RCAST Security Seminar:
Fireside Chat with Mr. Michael Kofman

The War in Ukraine is entering its 3rd year. The growing concern over a stalemate at the frontlines have translated into diminishing congressional support—especially among the GOP—for continued military aid to Ukraine. The current state of the war has opened debates over optimal ways to terminate the conflict as well as the so-called "Trade-off" of resources between Ukraine and Taiwan. In this roundtable, we will hear from Mr. Michael Kofman on the state of the war on the ground and its global consequences in an age of great power competition. How could dwindling Western aid impact Ukrainian combat effectiveness? Does this war of attrition favor the Russian side? Is there an optimal way to terminate the war, if not a decisive victory? How does the current state of the war affect international politics, including in the western Pacific?

Date and Time:  January 16, 2024 15:30 - 17:00 (JST)

Venue: RCAST Building 3, M2F floor, Seminar Room-1 Campus Access Map

Attendance: By Invitation Only

Speaker: Mr.Michael Kofman, Senior Fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Moderator: Mr. Yu Koizumi, Deputy Chair of RCAST Open Laboratory for Emergence Strategies (ROLES) and Associate Professor of International Security Studies of RCAST of the University of Tokyo

Discussant: Dr. Takuya Matsuda, Project Researcher RCAST, ROLES, The University of Tokyo

Host: Prof. Satoshi Ikeuchi, Founding Chair of RCAST Open Laboratory for Emergence Strategies (ROLES) and Professor of Religion and Global Security of the University of Tokyo

Speaker's Profile
Michael Kofman is a senior fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he focuses on the Russian military and Eurasian security issues. 

Prior to joining Carnegie in 2023, he served as Director of the Russia Studies Program at the Center for Naval Analyses, where he conducted research on the capabilities, strategy, and military thought of the Russian Armed Forces. Aside from his work at Carnegie, Kofman is also a Principal Research Scientist at CNA, an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security, and a Contributing Editor at War on the Rocks, where he hosts The Russia Contingency, a bi-weekly podcast on the Russian military and war against Ukraine. 

He previously served as a program manager, and research fellow, at the National Defense University. Past fellowships have included the Modern War Institute at West Point, and the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center. Research