What is the effect of U.S. petroleum security on foreign policy? For 45 years, the country has alternated between periods of energy security and insecurity, sometimes able to wield petroleum as a useful instrument of foreign policy, sometimes not. Despite the so-called “energy revolution,” the U.S. today is by no means disentangled from foreign dependence and global trends. In order to be successful, policymakers must recognize both petroleum security circumstances and patterns in the relationship between petroleum and foreign policy. Our speaker, Ambassador Ross Wilson, is a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council and a visiting lecturer in international affairs at George Washington University. In his 30-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service, he served as American ambassador to Turkey and Azerbaijan, among many other assignments. He also served as director of the Atlantic Council’s Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center, where he led the Council’s work on the former Soviet states, Turkey and regional energy and economic issues.
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