Shukriya Bradost is a political analyst and PhD student at Virginia Tech. She wrote a chapter for the book titled, “State and Democracy” about the nation-state and democracy. Her latest research focuses on security and stability in the Middle East. Her academic knowledge, field experience and fluency in five languages make her a unique voice on international and Middle Eastern affairs.
She provides regular commentary for major Kurdish and Persian media outlets as well as Voice of America and the Australian SBS Radio. Previously, she served as the manager of the Kurdistan Student Union Media and Research Center and a co-founder of Peacebuilding Movement in Kurdistan Organization (BAN). Bradosti was an intern in the UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island (OHRLLS) from 2018 to 2019. She is a co-founder and board member of the American Kurdish Research Institute (AKRI). She received an MA in International Security from Leicester University in the UK and a BA in Law from Salahaddin University in Erbil, Iraq.
Dr. Anna Borshchevskaya is a senior fellow at The Washington Institute, focusing on Russia’s policy toward the Middle East. In addition, she is a fellow at the European Foundation for Democracy. She was previously with the Atlantic Council and the Peterson Institute for International Economics. A former analyst for a U.S. military contractor in Afghanistan, she has also served as communications director at the American Islamic Congress. Her analysis is published widely in publications such as Foreign Affairs, The Hill, The New Criterion, and Middle East Quarterly. Until recently, she conducted translation and analysis for the U.S. Army’s Foreign Military Studies Office and its flagship publication, Operational Environment Watch, and wrote a foreign affairs column for Forbes. She is the author of the February 2016 Institute monograph, Russia in the Middle East. She holds a doctorate from George Mason University.