Alexander Vindman

Former White House national security council staffer Alexander Vindman appeared at The Progressive Forum to discuss his New York Times bestseller The Folly of Realism: How the West Deceived itself about Russia and Betrayed Ukraine. The event took place at Congregation Emanu El, Houston, Texas on March 31, 2025. This page also features Vindman’s previous appearance on October 13, 2022, where he discussed his memoir Here, Right Matters: An American Story.
SHORT. Reasons for optimism: an opportunity for people-power to sweep away this fascist moment by the Trump regime and build back better. (4:15)

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Full Q&A with Alexander Vindman at The Progressive Forum | March 31, 2025 (1:18:01)
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SHORT: The book title is The Folly of Realism. What is realism and the problem of a transactional foreign policy? (6:02)
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SHORT. Neo-idealism is your term for a value-based approach to foreign policy. What does that look like, using Russia as an example? (9:12)
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SHORT: Staying powers of democracy. How would you grade the judiciary, Congress, and the military? (7:36)

Background

Alexander Vindman, a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, was the director for Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Russia on the White House’s National Security Council. Previously, 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. Embassy in Moscow, Russia. While on the Joint Staff, he co-authored the National Military Strategy Russia Annex and was the principal author for the Global Campaign for Russia. He is a senior fellow for the Foreign Policy Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Pritzker Military Fellow at the Lawfare Institute, executive board member for the Renew Democracy Initiative, senior advisor for VoteVets, and the author of the New York Times bestselling book The Folly of Realism: How the West Decieved Itself About Russia and Betrayed Ukraine, and the memoir, Here, Right Matters.

Generously sponsored by Mary Cubanski and Don Griffin, Rebecca and Scott McCay, and Lisa and Mustafa Parris-Cochinwala.

The October 13, 2022 event was sponsored by the Beverly M. Manne Trust.

 

Alexander Vindman Updates

 

Thanks to videographer BEND Productions.

Thanks to photographer CJ Martin.

For citing this website as a source: ProgressiveForumHouston.org

Thanks to Alexander Vindman for permission to post these videos on our website. We welcome visitors to share this exciting educational material.