Please join the Russia and Eurasia Program at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University for a conversation with Alexander Vindman, a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel and former Director of European Affairs for the National Security Council (NSC), about his recent book, The Folly of Realism: How the West Deceived Itself About Russia and Betrayed Ukraine (2025).

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, six U.S. presidential administrations of both parties pursued policies for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia that emboldened Russia, playing into its imperialist, centuries-long mythos of regional hegemony. The result: military aggression and full-scale invasion. It was all too foreseeable. In The Folly of Realism, leading national security expert and bestselling author Alexander Vindman argues that America’s mistakes in Eastern Europe result from policymakers’ fixation on immediate, short-term problem-solving and misplaced hopes and fears. He proposes a new long-term, values-based approach that insists on the fundamentals of liberal democracy and a rules-based world order. Enlivened by firsthand accounts and behind-the-scenes interviews with leading Washington and international policymakers and culminating in the shocking brutality of Putin’s invasions of Ukraine, the book exposes the follies of Western foreign policymaking, sources of the dangerous return of Russian imperialism, and prescribes how it can be contained. 

The event is open to the public. Please register via the Microsoft Form here to attend the event in person or let us know if you would like to attend virtually. We will provide you with the Zoom details in your confirmation email message. Please contact us with any questions you might have about the event or if you would like to submit discussion questions for the speaker in advance. Lunch will be served following the conversation. Please let us know if you have any dietary restrictions, and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Visitors to the Medford/Somerville campus are welcome to park in the Dowling Garage or Cousens Parking Lot. Visitors may pay for their parking sessions via the web portal or payment kiosks. Please contact us with any questions you might have about the event. 

Dr. Alexander Vindman, a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, was the director for European Affairs on the National Security Council (NSC). Before that, he served as the Political-Military Affairs Officer for Russia for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as an attaché at the U.S. embassies in Moscow and Kyiv. While on the Joint Staff, he authored the National Military Strategy Russia Annex. He earned an M.A. from Harvard University, where he served as a Hauser Leader, and a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where he is a senior fellow. He leads the national security think tank Institute for Informed American Leadership, is an executive board member for the Renew Democracy Initiative, a senior fellow at the Kettering Foundation, and a senior advisor to VoteVets. He is the author of The New York Times bestselling books Here, Right Matters: An American Story (2021) and The Folly of Realism (2025).