Sid Lukkassen is a Dutch historian and philosopher who has taught at Radboud University Nijmegen. He was a city councilor for the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) from 2010 to 2018 and was a policy advisor to the European Conservatives and Reformers (ECR) during the Covid-19 pandemic. Sid actively participates in the public debate with books, frequent opinion articles, and media appearances. He comes from a family of no-nonsense middle class entrepreneurs and hardworking laborers. He writes to connect, for people and country, under the motto “clarity is the ultimate sophistication.”

Dr. Jeremy Havardi is a cultural historian and journalist based in London, where he serves as Director of the B’nai B’rith UK Bureau of International Affairs. His role is to advocate for the international legal rights of the Jewish people, fight against all manifestations of antisemitism, work for a better understanding of Israel within the international community and tackle hatred against minorities. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Alcala in cultural and literary history. He has written several previous books, including The Greatest Briton: Essays on the Life and Political Philosophy of Winston Churchill, Projecting Britain at War: The National Character in British World War II films, Refuting the Anti-Israel Narrative: A Case for the Historical, Legal and Moral Legitimacy of the Jewish State and A Persistent Prejudice: Anti-Semitic Tropes and Double Standards in the Anti-Israel Movement. His articles have appeared in many publications, among them The Spectator, The Guardian, The Gatestone Institute, Times of Israel, The Jewish News, Spiked, and Military History Magazine.

Shubh Mathur is an independent scholar specializing in anthropology, history, and international affairs. She has published extensively on human rights, religious nationalism, state violence and sovereignty, including three books: The Everyday Life of Hindu Nationalism: An Ethnographic Account, The Human Toll of the Kashmir Conflict: Grief and Courage in a South Asian Borderland and (co-edited with Mirza Saaib Bég), and Life, Politics, and Resistance in Kashmir after 2019: A Multidisciplinary Understanding of the Conflict. Mathur’s current interests include environmental ethics and animal rights. She believes that the notion of sovereignty as unchecked power links political violence with environmental devastation, and that the way we treat the natural world is a reflection of how we treat each other.

Zoë I. Levornik is an expert in the field of nuclear security and policy, international relations theory and constructivism. She holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of Haifa and also studied at the Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany. Dr. Levornik was a Stanton Nuclear Security Research Fellow at MIT’s Security Studies Program and a Research Fellow at the National Security Study Center (NSSC) at the University of Haifa. Dr. Levornik is also an analyst and political consultant.

Kakhaber Kalichava received his Ph.D. from Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University in 2019, with a focus on recent conflicts in Georgia and their broader international implications. Dr. Kalichava completed an MA thesis examining the 2008 Russo-Georgian war, “The Russo-Georgian War of 2008 in Georgian and English-Language Scholarship: A Survey of Historical, Ethnical, Political, and Legal Aspects of the Conflict,” which was published in 2016. Since 2013, Dr. Kalichava has been a contributing member of the editorial team of the popular Georgian historical magazine Istoriani. He also lectures at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, where he teaches graduate courses, and teaches history and global politics at New School International School of Georgia. A past research scholar of the Erasmus Mundus program in Poland, he has also developed an English-language course designed for the program’s exchange students. Dr. Kalichava also serves as an international examiner for history, global politics, and the extended essay components of the international baccalaureate curriculum.

Dr. John A. Gentry teaches at the School of Defense and Strategic Studies at Missouri State University. For twelve years, he was an intelligence analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency, where he mainly worked on economic issues associated with the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries. For two of those years, he was senior analyst on the staff of the National Intelligence Officer for Warning. Dr. Gentry is a retired U.S. Army Reserve officer, with most assignments in special operations and intelligence arenas. Previously, he taught at Georgetown University, Columbia University, and the National Intelligence University. He writes regularly on intelligence and security issues. He is the author of Neutering the CIA: Why US Intelligence Versus Trump Has Long-Term Consequences (2023) and about 40 articles and book chapters on intelligence topics. He has an economics background and received his Ph.D. in political science from George Washington University. Follow him at @gentry_johna.

Niccolo Caldararo, Lecturer in Anthropology, San Francisco State University,
Owner, Director, and Chief Conservator, Conservation Art Service.
Author of The Future of Leisure and Retirement: Pension Schemes, Community Support, and Contemporary Consequences for the Next Generation (Academica Press, 2021)

Tomáš Klvaňa is Visiting Professor at New York University Prague and a senior international consultant. He was a Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, served as the Press Spokesperson and Policy Adviser to the President of the Czech Republic, and was Special Coordinator for the Czech government’s missile defense program. Dr. Klvaňa co-founded the Aspen Institute Central Europe and served on its board. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, where he received the Distinguished Leadership Award for Internationals, and an M.A. from Charles University in Prague. Dr. Klvaňa is married with two daughters and lives in Prague.

Thomas E. Meurer is a retired business executive whose good fortune has allowed for careers and experiences in nearly all of his areas of interest: competitive sports, the military, teaching, politics, diplomacy, agriculture, venture capital, natural history, science, oil, gas, and dozens of practical jokes. Over the last 55 years, He has done business in 47 countries, several of which no longer exist.

Dr. Rand Irshaidat is Associate Professor in Marketing at the Princess Sumaya University for Technology in Amman, Jordan. She graduated in marketing from the University of Jordan and the University of Surrey. She received her Ph.D. in politics from York University, studying public diplomacy as a form of political marketing. She worked in banking before pursuing her Ph.D.