Peninsula journalist and author Michelle Carter, who has been traveling and living in — and writing about — the former Soviet Union for the past 30 years, will talk about Vladimir Putin’s obsession with a perceived threat from the west, its historic foundation and what triggered his savage assault on Ukraine. She’ll also talk about how the Russian people are reacting to the realization that they no doubt will pay a substantial price in blood and treasure for Putin’s Folly.
Bio: If you ask Michelle Carter, nosiness is the key to her success as a journalist and author. Asking nosy questions led to a 30-year newspaper career, ending as the managing editor of the San Mateo Times, a Bay Area daily.
It took her to the former Soviet Union (20-some times) where she used her school-girl Russian to ask even harder questions across all 11 time zones of the country.
It led to the publication of her first book, Children of Chernobyl: Raising Hope From the Ashes and most recently to her memoir, From Under the Russian Snow, about her year as the US Information Agency’s Journalist-in-Residence where she served as a sort of midwife to the flowering free press in pre-Putin Russia.
A little nosiness took her to the other side of the planet and back, and her readers got to come along.
Michelle lives in Belmont, Calif., with her husband Mike. She is the mother of two teachers and the grandmother of Ezra, a soon-to-graduate senior at UC Santa Cruz.
Attending the Forum
The Forum is now holding hybrid meetings. You can attend online using the Zoom information below. A small group also attends in person in the Fireside Room.
Forum members participate in an informal check-in from 9:00 to about 9:30. If you wish to skip that and just attend the talk, please plan to arrive by 9:25.
Zoom Info https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82073939070?pwd=UTFJbkJkVG0xYjBkWjk1NWRBRnJ3UT09
Meeting ID: 820 7393 9070
Passcode: 653827
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