

U.S. Policy toward Putin's Russia: Time for a Change?
Noon–1:30 p.m.

On February 24, George W. Bush will travel to Slovakia for a summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Although President Bush forged a strong personal relationship with Putin during his first term, many critics now charge that Washington faces an increasingly erratic and unstable counterpart in the Kremlin that is pursuing a range of political, economic, and foreign policies at odds with U.S. interests.

Is it time for the Bush administration to rethink its Russia policy? What should be the strategic priorities of the relationship with Moscow over the next four years, and beyond? Can Washington stand up to Putin’s rising authoritarianism, while still cooperating with the Kremlin on counterterrorism, nonproliferation, and energy security? 

These and other questions will be the subject of an AEI panel discussion. Participants include Fiona Hill, senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution; Michael McFaul, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution; Eugene B. Rumer, senior fellow at National Defense University’s Institute for National Strategic Studies; and Nikolai Zlobin, director of Russian and Asian programs at the Center for Defense Information. Leon Aron, director of Russian studies at AEI, will moderate.