#Cult animosity no sign letting up series

In 1839, the French aristocrat and writer the Marquis de Custine traveled to Russia and wrote a popular “exposé” on the backwardness of Russian society and the appalling conduct of its aristocracy at the time of Emperor Nicholas I. For centuries, Russia has been regarded as a mysterious land. In 1939, Winston Churchill uttered the now-famous adage, “Russia is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” He was not alone in being bewildered by Russia’s conduct. oil company.īerls holds a doctorate in Russian Area Studies from Georgetown University, a master’s degree in Soviet Studies from Harvard University, and a bachelor’s degree in Russian Area Studies from Colgate University. Before joining NTI, he was Vice President for Business Development and Government Relations for a U.S. His academic credentials include teaching positions at the National War College, National Defense University, and the U.S. He served as Special Assistant to the Secretary of Energy for Russia/NIS programs during the first Clinton Administration. During the 1980s, he served as Air Attaché at the U.S. Air Force, rising to the rank of colonel.

#Cult animosity no sign letting up series

He also is co-author with his NTI colleague Leon Ratz of a series of NTI Papers on Rising Nuclear Dangers.īerls’ career spans military, government, academia, and business.

He served as executive director of an EASI working group on missile defense. NTI Co-Chair and then-CEO Sam Nunn served as an EASI Co-Chair.īerls was instrumental in establishing and managing the Younger Generation Leaders Network (YGLN) on Euro-Atlantic Security, a capacity-building initiative established by NTI in 2014 that is designed to foster dialogue among young emerging leaders from Europe, Russia, Ukraine, and the United States, on contemporary challenges facing the Euro-Atlantic region. This project helped Russia meet its goal to destroy all chemical weapons by 2012.īerls represented NTI on the Carnegie Endowment’s Euro-Atlantic Security Initiative (EASI), a high-level international commission addressing Euro-Atlantic security needs for the 21st century. Berls also managed NTI’s project to support high-priority infrastructure development for the Shchuch’ye Chemical Weapons Destruction Facility in Siberia. NTI helped the lab develop international marketing capabilities, which led to a multifold increase in revenue and staff size, ensuring that the scientists and others who worked on the Soviet nuclear weapons program didn’t seek outside opportunities that could contribute to global proliferation. Among other projects, he led the NTI initiative at Russia’s SarovLabs, part of a U.S.-Russian cooperative effort to find new commercial avenues for the former Soviet Union’s “Nuclear Cities” that supported the country’s nuclear weapons complex. He joined NTI in 2001, the organization’s first year, and has directed or helped manage many of NTI’s projects in Russia that have addressed nuclear, chemical, and biological threats.īerls opened NTI’s Moscow office in 2002 and managed it through 2009. serves as a Senior Advisor in NTI’s Global Nuclear Policy Program. These essays represent Berls’ personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Nuclear Threat Initiative or its Board of Directors or the institutions with which they are associated. The second series, Occasional Essays on Contemporary Russian Issues, will examine various topics that pose challenges to Russian leadership and society today. They reflect events from that period with a focus on Russian national interests and their pursuit by Vladimir Putin’s regime. Berls wrote the essays-based on his many years of studying, working, and living in the Soviet Union and contemporary Russia-between September 2018 and January 2021. The first series, The Roots of Russian Conduct, explores the challenges of Russian politics, societal development, and fundamental values and mores that have helped form the body politic of Russia through the ages. Written for those interested in international relations and Russia specifically, the essays offer insights and information about a country that for many remains, as Winston Churchill famously said, “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” Berls, Jr., Senior Advisor on Russia and Eurasia at the Nuclear Threat Initiative. The Roots of Russian Conduct and Occasional Essays on Contemporary Russian Issues are two series of essays by Robert E.