The Bloom Europa Podcast

In our sixth episode, we engage in a discussion with Ambassador Steven Pifer, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and an affiliate of the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford University. Additionally, he served as a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. The focal point of the discussion revolves around the challenges Ukraine faces in joining NATO. Our Guest Bio: Ambassador Steven Pifer is a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and an affiliate of the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford University. He is also a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine (1998-2000). As a leading expert in nuclear arms control, Ukraine, Russia, and European security, Steven Pifer has offered commentary on these issues on National Public Radio, PBS NewsHour, CNN and BBC, and his publications have been featured in a diverse array of outlets and imprints. With over 25 years of service at the State Department, he held crucial roles such as deputy assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. Additionally, he served as a special assistant to President Bill Clinton and senior director for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia on the National Security Council.

In our fifth episode, we discuss with Professor Sarah Nouwen, who is the Co-Director of the Academy of European Law at the European University Institute, in Florence, Italy, what are the legal effects of the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant issued against Putin. Our Guest Bio:Sarah Nouwen is the Co-Director of the Academy of European Law at the European University Institute (EUI), in Florence, Italy. Since September 2020, she has held the position of Professor of Public International Law at the EUI. She is currently on leave from the University of Cambridge, where she is a Professor in Public International Law and a Fellow of Pembroke College and was for many years a Co-Deputy Director of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law. Professor Nouwen also assumes the role of Editor-in-Chief for the prestigious European Journal of International Law.

In our fourth episode, we discuss with Professor Alexander Stubb, former Prime Minister of Finland, about the impact of Finland and Sweden joining NATO. Our Guest Bio:Alexander Stubb is currently the Director of the School of Transnational Governance at the European University Institute, in Florence, Italy. He was the Prime Minister of Finland, between 2014-2015. Professor Stubb was also a Member of the European Parliament (from 2004 to 2008) and of the Finish national parliament (2011-2017). In addition, he was until recently the Vice President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) from 2017 to 2020.

In our third episode, we discuss with Dr. Daniel Hamilton, a Senior non-resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center on the United States and Europe, how effective are sanctions against Russia. Our Guest Bio: Daniel Hamilton is a Senior non-resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center on the United States and Europe and a Senior fellow at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. He also serves as President of the Transatlantic Leadership Network, a nonpartisan, international network of practitioners, private sector leaders and policy analysts dedicated to strengthening and reorienting transatlantic relations to the rapidly changing dynamics of a globalizing world. In addition to these activities, Dr. Daniel Hamilton is also the author of more than 100 books and articles on contemporary European, transatlantic and international affairs. Related Resources: Ties with Europe are America’s geo-economic base (Daniel Hamilton), EURACTIV, 24 March 2022. Around the halls: Implications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (Daniel Hamilton), BROOKINGS, 25 February 2022. European Economic Forecast, EUROPEAN COMISSION, May 2022. Economic Sanctions: Too Much of a Bad Thing (Richard Haass), BROOKINGS, 1 June 1998. Can Sanctions Stop Russia? (Nicholas Mulder), THE ATLANTIC, 10 March 2022.

In our second episode, we discuss with Francesca Giovannini, the Executive Director of the Project on Managing the Atom at the Harvard Kennedy School, how likely is the use of nuclear weapons by Russia in Ukraine. Our Guest Bio Francesca Giovannini is the Executive Director of the Project on Managing the Atom at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs. In addition, she is a non-residential fellow at the Centre for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. Ms. Giovannini served as Strategy and Policy Officer to the Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), based in Vienna. In that capacity, she oversaw a series of policy initiatives to promote CTBT ratification as a confidence-building mechanism in regional and bilateral nuclear negotiations, elevate the profile of CTBT in academic circles and promote the recruitment of female scientists from the Global South. Prior to her international appointment, Ms. Giovannini served for five years at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Boston as Director of the Research Program on Global Security and International Affairs. Working to leverage academic knowledge to inform better policies, she led and promoted countless academic research on issues such as bilateral and multilateral arms control frameworks, regional nuclear proliferation dynamics, and nuclear security and insider threats. She was also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where she designed and taught Master Degree courses on global nuclear policies and strategies.  With a Doctorate from the University of Oxford, UK and two Masters from the University of California, Berkeley, Ms. Giovannini began her career working for international organizations and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Related Resources  A hurting stalemate? The risks of nuclear weapon use in the Ukraine crisis (Francesca Giovannini), Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 27 February 2022.  The Timing of Peace Initiatives: Hurting Stalemates and Ripe Moments (William Zartman), The Global Review of Ethnopolitics, 1 (1) September 2001, pp. 8-18 Text of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, 1 July 1968  Memorandum of Security Assurances in connection with the Republic of Belarus Accession to the NPT. Budapest, 5 December 1994, United Nations Treaty Collection, Volume 2866, I-50069  Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, with alterations and amendments adopted on 24 November 1996 and 17 October 2004.  Russian nuclear weapons, 2022 (Hans M. Kristensen and Matt Korda), Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 25 February 2022  Let’s curb loose talk of using lower-yield nuclear weapons (Joe Cirincione), Responsible Statecraft, 23 March 2022  The nuclear taboo: The United States and the normative basis of nuclear non-use (Nina Tannenwald), International organization, 53 (3), 1999

In our first episode, we discuss with Mariana Budjeryn, a Research Associate at Harvard Kennedy School, the history and current challenges of the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Our Guest Bio Mariana Budjeryn is a Research Associate with the Project on Managing the Atom (MTA) at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center. Formerly, she held appointments as a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at MTA, a fellow at Harvard Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, and as a visiting professor at Tufts University and Peace Research Institute Frankfurt. Mariana’s research focuses on the international non-proliferation regime, arms control, and post-Soviet nuclear history. Her analytical contributions appeared in The Nonproliferation Review, Harvard International Review, World Affairs Journal, Arms Control Today, The Washington Post, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, War on the Rocks, and in the publications of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars where she is a Global Fellow. Mariana’s book 'Inheriting the Bomb: Soviet Collapse and Nuclear Disarmament of Ukraine' is forthcoming in 2022 with Johns Hopkins University Press. She holds a PhD in Political Science, an MA in International Relations from Central European University (formerly) in Budapest, Hungary, and a BA in Political Science from the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine. Related Resources Memorandum on security assurances in connection with Ukraine’s accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Budapest, 5 December 1994, United Nations Treaty Collection, Volume 3007, I-52241 Ukraine and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (Mariana Budjeryn), The Wilson Center, Blog Post, October 15, 2018 The Breach: Ukraine’s Territorial Integrity and the Budapest Memorandum (Mariana Budjeryn), The Wilson Center, Nuclear Proliferation International History Project, Issue Brief #3 Documents Talk. NATO-RUSSIA Relations after the Cold War (Robert Kupiecki and Marek Menkiszak), Polski Instytut Spraw Międzynarodowych, Warszawa, 2020 NATO Expansion: What Gorbachev Heard, National Security Archive, Briefing Book #613, December 12, 2017 ”On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians“ (Vladimir Putin), President of Russia, July 12, 2021