Global warming and ice melting opened new and shorter routes for commercial shipping of cargo through the Arctic Ocean. U.S., Russia and China compete for influence to control the Eastern Passage with very important economic, environmental, and military consequences.

Dr. Stosur is a geoscientist, recently retired from the U.S. Government Service, having directed research related to global energy resources and recovery.  He is now part time teacher and invited speaker/panelist on world energy issues, maritime sciences, oceanography, history of deep-sea exploration.  He served as dean of Keese School for Continuing Education in Washington, D.C., and currently serves as guest speaker for cruise ships.

George was thrice-appointed Distinguished Lecturer by an international engineering society. Altogether, he delivered nearly 350 lectures on all continents, save Antarctica.  His carrier spanned two major oil companies and the U.S. Government service in science research and administration.  He holds two MS degrees and a PhD.                      

John F. Fox, Jr., has served as an adjunct instructor in the Catholic University Politics Department since 2019. He has also served as the FBI Historian since 2003.  In 2001, he was awarded a PhD in modern American history from the University of New Hampshire and in 1993, he completed an MA in political science from Boston College.  His articles have appeared in a number of academic journals, the FBI’s website, and other venues. He has contributed chapters to several books and co-wrote The FBI: A Centennial History.  Fox has also been involved in a number of cooperative museum projects, including the temporary exhibit on the FBI and the media that was on display at the Newseum from June 2008 until June 2016 and the various iterations of the FBI Tour/FBI Experience.  He has appeared in many documentaries in the US and Europe, appearing on C-Span, CBS Sunday News, CNN, and Turner Classic Movies among other platforms.

North Bethesda Rotarian Claes Ryn is Emeritus Professor of Politics at the Catholic University of America (CUA), where he was also Chairman of his Department. He is also Distinguished Senior Scholar and Founding Director Emeritus at CUA’s Center for the Study of Statesmanship. His many books include Democracy and the Ethical Life, America the Virtuous, A Common Human Ground, and, most recently, The Failure of American Conservatism. He has lectured widely in the United States, Europe, and Asia, especially China, where he gave the Distinguished Foreign Scholar Lectures at Peking University in 2000. Three of his books have been published in translation in China. He was Chairman and co-founder of the National Humanities Institute, President and co-founder of the Academy of Philosophy and Letters, and President of the Philadelphia Society