Event Description:
NYU-SPS Center for Global Affairs Initiative for the Study of Emerging Threats
Modern World – Modern Threats? Responses to Hybrid Aggression
Toomas Ilves, President of the Republic of Estonia, in conversation with Mark Galeotti, director of the Initiative for the Study of Emerging Threats at the NYU-SPS Center for Global Affairs. Introduction by Dennis Di Lorenzo, Harvey J. Stedman Dean of the NYU School of Professional Studies.
Monday September 28, 2014
5:30-7pm
Location: SUNY School of Optometry Auditorium, 33 West 42nd Street
ISET
In an age of cyberterrorism and human trafficking, Russia’s “little green men” in Crimea and the black-flag legions of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, it is clear that the security challenges facing the world are increasingly complex and varied. To this end, the Center for Global Affairs at NYU’s School of Professional Studies has established the Initiative for the Study of Emerging Threats (ISET). Led by Dr Mark Galeotti, a globally-recognized expert in transnational crime, non-conventional conflict and Russian security affairs, it brings together research by faculty, students, and affiliates of the program to understand and predict non-traditional and new security threats and to explore responses to the challenge.
To launch ISET, the Center for Global Affairs and NYU School of Professional Studies are honored to welcome Toomas Hendrik Ilves, President of the Republic of Estonia and a noted expert and commentator in a range of fields, from cyber-security and e-government to trans-Atlantic relations and Russia’s policies towards NATO and the Baltic.
Modern World – Modern Threats? Responses to Hybrid Aggression
A conversation with President Toomas Ilves
We live in times where creating and maintaining a competitive, prosperous and secure Europe and trans-Atlantic space faces challenges not only in the military field, but also on a number of other fronts. We have ISIS or Daesh at the Eastern end of the Mediterranean, we have a refugee crisis emanating from North Africa, and economic and political crises in Europe. Any one of these issues separately would be daunting. But in addition we see, a quarter century after what we thought was the end of the cold war, a revanchist and revisionist Russia that has opted out of the global and European security arrangements. As opposed to the annus mirabilis 25 years ago that gave Eastern Europe the chance to opt for freedom and democracy, the year 2014 was an annus horribilis. Russia's aggression in Ukraine marked a paradigm shift, the end of trust in the post-Cold War order.
The transatlantic community needs to answer a number of crucial questions: What are the new challenges Europe and the world are facing? How can Europe best tackle these threats? How to respond to hybrid aggression? Today, it is once again very important to reaffirm the transatlantic bond and the values that underpin it as a basis for articulating a clear vision and strategy for the future.
Speaker’s Biography
Toomas Hendrik Ilves was born on December 26, 1953, to an Estonian family living in Stockholm, Sweden. He was educated in the United States – he graduated from Columbia University and received his Master’s degree in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1984 he moved to Europe, to work at the office of Radio Free Europe in Germany, first as a researcher and foreign policy analyst and later as the Head of the Estonian Desk.
From 1993 to 1996 Toomas Hendrik Ilves served in Washington as the Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia to the United States of America and Canada. From 1996 to 1998, he was Minister of Foreign Affairs. After a brief period as Chairman of the North Atlantic Institute in 1998, he was again appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, serving until 2002.
From 2002 to 2004, Mr. Ilves was a Member of the Estonian Parliament; in 2004 he was elected a Member of the European Parliament, where he was vice-president of the Foreign Affairs Committee. As a MEP, he initiated the Baltic Sea Strategy that later was implemented as official regional policy of the European Union.
Toomas Hendrik Ilves was elected President of the Republic of Estonia in 2006 and was re-elected for a second term in office in 2011.
President Ilves has published many essays and articles in Estonian and English on numerous topics ranging from Estonian language, history and literature to global foreign and security policy and cyber security. His books include essay collections in Estonian, Finnish, Latvian, Hungarian and Russian. He has also served as Chairman of the EU Task Force on eHealth from 2011 to 2012, and since November 2012, at the invitation of the European Commission, he became Chairman of the European Cloud Partnership Steering Board.
Because our events are offered free of charge, seats are made available until we reach capacity; after that point, we can no longer accommodate pre-registered guests.
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