Michael McFaul

Michael McFaul served as U.S. ambassador to the Russian Federation from January 2012 to February 2014. Prior to becoming ambassador, he served for three years as the special assistant to President Obama and senior director for Russia and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council. His interest, knowledge and experience with Russia dates back many decades, giving him a historical and forward-thinking prospective on recent events which he addressed in a New York Times opinion piece: “The decision by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to annex Crimea ended the post-Cold War era in Europe.

Since the late Gorbachev-Reagan years, the era was defined by zigzags of cooperation and disputes between Russia and the West, but always with an underlying sense that Russia was gradually joining the international order. No more. Our new era is one defined by ideological clashes, nationalistic resurgence and territorial occupation—an era in some ways similar to the tragic periods of confrontation in 20th-century Europe. And yet there are important differences, and understanding the distinction will be critical to a successful American foreign policy in the coming decades.” He discusses with audiences the escalating crisis between the United States and Russia, as well as speaking more generally about America’s place in the world. Today, McFaul is a professor of political science and Hoover fellow at Stanford University.

He is also the director of the Freeman Spogli Institute (FSI) for International Studies. He also works as a news analysts for NBC and writes a monthly column for the Washington Post. He is the author and editor of several monographs, including most recently the New York Times best-seller, From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin’s Russia.