Ariel Cohen

Ariel Cohen Speaker Biography

Foreign, Economic and Security Policy Expert

Keynote Speaker Ariel Cohen, L.L.B., Ph.D., is a recognized authority on emerging markets and natural resources political risk; energy policy; and geo-economics, as well as a leading expert on Russia/Eurasia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Dr. Cohen is the Principal of International Market Analysis.

Foriegn Relations

Dr. Cohen is a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council Eurasia and Global Energy Centers and a member of the Council of Foreign Relations., and also Senior Fellow at the International Tax and Investment Center (ITIC) where he heads the new Energy, Growth, and Security Program (EGS).

Russian Eurasian Expert

For over 20 years, Dr. Cohen served as a Senior Research Fellow in Russian and Eurasian Studies and International Energy Policy at the Sarah and Douglas Allison Center at the Heritage Foundation. He directed Heritage’s energy war games and worked closely with Members of Congress and Congressional staff members as well as cabinet-level and sub-cabinet domestic and foreign decision-makers

Consultant

Dr. Cohen consults for Fortune 500 companies and international law firms. He has assisted clients in risk assessment, risk management, market assessment and entry, strategic partnerships, and oil and gas technology evaluations. Dr. Cohen has extensive experience preparing due diligence and business intelligence reports and expert opinions for major international law firms and corporations. Dr. Cohen’s work spans many industries, including petroleum, telecommunications, transportation, and media, and he has specific expertise in oil and gas mid-stream technologies, including GTL and LNG. He served as a Senior Consultant for Burson Marsteller’s Emerging Markets practice, a global public affairs firm, and for Emerging Markets Communications, a boutique strategic communications consultancy.

Lectures

Dr. Cohen frequently testifies before committees of the U.S. Congress, including the Senate and House Foreign Relations Committees, the Senate and the House Judiciary Committees, and the Helsinki Commission. He conducted White House briefings and regularly lectures and consults for U.S. Government institutions. He also directs high-level conferences on international security, energy, the rule of law, crime and corruption, and a variety of other issues.

Media and Publications

Dr. Cohen has published over 900 articles in professional and popular media, six books and monographs, and 30 book chapters. He regularly appears on CNN, NBC, CBS, FOX, C-SPAN, BBC-TV, Al Jazeera English, and all Russian and Ukrainian national TV networks. He is a Contributing Editor for the National Interest and a blogger for the Voice of America and Wall Street Journal’s “The Experts.” Dr. Cohen is a Member of the Advisory Board of the Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society. He is also a Forbes energy columnist.

Books

In his latest book, The Russian Military and the Georgia War: Lessons and Implications, Cohen shows show how Russia won the war against Georgia during their armed conflict in 2008. His book, Russian Imperialism: Development and Crisis, was published by Praeger Publishers/Greenwood. He also co-authored and edited Eurasia in Balance: The US And The Regional Power Shift (Us Foreign Policy and Conflict in the Islamic World) (Ashgate Publishing, 2005), which focuses on the power shift in the region after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Education

He earned his Masters and Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.