ELF members warmly welcomed Professor Vladimir Shlapentokh, Professor of Sociology, Michigan State University. Professor Shlapentokh, a native of Moscow, emigrated to the United States during the Brezhnev era in the l960s. He is one of the foremost experts on contemporary Russia. His expert opinion is sought by high government officials in Washington, D.C., and in academic circles around the country. He spoke at the ELF at the time when the Yeltsin government had suffered a humiliating defeat in Chechnya. Not surprisingly, his lecture topic was "Russia after the Chechen War." As a sociologist, he did not elaborate on the military aspect of the war. Rather, he analyzed the effect of the defeat on Russian society. He underlined that Russia had similar defeats in the course of history, like the in the Crimean war (1854), the Russo-Japanese War (1905) and WWI (1914-1917). According to Professor Shlapentokh the recent rout of the Russian Army in Chechnya was somewhat more painful for Russia than its past defeats, and has led to a severe crisis of self-identification. The Professor also spoke about the international ramifications of this crisis, and called upon Western strategists to follow closely the socio-political forces that are redeveloping in Russia and to make the distinction between their short- and long-term policies toward Russia.