Presentations by the MCC Fellows at the Melikian Center about the courses addressing issues of Eastern Europe and Eurasia that they have developed during their 2024-2025 fellowship at ASU.

The Bolshevik takeover of Russia created an alternative Russia in exile that never laid down its arms. For two decades, expelled White Russians sought ways to retaliate against the Soviet Union and return home. Their irreconcilability was galvanized by a superstructure, the dominant military organization, the Russian All-Military Union (ROVS).

Throughout history, dictators have constructed secret police agencies to neutralize rivals and enforce social order. But the same agencies can become disloyal and threatening. This book explores how eight communist regimes in Cold War Europe confronted this dilemma. 

Scholars present papers on aspects of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian languages, literatures, linguistics, cultures, and history. 

In both Germany and Poland—primary locations of the Holocaust—the legacy of antisemitism remains a major obstacle to reconciliation with the past. How does antisemitism typically manifest in these countries? 

A discussion about disinformation and the role it is playing in Eastern Europe and how Eastern Europe is portrayed, featuring current fellows and an alum of the Hubert H. Humphrey program for communications and journalism.

Against the backdrop of the (meta)physical landscape of collective disaster, a new generation of Ukrainians aspires to imagine the future.

Celebrate the cultures of Ukrainian and Persian students at the CLI.

Anika Binnendijk, a professor at ASU, focuses on national security decision making, European defense, gray zone challenges, national resilience, and emerging defense technologies such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and human-machine teaming.

Elana Jakel, a scholar in Russian/Soviet History, manages a program on Ukrainian Jewry at the US Holocaust Museum. Her research was supported by multiple fellowships, and she is proficient in Russian, Ukrainian, and Yiddish.

Michael Kraus, professor of political science at Middlebury College, specializes in Russian and East European studies and holds a doctorate from Princeton.

Bruce Menning, adjunct professor at the University of Kansas, discusses Soviet military strategies during World War II in his talk titled 'Time-Distance-Mass.'