We will be joined by author and journalist David Patrikarakos, who has written for a variety of the world’s most prominent publications and is an expert in the nuances of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, having spent time embedded with forces in the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014 and also reporting on the 2014 Hamas-Israel conflict.
His most recent book, War in 140 Characters: How Social Media is Reshaping Conflict in 21st Century was internationally acclaimed and is now used by West Point and Sandhurst on information war and counter-disinformation courses; by the UK MoD for its “information advantage” policy; as well as being on the required reading list for NATO Officers. The book was shortlisted for British Army Book of the Year, and publicly praised by the head of the British Army, General Sir Nicholas Carter, and Admiral James Foggo, Commander of NATO Forces Europe.
In February 2022, The Wall Street Journal chose War in 140 Characters as one of “7 books to read to understand why Russia wants Ukraine”. Combining his writing with his work as an active journalist, David recently returned from reporting in Ukraine, where he was one of the few people to go onto the southern, eastern and northeastern frontlines.
David’s first book, Nuclear Iran: The Birth of an Atomic State, which was published in 2012 and updated in 2020, is the first history and analysis of Iran’s nuclear program from its beginnings in the 1950s until the present day. It was selected as a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a Sunday Times ‘Must Read’ and shortlisted for International Affairs Book of the Year at the Political Book Awards.
David is a Poynter Fellow at Yale, a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and an Associate Fellow of the School of Iranian Studies at St Andrews University. He has lectured extensively at universities and think tanks in both the US and UK, including Harvard, Yale, Oxford, LSE, King’s College London, UCL, IISS, Manchester and many more. He has given a TEDx talk on “Post-Truth Politics in the Modern Age”. He gave the 2017 Keynote Speech for the International PEN Congress.
As a broadcaster he has appeared on BBC Newsnight, Start the Week, The World Tonight, BBC 5Live, BBC Have Your Say, BBC News 24, BBC World News, ABC, Al Jazeera, Ukraine’s Hromadske TV, various US radio stations and many other programmes on TV and Radio, as well many other international broadcasters.
This event promises to be a unique opportunity to discover more about the current situation in Ukraine and how misinformation and ‘fake news’ play a key role in modern conflicts.
