The main topic during the 119th Chamber SWLA Banquet on Thursday was the import and export of energy, particularly concerning the current state of events in the world. International affairs speaker Susan Eisenhower, the CEO of the consultancy company Eisenhower Group in Washington, D.C., and the granddaughter of the 34th President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered the keynote address.

Her work has taken her to Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, and the Baltic republics on numerous occasions. She has developed a thorough understanding of current international politics as a result of her travels as well as her work experience in nuclear energy and arms control.

“You can imagine that my work at the moment has become front and center for many of the developments,” she said. “We’re in a period of enormous change, and I wanted to offer a few thoughts about the big world that seems to be coming unglued on some days; the interconnections between what it is you do here and what goes on in places like Russia and Ukraine and in other parts of the world.” 

"Everything from supply chains to the individual and the ability to really feel comfortable again in the workplace" has changed since the pandemic. The US is one of many countries experiencing these developments.

Eisenhower claimed that there were five separate wars at play. The civil war in Ukraine is the first of these conflicts. According to her, the question is "whether they have a governance system that acknowledges the difference between the east and the west side of that country." “They are areas that are culturally different and have a different view of their own specific routes.”

The Russian-Ukrainian War is the second war. She cited "global decisions that occurred after the collapse of the Soviet Union" as the cause of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Security concerns and the debate over Ukraine's neutrality are the main factors surrounding the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Security concerns and the argument over Ukraine's neutrality are the main factors surrounding the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Eisenhower said, "Russia would like Ukraine to be neutral from a military security point of view." "Ukraine would like to join the West."

This confrontation resulted in the third war, which divided Russia against NATO. According to her, NATO's "alleged right to interfere in the other two wars" is the reason why this war is being fought. The fourth war sparked by American engagement in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. “This war is over the United States helping Ukraine, as well as US expectations that the world must follow a US based international system.” All of this culminates in the biggest and last fight: the war on energy.

Eisenhower's main concern about arms control is the threat of escalation. She asserted that "many of the tools that the United States has used to stop the Russians have thus far not been successful" in bringing Russia under control. She claimed that Russia is dominating the global market by creating shell companies, blending its fuels, changing the flags of its ships, and “making deals with countries that did not support, in the United Nations, the condemnation of the Russian Federation.”

Eisenhower offered a somber yet accurate first-hand perspective. “I don’t mean to be gloomy about this, but I’ve made close to 100 trips to what is today the former Soviet Union, and I don’t see how this is going to come to an end,” she admitted. “I think that if we are lucky enough to find an agreement or a ceasefire, that we’re still going to have to address… the issues related to the other four wars, because all of them are interconnected.” 

Eisenhower attempts to be optimistic despite her assessments and conclusions. “We all remain concerned about inflation and the potential of another terrorist attack… but nobody can get through life thinking about the downside. I was taught to be optimistic,” she said. “It mobilizes people… there is no better time than now to prepare for the upsides and the downsides of events stemming from our global interconnections.”

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