Catch Up: Nuclear Dangers Ukraine War in Third Year

Grigory Yavlinsky is a Russian economist and politician. He held senior positions in the governments of the USSR and Russia, and was a member of the Russian parliament for ten years. Yavlinsky is the initiator and author of “The 500 Days” program of market economic reforms, he is a leader of the opposition democratic party “Yabloko”. He ran for president of Russia: in 1996 against Boris Yeltsin, took fourth place and in 2000 against Vladimir Putin took third place. Yavlinsky is a principled opponent of Putin. Yavlinsky is a Doctor of Economics (Central Economic and Mathematical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences), Professor at the National Research University Higher School of Economics.

Katrina vanden Heuvel, esteemed journalist and commentator, is the editorial director and publisher of The Nation, one of the oldest progressive magazines in the United States. With her incisive analysis and bold perspectives, she has been a leading voice in American journalism for decades, challenging the status quo and advocating for progressive causes. Vanden Heuvel’s commitment to social justice and political activism has shaped The Nation into a platform for dissenting voices and marginalized perspectives. Her influence extends beyond the pages of the magazine; she is a frequent commentator on television and radio, offering insightful commentary on current events and political developments.

Richard Falk is a Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University, and the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor’s Chairman of the Board of Trustees. In 2008, the United Nations Human Rights Council appointed him to a six-year term as a UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. His book, This Endangered Planet: Prospects and Proposals for Human Survival (1971), was selected as one of only three Books for the Century (Political and Legal) in the centennial issue of the magazine, Foreign Affairs. His book is also part of a set considered “essential for understanding the century ahead.” Falk’s memoir, Public Intellectual: The Life of a Citizen Pilgrim, was published in 2021.

Cynthia Lazaroff is the founder of Women Transforming Our Nuclear Legacy and NuclearWakeUpCall.Earth. She is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and author of Dawn of a New Armageddon, a personal account of the Hawaii missile scare amidst escalating nuclear dangers, published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on Hiroshima Day.  Cynthia has been engaged in Track II citizen diplomacy efforts with Russia and has founded groundbreaking U.S.-Russian exchange initiatives since the early 1980s. She is dedicated to catalyzing efforts in U.S.-Russia relations to reduce the nuclear risk and to working with people in Russia and all countries to move towards a world without nuclear weapons. In 2022, Cynthia received the Women Waging Peace Award from the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation where she currently serves on the board.