Martin Palouš studied natural science, philosophy, and international law and was Senior Fellow and Director of the Václav Havel Program for Human Rights and Democracy at Florida International University. He is President of International Platform for Human Rights in Cuba and belonged to the original signatories of Charter 77, serving as its spokesperson in 1986, and in 1989 participated in the creation of Civic Forum during Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution. After the fall of communism, he was a member of parliament, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United States (2001-2005), and Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the United Nations (2006-2011). He has lectured at many universities around the world and is the author of numerous publications in political philosophy, contemporary history, international relations, and international law.

Akhmed Zakaev is the Prime Minister in Exile of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (CRI). He was born in 1959 into a family deported, along with the rest of the Chechen population, by Stalin’s regime in 1944. Zakaev graduated from acting and choreography schools in Grozny. In 1977, he was admitted to Voronezh State Academy of Arts and subsequently worked at the Chechen National Theatre. In 1994 he became Minister of Culture of the independent Chechen government of Djohar Dudaev and Commander of the Western Group for the Defense of Ichkeria. Zakaev played a crucial role in negotiations with Moscow, which led to the Russo-Chechen peace treaty of 1997, which Russia later violated. He opposed the rise of radical Islam in Chechnya, alleging a link between Islamist extremism and Russia’s covert global pro-terrorism policy. In 2002, Russia accused Zakaev, by then in exile, of involvement in a series of crimes, including the hostage-taking at a Moscow theatre in 2002 which ended in a catastrophic loss of life. In 2003, a British court declared the accusations groundless and politically motivated. On February 25, 2022, the second day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Zakaev issued a statement at a rally in defense of Ukraine before the European Parliament in Brussels. Zakaev has spoken in the European Parliament and the legislatures of Italy, Lithuania, Romania, and other countries. He is the author of Subjugate or Exterminate! (Academica Press, 2018) and Russia, Chechnya, and the West (Academica Press, 2022).

Translator: Arch Tait learned Russian in London and at Moscow State University. He holds a Ph.D. in Russian Literature from the University of Cambridge and from 1993 was UK editor of the Glas New Russian Writing translation series. He has translated more than forty books by leading Russian authors of fiction and non-fiction, including Alexei Navalny’s Patriot, which was voted Book of the Year at the 2025 British Book Awards and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography in the United States. He has translated books by Nobel Prize winners Mikhail Gorbachev and Svetlana Alexiyevich, as well as the first two volumes of the memoirs of Akhmed Zakaev.

Jayme A. Sokolow is an independent scholar and businessman who holds a Ph.D. in History from New York University. He is the author of four previous books on American history and the history of the Western Hemisphere, three eBooks on developing government proposals, and articles on history and business development. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Dr. Kawal Deep Kour holds a Ph.D. from IIT Guwahati and is a former civil servant (Assam Civil Services). She is currently Director at the SA–Drugs and Addictions Research Council, New Delhi. Dr. Kour served on the Board of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy (ISSDP), UK (2017–2022), and was nominated in 2023 to the Network of Experts of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC). A prolific author, she has several publications to her credit, including Ghazipur, The Opium Mint: From 1820 to the Present (Academica Press, 2023) and Opium Consumption and Experience in India: From the Earliest to Contemporary Times (Academica Press, 2023).

Niccolo Caldararo grew up in Castro Valley of California, where his maternal family had a farm. He attended public schools and graduated from the University of California Berkeley and San Francisco State University with a B.A. and M.A. in anthropology before taking his Ph.D. in developmental psychology. After graduation, he was hired at the California Academy of Science as a research assistant to care for its anthropology and archaeology collections. His position at the California Academy of Sciences allowed him to study a wide variety of animals and fossils. Caldararo continued his museum career at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. His museum work was punctuated by reports of laboratory work in various scientific journals. Since 1995, he has taught at SFSU and the City College of San Francisco. Caldararo has written 117 articles, several book chapters, a dozen field ethnographies, and eight books, including The Future of Leisure and Retirement: Pension Schemes, Community Support, and Contemporary Consequences for the Next Generation (Academica Press, 2021).

Dr. Kawal Deep Kour holds a Ph.D. from IIT Guwahati and is a former civil servant (Assam Civil Services). She is currently Director at the SA–Drugs and Addictions Research Council, New Delhi. Dr. Kour served on the Board of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy (ISSDP), UK (2017–2022), and was nominated in 2023 to the Network of Experts of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC). A prolific author, she has several publications to her credit, including Ghazipur, The Opium Mint: From 1820 to the Present (Academica Press, 2023) and Opium Consumption and Experience in India: From the Earliest to Contemporary Times (Academica Press, 2023).

Born on March 3, 1948, Bruce H. “Doc” Norton, USMC (Ret.) grew up in the rural township of North Scituate, Rhode Island. He served on active duty from 1968 to 1992. A combat veteran and a career Marine infantry and reconnaissance officer, he is a nationally recognized historian, playwright, and author of 15 books on the United States Marine Corps and other military subjects. Enlisting as a U.S. Navy Corpsman in 1968, he served with distinction in both 3rd Force Reconnaissance and 1st Force Reconnaissance Companies during the Vietnam War, participating in more than 20 long-range reconnaissance missions in 1969-1970. Both “Jump” (parachute) and Scuba qualified, he was the only Navy corpsman designated a Force Recon team leader during the Vietnam War and was awarded the Bronze Star with Combat “V” Device, the Purple Heart, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal, the Navy Achievement Medal, with Combat “V” Device, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, the Combat Action Ribbon, and the Valorous Unit Award. Major Norton is the recipient of five San Diego Author’s Awards and the General Robert L. Denig Memorial Distinguished Service Award, presented to him by the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Correspondence Association. He was the 2022 recipient of the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust and Civil War Round Table of Fredericksburg Heritage Award for distinguished service as an educator and military historian. Along with Dr. Harry J. Kantrovich, he has co-written the script for the play Voices from Vietnam, which premiered in Virginia in 2024, and has now co-written the script for a new play based on this book, Saving Lives: The Stories of Medics, Corpsmen, Nurses, Doctors, and Dustoff Pilots Who Served in the Vietnam War. This play will premiere in May 2026 at the Castaways Theatre in Woodbridge, Virgina.

Dr. Harry J. Kantrovich retired from the Navy after 23 years of service as a Command Master Chief. Harry is an award-winning actor, director and playwright who has been involved with theatre for over 50 years, working in college, community, and professional theatres throughout the United States and Europe. Harry’s first two original plays SHOAH (in cooperation with the Claude Lanzmann family and his estate) and The Greatest Generation Speaks (in collaboration with renowned journalist Tom Brokaw) have been nationally and internationally acclaimed. His third play, co-written by Major Bruce “Doc” Norton, USMC (Ret), Voices From Vietnam, had its world premiere in November 2024, and a companion book was released simultaneously. Saving Lives will again be released simultaneously with the play of the same name’s world premiere.

Ambassador Michael Gfoeller is a distinguished American diplomat, scholar, and innovative thinker with a 26-year Foreign Service career (1984–2010). Serving in Warsaw at the Cold War’s end, as well as in Moscow, Riyadh, Manama, and as Deputy Chief of Mission in Saudi Arabia (2004–2008), he navigated complex political dynamics in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. As Senior Political Advisor to General David Petraeus at U.S. Central Command (2008–2010), Gfoeller shaped Middle East and Central Asia strategies. After his retirement from government service, Gfoeller advised ExxonMobil, consulted for Henry Kissinger, and lectured at Georgetown University. An accomplished scholar, he has authored books on the traditional architecture and antiquities of Armenia, where he has established an archeological foundation and museum. His recent books of mathematical philosophy include Consciousness is Curvature (2025), which models human and artificial intelligence as dynamic geometric curvature in informational spaces, inspired by relativity and quantum theory. He has also authored Faster Than Light (2025), which explores how recent advances in theoretical physics can enable feasible interstellar travel, inaugurating a new Age of Exploration that may never end.

Gino Neil Lupini was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, to an Italian father and British mother. He was educated at South African College Schools (SACS), the oldest school in the country, where he developed a lifelong passion for history, education, and sports. Upon completing his schooling, Lupini embarked on a professional rugby career that led him to Italy, where he proudly represented the Italian National Rugby Team. After retiring from professional sports, he transitioned into the field of education, where he continues to inspire young minds through teaching and writing. Lupini’s literary journey began under a pen name with a fantasy novel for young adults, followed by two additional works that reimagined the ideals of folklore through a modern lens. His enduring fascination with history led to a pivotal encounter with Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, the de jure King of Italy. This meeting marked the beginning of Lupini’s close collaboration with the Italian Royal House, to which he contributed to charitable, cultural, and traditional initiatives across Europe. His service to the House of Savoy earned him recognition in the form of a Knighthood in the dynastic order of chivalry. He continues to advocate for the transformative power of education and the enduring relevance of historical consciousness in shaping modern identity.

Ambassador Zion Evrony was born in Iran and immigrated with his family to Israel in 1950, when he was one year old. He spent his childhood in a ma’abarah (refugee camp), without electricity or running water. With his father unemployed, the family endured severe poverty. At age 13, Evrony was admitted to a Jerusalem boarding school for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. He went on to receive a B.A. in sociology and political science, an M.B.A, and a Ph.D. in international relations from Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1973, he joined Israel’s Foreign Service and held distinguished positions in Jerusalem and abroad, including Ambassador to Ireland, Ambassador to the Holy See, Consul General in Houston, and Consul in New York. He also served as Head of the Policy Planning Division and Director of the Cadet Course for new diplomats. In 2001, he received Awards for Excellence from both Israel’s Foreign Ministry and its Civil Service. From 1991 to 1995, Ambassador Evrony taught at the Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, and the Open University of Israel. Since his retirement, he has been an adjunct professor at universities in the United States, where he teaches courses on diplomacy, Israeli foreign policy, Judeo-Christian relations, and the Holocaust. Among his publications are Human Rights in International Relations (Hebrew; Open University Press, 2011) and Jewish-Catholic Dialogue (ed., Urbaniana University Press, 2016). He has also written opinion pieces for the New York Times and other papers focusing on the war in Gaza, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Judeo-Christian relations.