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ACONA Bootcamp and Conference Speakers

The ACONA program includes speakers who are experts in the fields of history, regional studies, international affairs, negotiation, diplomacy, national security and nuclear issues. Scholars and practitioners give lectures and participate in discussions with the ACONA Fellows. Below you can find a list of past speakers at the ACONA bootcamps and conferences since 2020.

Ray Acheson

Director of Reaching Critical Will at the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom

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Rabia Akhtar

Director, Centre for Security, Strategy and Policy Research, University of Lahore; Non-resident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council, Washington DC

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Nobumasa Akiyama 

Professor of International Relations, School of International and Public Policy and the Graduate School of Law at Hitotsubashi University

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William Alberque

Director of the Strategy, Technology, and Arms Control Programme, 

International Institute for Strategic Studies in Berlin

 

Michael Albertson

Deputy Director, Center for Global Security Research (CGSR), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Former Senior Policy Advisor, Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), Office of Nuclear and Missile Defense Policy

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Anatoly I. Antonov

Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United States 

 

Alexei Arbatov 

Head of the Center for International Security, Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations

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Thóra Arnórsdóttir

Managing editor, Icelandic National Broadcasting Service (RÚV)

 

Catherine Ashton

Former High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

 

Eileen Babbitt

Professor, Practice of International Conflict Management, The Fletcher School, Tufts University, Co-Director, Program on Human Rights and Conflict Resolution, The Fletcher School, Tufts University, Faculty Associate, Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School

 

Andrey Baklitskiy

Senior Research Fellow, Center for Euro-Atlantic Security at the Institute of International Studies, MGIMO University

Senior Researcher, WMD Programme, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research

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Andrey Baykov 

Associate Professor, Department of Applied International Analysis, MGIMO University

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Arvid Bell

Lecturer on Government at Harvard University; Director of the Negotiation Task Force (NTF) at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies

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Jón Atli Benediktsson

Rector, University of Iceland

 

Sarah Bidgood

Director, Eurasia Nonproliferation Program, James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies

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Alexander Bollfrass

Senior Researcher, Center for Security Studies, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Associate, Negotiation Task Force, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies

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Mariana Budjeryn

Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom (MTA) and the International Security Program (ISP) at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center

 

Matthew Bunn

Professor of the Practice of Energy, National Security, and Foreign Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government

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Lu Chuanying

Senior Fellow, Director of Research Center for Global Cyberspace Governance, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies

 

Susan Corke

Senior Fellow and Director of the bipartisan Transatlantic Democracy Working Group (TDWG) with The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF)

 

Thomas Countryman

Chair, Arms Control Association Board of Directors, Former U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security

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Tarja Cronberg

Distinguished Associate Fellow, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Former Member of European Parliament

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Christopher Daase

Professor for International Organization at the University of Frankfurt; Deputy Director of the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt

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Nikita Degtyarev

ACONA Fellow '23, Research Consultant, Open Nuclear Network (ONN)

 

Abdolrasool Divsallar

Co-leader of the Regional Security Initiative at the Middle East Directions Programme of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies; Policy Leader Fellow at the School of Transnational Governance, European University Institute

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Jóna Sólveig Elínardóttir

Director of the Hybrid Threats Department, Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs

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Anna-Katharina Ferl

Research Associate, Peace Research Institute Frankfurt

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Beatrice Fihn

Executive Director, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) 

2017 Nobel Peace Prize-Winning Campaign Coalition 

 

Andrew Futter

Professor of International Politics, University of Leicester

Member, Cyber-Nuclear Security Threats Task Force, Nuclear Threat Initiative

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Nancy Gallagher

Director, Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM); Research Professor, University of Maryland's School of Public Policy

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Sarah Gamberini

Senior Policy Fellow, National Defense University (NDU), Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction (CSWMD) 

 

Rebecca Gibbons

Associate Professor, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Southern Maine

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Francesca Giovannini

Executive Director, Project on Managing the Atom at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs

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Oleksii Goncharenko

Member of Parliament, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine

 

Rose Gottemoeller 

Former Deputy Secretary General of NATO; Frank E. and Arthur W. Payne Distinguished Lecturer at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies

 

Thomas Graham, Jr.

Former U.S. Special Representative for Arms Control, Non-Proliferation, and Disarmament, Acting Director and Acting Deputy Director, U.S Arms Control and Disarmament Agency

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Hugh Gusterson

Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs, George Washington University 

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Sascha Hach

Research Associate and Doctoral Researcher, Peace Research Institute Frankfurt

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Melissa Hanham

Deputy Director, Open Nuclear Network

 

​Guðmundur Hálfdánarson

Professor in History, University of Iceland

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Pia Hansson

Director, Institute of International Affairs at the University of Iceland

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Jingjie He

ACONA Fellow '23, PhD Candidate, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

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Emily J. Holland

Assistant Professor, Russia Maritime Studies Institute at the United States Naval War College

Visiting Scholar, NYU Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia

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Valeriia Hesse

ACONA Alumna

Researcher, Odesa Center for Nonproliferation

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Renata Hessmann Dalaqua 

Head of Gender and Disarmament Program, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research

 

Edward M. Ifft

Former U.S. arms control negotiator 

Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University

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Vincent J. Intondi

Former Director of Research for American University’s Nuclear Studies Institute 

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Tynchtykbek Israiilov
ACONA Alumnus

Project Manager, OSCE

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Igor Istomin

Associate Professor, Department of Applied International Political Analysis, MGIMO University; Davis Senior Scholar, Harvard University’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies

 

Moriba Jah

Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, University of Texas, Former Spacecraft Navigator, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

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Katrín Jakobsdóttir

Prime Minister of Iceland

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Dominik Jankowski

Policy Adviser, Office of the Secretary General, NATO

 

Tinatin Japaridze

Director of Policy and Strategy, The Critical Mass

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Tianjiao Jiang

Associate Professor, Development Institute

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María Mjöll Jónsdótti

Director General, Directorate for International Affairs and Policy at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Iceland

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Angela Kane

Sam Nunn Distinguished Fellow at NTI, Former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, and Under-Secretary-General for Management 

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Vasily Kashin

Senior Research Fellow, Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies, National Research University–Higher School of Economics

Research Fellow, Institute of the Russian Far East 

 

Togzhan Kassenova

Nonresident Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

 

Laura Kennedy

Former U.S. Ambassador to Turkmenistan, Former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Former U.S. Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and Special Representative for Biological Weapons Convention Issues

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Soo Kim 

Policy Analyst, Rand Corporation 

Adjunct Instructor, American University 

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Daryl G. Kimball 

Executive Director, Arms Control Association 

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Alexander Kmentt

Ambassador and Director of Disarmament, Arms Control and Nonproliferation, Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Former Permanent Representative of Austria to the Political and Security Committee of the European Union

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Matt Kokkinos 

Coordinator, Negotiation Task Force 

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Alexander Kolbin

Consultant, PIR Center

 

Andrey Kortunov

Director General, Russian Affairs Council 

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Dmitry Kovchegin 

Independent Researcher and Consultant, Nuclear Regulatory Analysis 

Former Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, Harvard Kennedy School  

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Jyri Lavikainen

Researcher, Finnish Foreign Policy, Northern European Security and NATO Research Programme, Finnish Institute of International Affairs

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Laura Lepsy

Junior Expert and Researcher on Arms Control Matters 

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Robert Litwak

Senior Vice President and Director of International Security Studies, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Former Director for Non-Proliferation, National Security Council

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Herbert Lin

Senior Research Scholar, Center for International Security and Cooperation, Hank J. Holland Fellow in Cyber Policy and Security, Hoover Institution, Stanford University

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Rosa Magnusdottir 

Associate Professor of History, Aarhus University

 

Jeffrey Mankoff 

Senior Associate, CSIS Russia and Eurasia Program 

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Thilo Marauhn

Professor for Public Law and International Law, Justus Liebig University Giessen 

 

Adlan Margoev 

Analyst, Institute for International Studies, MGIMO University 

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Rose McDermott

David and Mariana Fisher University Professor of International Relations, Brown University

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Oliver Meier

Senior Researcher, Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg

Former Deputy Head, International Security Division, German Institute for International and Security Affairs 

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Steven Miller 

Director of the International Security Program, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard University Kennedy School 

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Izumi Nakamitsu

Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, United Nations

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Nomsa Ndongwe

Research Associate, James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies 

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Amy Nelson

Fellow, Foreign Policy, Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology, Brookings Institution

 

Michiru Nishida

Professor, Nagasaki University 

Former Special Advisor for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan

 

Jón Gunnar Ólafsson

Former Acting Director of the Institute of International Affairs at the University of Iceland

 

Jón Ólafsson

Professor of Cultural and Russian Studies, University of Iceland

 

Silja Bára Ómarsdóttir

Professor at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Iceland

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Brynja Huld Óskarsdóttir

Defence Specialist, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Iceland

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Christian F. Ostermann

Director of the History and Public Policy Program (HAPP), Woodrow Wilson Center 

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Pavel Palazhchenko

Head of the International Relations and PR Department at the Gorbachev Foundation

 

Melissa Parke
Executive Director, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)

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Carrin F. Patman

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Iceland

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Steven Pifer

Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Initiative, Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence, and Center on the United States and Europe, Brookings Institution

Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine

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Joseph Pilat

Senior Advisor in the National Security Office, Office of the Director, Los Alamos National Laboratory

 

Pavel Podvig

Senior Researcher, Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme, UNIDIR 

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William Potter

Professor, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey; Director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies

 

Giordana Pulcini        

Fellow at the University of Roma Tre

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Bo Qu

Associate Professor and Director, Institute of International Relations, China Foreign Affairs University

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Ali Rached

ACONA Alumnus

Senior Policy Officer in charge of Multilateral Affairs, Strategic Partnerships, INTERPOL General Secretariat

 

Guy Roberts

former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs
 

Laura Rockwood

Director, Open Nuclear Network 

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Nickolas Roth

Senior Director, Nuclear Threat Initiative

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Mahsa Rouhi

Research Fellow at the Center for Strategic Research, Institute for National Strategic Studies, at the National Defense University

 

Lynn Rusten

Vice President of the Global Nuclear Policy Program, Nuclear Threat Initiative 

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Alice Saltini

Research Coordinator, European Leadership Network

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Olamide Samuel 

Track II diplomat and researcher in arms control 

Former Coordinator of SCRAP Weapons 2019-2021

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Svetlana Savranskaya 

Director of Russia Programs, George Washington University's National Security Archive 

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Sayaka Shingu

Doctoral Candidate, Hitotsubashi University, Ministry of Foreing Affairs of Japan

 

Dmitry Stefanovich

Research Fellow, Center for Internstional Security, Russian Academy of Sciences 

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Danny Stoian 

Fellow, Negotiation Task Force, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Legislative Affairs, U.S. Department of State 

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Jacob Stokes 

Fellow for the Indo-Pacific Security Program, Center for a New American Security 

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Lev M. Sokolshchik

Postdoctoral Researcher, Higher School of Economic

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Elisabeth Suh

Associate, German Institute for International and Security Affairs

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Dmitry V. Suslov

Deputy Director, Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies, National Research University – High School of Economics

 

Adnan Tabatabai

Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient (CARPO)

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Moshik Temkin

Visiting Scholar at the Middle East Initiative at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Chair in Leadership and History at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University

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Gleb Toropchin

Associate Professor, Faculty of Humanities, Novosibirsk State Technical University

Associate Professor, Novosibirsk State University of Economics and Management

 

Jenny Town 

Senior Fellow, Stimson Center

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Bruce Turner

U.S. Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament

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Christopher Twomey

Associate Professor, Naval Postgraduate School Lead Organizer

US-China Strategic Dialogue Former Director, Center for Contemporary Conflict at NPS   

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Ali Vaez

Iran Project Director & Advisor to the President, Crisis Group 

 

Michael Waller

President of Georgetown Research; Vice President for Government Relations at the Center for Security Policy

 

Margot Wallström 
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Sweden

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Marc Weller

Chair of International Law and International Constitutional Studies, University of Cambridge, Former United Nations Senior Mediation Expert

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Elayne Whyte Gomez

Former Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations in Geneva

Professor of Practice, Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies

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Heather Williams 

Director, Project on Nuclear Issues 

Senior Fellow, International Security Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies 

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James Wilson 

Researcher, US Department of State Office of the Historian 

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Casper Wits

Lecturer, Institute for Area Studies, Leiden University  

 

Jon Wolfsthal

Senior Advisor, Global Zero

Member, Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 

Former Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

Former Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Former Special Assistant to the President for National Security and Senior Director for Nonproliferation and Arms Control at the National Security Council

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Amy Woolf

Nuclear Weapons Policy Specialist, Congressional Research Research Service at the Library of Congress

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Yue Yuan
ACONA Alumna
Assistant Professor, The Institute of International Relations, China Foreign Affairs University

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Tong Zhao

Senior Fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

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Katarzyna Zysk

Professor, Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies 

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Baroness Catherine Ashton, former EU High Rep. for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy & Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Prime Minister of Iceland, speak at the ACONA Conference 2022.

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Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, addressing ACONA Fellows (virtually) in January, 2021. 

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