Webinar Series:
The Vernacular of a Shifting World Order
Photo by Tori Nefores on Unsplash
2026 Russia & America
Russians and Americans building durable relationships within and without autocracy
This webinar series examines similarities and differences between the two nations today with an eye to the future. How is each nation responding to the other and how, amidst actions that yield division and uncertainty, can productive cross-border friendship continue and be reinforced to support a positive future?
From the fields of literature, arts, language, science, education, technology, conservation, mathematics, psychology, healthcare and philosophy, this citizen diplomacy encourages and supports a collaborative and kind world. Join us as we explore how this is done!
Ms. Bouis, who is the English translator of Mr. Lebedev’s work, and Mr. Lebedev will discuss Mr. Lebedev’s recent novel, The Lady of the Mine, that explores the dreaded history of a mine in Ukraine just as the war rains down. As a description of the novel states, “Lebedev, who has won international praise for his soul-searching prose and unflinching examination of history's evils, shines light on the fault line where Nazism met Soviet communism, evolving into the new fascism of today's Russia.”
Panelists
Sergei Lebedev
Sergei Sergeevich Lebedev is a Russian émigré writer, based in Berlin. He cites John le Carré’s books as an important influence on his fiction books.
Antonina Bouis
Antonina Bouis is a respected and sought after translator of Russian literature into English. She is a Director of Track Two: An Institute for Citizen Diplomacy and was director of George Soros’ initiative in the former Soviet Union.
Noted Russian television personality and renowned economist and political scientist, Ekaterina Schulmann, will discuss why autocracy (and facism) is taking hold in many regions today and why democracy seems to be struggling. Their focus will be on Russia, though Prof. Schulmann's analyses go far beyond her native land. They will discuss how democracy might be supported and even revived. Come with your questions.
Panelists
Ekaterina Schulmann
Ekaterina Schulmann is a Russian political scientist specializing in legislative processes and authoritarian governance currently living in Berlin. Schulmann was a senior lecturer at RANEPA from 2013 to 2022 and an associate professor at Moscow School for the Social and Economic Sciences from 2021 to 2022. Dr. Schulmann is well known within Russia and in the diaspora as well as among economists worldwide.
Stanislas Kucher
Stanislav (Stas) Kucher is a journalist, lecturer, writer and TV presenter with 30 years’ experience in the area of Russian and international media including posts at
many major print and broadcast outlets and conflicts with the Putin administration. He writes for The Cipher Brief national security publication, The Nation, CNN opinion and Samizdat Online international anti-censorship platform.
Professors Lev Sviridov and Gasan Gusejnov will discuss the “language” of autocracy – as seen in today’s Russia and in the United States. What words are being replaced and how do anger and hatred infiltrate the daily lexicon? And is this language necessary to the cause of autocracy?
Panelists
Professor Gasan Gusejnov
Professor Gusejnov is a professor and founder of Free University, Briva; he left Russia in 2023 after an article he wrote regarding the deteriorated state of the Russian language in media forced him into exile.
Professor Lev Sviridov
Professor Sviridov is the Director of the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College, the largest and most selective public honors college system in the City University of New York system. Prior to his appointment as Director, Lev served as a Senior Research Fellow in the CUNY Energy Institute.