Visit the places where history was made, in the company of people who made it. Dear I am pleased to extend to you an invitation to participate in our Summer 2006 World Leaders Symposium and Cruise in the Baltic Sea and Russia. This inaugural symposium focuses on the major diplomatic events leading up to and culminating in the end of the Cold War. From the end of World War II until the early 1990s, the two most powerful nations on earth were held in thrall to political, economic, and ideological differences that led to a state of ongoing hostility. After four decades of sustained international conflict, the Cold War ended in spectacular fashion, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall. During this unparalleled symposium aboard the privately chartered Le Diamant, enjoy the opportunity to engage in dialogues and group sessions with distinguished statesmen who played significant roles in the events leading up to the end of the Cold War, and with leading academics who have closely studied this critical period. Guest speakers: Mikhail Gorbachev, president and general secretary of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1992 Lech Walesa, Nobel Laureate (1983) and president of the Republic of Poland from 1991 to 1995 Aleksander Kwasniewski, current president of the Republic of Poland Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas, current prime minister and former president of Lithuania, who led the political movement that resulted in Lithuania’s declaration of independence in 1991 Jack Matlock, U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1987 to 1991 and author of Reagan and Gorbachev (2004), which discusses the end of the Cold War Sasha Bessmertnykh, former foreign minister of the Soviet Union and president of Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs William J. Perry, U.S. secretary of defense from 1994 to 1997; expert in U.S. foreign policy, national security, and arms control; and co-director of the Preventive Defense Project, a research collaboration of Stanford and Harvard Universities Marshall I. Goldman, associate director of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University and author of The Piratization of Russia: Russian Reform Goes Awry (2003) The cultural diversity and unsurpassed beauty of the Baltic Sea region provide a fascinating backdrop to our educational program; this region was the stage upon which much of the Cold War played itself out. Our itinerary begins in Stockholm, ends in St. Petersburg, and includes Gdansk (Poland), Riga (Latvia), Tallinn (Estonia), and Helsinki (Finland).
Keynote presentations by the esteemed individuals on our program, and by others joining us along the way, will be complemented by a series of unique experiences interwoven into the itinerary, including: A private tour of the Lenin shipyard in Gdansk, where the Solidarity trade movement was born under the leadership of Lech Walesa. Walesa and other founding members of the Solidarity movement will join us for a forum. A behind-the-scenes tour of the Kirov-Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg with renowned conductor Valery Gergiev, followed by an evening performance at the theater. Special early entrances and tours of Catherine’s Palace and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, and a farewell dinner and private musical performance at one of St. Petersburg’s palatial 19th-century estates. Our World Leaders Symposium and Cruise is preceded by an optional pre-trip extension in Stockholm, with accommodations at the Grand Hotel, renowned for its elegant appointments and gracious staff, and preferred host to royalty, heads of state, and the Nobel Prize laureates; and followed by an optional post-trip extension in Moscow, including an extended tour of the Kremlin and a private briefing and regal Russian dinner at the residence of the U.S. ambassador to Russia. The voyage takes place from June 29 to July 10, 2006. It is sure to fill quickly and I strongly encourage you to make your reservation by August 15, 2005. Complete the enclosed reservation form and mail it to High Country Passage, 500 Third St., Suite 455, San Francisco, CA 94107, with a check for your deposit of $1,000 per person, or instructions regarding the use of your credit card to make your deposit. I hope you will join us! Warm regards,
Donald M. Kendall