Dear CCI Friends,
I need your assistance! This is about CCI’s September Citizen Diplomacy Trip to Russia. We hope for a 100 member delegation. Consider traveling with us on this “one-of-a-kind” trip. It will be CCI’s most intensive diplomacy effort ever. Travelers will meet with and question a dozen Russian Experts in Moscow including Mikhail Gorbachev and Vladimir Pozner. The meetings are usually two-hour sessions. Our two videographers will capture the Expert meetings and much of the entire trip.
Following Moscow meetings, we travel in triads to 30 regional cities to explore average Russian citizens’ interests, their thoughts and concerns, and how they carry out their lives far from the centers of power. We will share similar topics with them. Following these visits we reconvene in St. Petersburg where we will spend the first full day listening to and learning from fellow travelers’ experiences in their regional cities. YouTube videos, articles and stats will result from this data dump. With our important work completed, we will enjoy St. Petersburg’s unparalleled classical culture and meet with numerous CCI alumni from our former business management training programs. During these and regional traveling days we will have had face-to-face discussions with thousands of Russians across 10 time zones.
We need more Americans to travel on this CCI fact-finding diplomatic mission.
Please forward this message (perhaps with a personal note) to your colleagues, business partners, neighbors, family members, friends–whoever you think may be even slightly interested in U.S.-Russia relations, including those who have dour outlooks on Russia. The U.S.-Russia relationship is currently in grave danger in large part due to inaccurate media coverage and unconscionable rumors passed as truths for the past decade.
In my 35 years of traveling throughout Russia, I have never before witnessed such a vast gap between what the average American ‘believes’ about Russia and Russia’s reality on the ground today.
CCI’s earlier Russia travelers describe their trips as life-changing … possibly because there’s nothing so relieving as “traveling to meet the enemy” and finding no enemies on arrival. We find differences, yes, different histories, different cultural norms and many other differences, but when understood, none of these are destructive to Americans.
Citizen diplomacy is finally being discussed as a viable pursuit by officials in the U.S. and in Russia today. THIS IS NEW. No doubt this is due to failed official diplomacy and nuclear treaties being scrapped in the very recent past. The current situation is extremely dangerous since we and Russia have nuclear weapons on high alert and ready to fire at each other. One accidental launch of a missile could bring a volley of returning missiles that would destroy both countries and likely the world within a short time. How can our military brass, congress members and media talk so glibly about nuclear war?
It’s horrifying!
How to pull our countries back from the brink of nuclear war? Let us educate ourselves ASAP regarding Russia with our own eyes and ears. Let us ask questions, listen, ponder … and educate others as rapidly as possible. If you can’t travel now, please consider sending a millennial family member on this unique trip. We have budget, economy and upscale trip pricing to accommodate all levels of income.
CCI, unfortunately, is the only U.S. organization with the history, skills and connections in both countries to seriously ramp up citizen diplomacy trips during this high-risk period. We are ready to share “how to” information with others.
For more trip details please email us. Many thanks!
Click here to see CCI’s official trip flyer.
Sharon Tennison
President and Founder (1983 – to present)
Center for Citizen Initiatives
sharon@ccisf.org
ccisf.org