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It is always a moving target to understand even the most obvious geopolitical alliances and influences. But in the world of emerging China, the reemergence of Russia, the Internet-connected world and other rapidly advancing technology and with many new non-traditional leaders in the world, geopolitics is moving so fast as to create a sonic boom.

That is why Vail Symposium stepped out from its traditional mold to put on an extraordinary program on Wednesday and Thursday, January 24 and 25. Vail Symposium is always pleased to have one world class presenter to address an important geopolitical subject, as we did on January 4 with Jason Pack discussing Libya’s movement from “Qadhafi to Chaos.”

Now, on January 24 and 25, we have four world-class presenters addressing different aspects of the theme, “Is it the end of the world as know it?” Each speaker has so much to cover and has such a strong background to cover it that we have provided each with a 75-90 minute platform for presenting the issues and answering questions. This is a new approach for Vail Symposium to combine so much firepower for a two-night event.

Do you wonder:
• What is Russia doing to pull the EU apart and attract nations to its sphere of influence?
• What is the future of the EU?
• How does NATO respond to the increased pressures from Russia and what does the European participation in NATO look like?
• What does the US relationship look like with the changing direction of EU and individual European countries?
• How would we define democracy in a context that relates to the rest of the world?
• The US has invested significantly in furthering our form of democracy to the rest of the world – how is that paying off?
• Are we changing our approach to dictators and tyrants?
• What happened with Asia’s view of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Asia’s view of China and the US?
• Is there a concern about military conflict between the US and China over China’s actions in the South China Sea?
• Is China destined to take over the #1 spot in the geopolitical world? What is the US doing about this and what can China do?
• What are the major alliances for the US and where are they going?
• Are there new alliances being created that exclude the US?
• What are drivers of the geopolitical world besides military and political power?

All these questions and more will be discussed during our two-night event. Our speakers are at the top of their game and we’re thrilled to have these experts joining us in Vail.

Julie Smith is a Senior Fellow of the Center for a New American Security and is Director of its Transatlantic Security Program. She has been Deputy National Security Advisor for Vice President Biden, Principal Director for European and NATO policy for the Secretary of Defense, directed the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Europe Program, and has authored many books and reports for publications such as Foreign Policy.

Thomas Wright is a Senior Fellow for Brookings Institution and head of the Project on International Order and Strategy. His book, “All Measures Short of War: The Contest for the 21st Century and the Future of American Power,” was published by Yale University Press in May 2017. He also publishes in many journals such as The Atlantic.

Ambassador Hill is Chief Advisor to the Chancellor for Global Engagement and Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at the University of Denver. Ambassador Hill is a former career diplomat, a four-time ambassador, nominated by three presidents. Hill served as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 2005 until 2009 during which he was also the head of the US delegation to the Six-Party Talks on the North Korean nuclear issue.

Jamie Metzl is a Senior Fellow of the Atlantic Council, novelist, blogger, syndicated columnist, media commentator and expert in Asian affairs and biotechnology policy. He has served on the US National Security Council, State Department, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as Executive Vice President of the Asia Society and with the United Nations in Cambodia.

The program for all four of these speakers will be moderated by Greg Dobbs who is himself a professional speaker on global affairs and spent two decades as a foreign and war correspondent for two American television networks and regularly appeared on World News, Nightline, 20/20 and Good Morning America.

We are very proud of this program; tickets are now on sale for both evenings and you can get a discount for attending both. Even if you can only attend one evening, it promises to be a compelling discussion. I encourage you to sign up before the day of the program as we are likely to fill the 250 seats at Donovan Pavilion before Wednesday, Jan. 24.

–Dale Mosier, chairman of the Board of Directors, Vail Symposium