Talk on how Putin is gaming the West, the ripple effect sanctions will have on the foreign policy of Russo-friendly authoritarian countries, and the fluid roles of the Bretton Woods system, ISIS, Crimea, Ukraine, Moldova, Balkans, Middle East, Iran, China, Greece, and Turkey in Europe's "near abroad."

Dr. James Lyon has studied the Balkans for over thirty-four years. He received a Ph.D. in Modern Balkan History at the University of California, Los Angeles (dissertation: The Forgotten Ally: Serbia and the Balkan Front, 1914), an M.A. in International Relations from Brigham Young University (thesis: YugoslaviaÂ’s Post-World War Two Economic Development), and a B.A. in Russian Language and Literature from Brigham Young University.

Dr. Lyon directed Balkan projects for the International Crisis Group for 10 years: an accomplished analyst, he has written three books, many scholarly articles, dozens of published reports, numerous Op/Eds, and has testified before the US Congress and parliamentary panels of EU member states. He has 20 years of experience in conflict/post-conflict areas of the Balkans, worked on EU and USAID projects and with the Office of the High Representative, as well as in the private sector. He is founder of the Foundation for the Preservation of Historical Heritage, which is devoted to digitizing archives in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Senior Associate advising the Democratization Policy Center.

Dr. Lyon is the author of the upcoming book, "Serbia and the Balkan Front, 1914: The Outbreak of the Great War (Bloomsbury, 2015), and the historical novel Kiss of the Butterfly."

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