Who We Are
The Centre for Russia Europe Asia Studies (CREAS) is a Brussels-based think-tank that seeks to promote analysis, encourage debate and understand the significance of the evolving connections across Eurasia.
Theresa Fallon is the founder and director of the Centre for Russia Europe Asia Studies (CREAS) in Brussels. She is concurrently a member of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific, a Nonresident Senior Fellow of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Adjunct Professor at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, a member of the CEPS Task Force on AI and Cybersecurity, a member of the Loisach Group on transatlantic relations, and a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.
Theresa’s current research is on EU-Asia relations, maritime security, global governance, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and great power competition. She has testified to the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs and Subcommittee on Security and Defense as well to the UK House of Lords, and she has briefed Members of the U.S. Congress and other U.S. government institutions. Previously she was a Senior Associate with the European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS) in Brussels and a member of the Strategic Advisors Group for the NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR). From 2003 to 2007 she worked in Beijing as a researcher and consultant. From 1998 to 2003 she was the Moscow representative of PlanEcon, a research and consulting firm, and taught economics in the first MBA program established in Russia at the American Institute of International Business in Moscow. She was educated at the University of Chicago, Loyola University, and the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Her articles have appeared in American Foreign Policy Interests, The Asan Forum, Business Insider, CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, China Brief, The Diplomat, ISN Security Watch, PlanEcon Energy, RUSI Newsbrief, War on the Rocks and other publications. In addition, she has been featured in international media including ABC (Australia), Agence France Presse, Al Jazeera, BBC, CNN, Channel News Asia, Deutsche Welle, Financial Times, L’Espresso, Newsweek, Science Magazine, Japan Times, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, and The Washington Post.
In 2021, she was named EU Influencer of the Year in the field of trade and economics. In 2017, she was listed by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the top 20 women to follow on Twitter in the areas of foreign policy and national security. In 2014, she was awarded the Vietnamese Ambassador’s Distinction Award for her contributions to strengthening the relationship between Vietnam and the European Union.
Contact Captain James E. Fanell
Captain James E. Fanell retired from the U.S. Navy in January 2015 concluding a nearly 30 year career as a naval intelligence officer specializing in Indo-Asia Pacific security affairs, with an emphasis on the Chinese navy and its operations. His most recent assignment with the U.S. Navy was as the Director of Intelligence and Information Operations for the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
In addition to being a Senior Associate at CREAS, he is also a Government Fellow with the Geneva Centre for Security Policy. Throughout his naval career he served in a variety of afloat and ashore assignments across the Pacific region, highlighted by tours as the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence for the U.S. Seventh Fleet aboard the USS Blue Ridge, the Office of Naval Intelligence China Senior Intelligence Officer, and as the Senior Intelligence Officer for the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier strike group, then forward deployed to Japan.
He was a National Security Affairs Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and holds a B.A. in History and Political Science from San Diego State University, a M.A. in History from the University of Hawaii, and was a distinguished graduate of the Air Command and Staff College where he received a M.A. in Military Science.
He is also a public speaker most notably at the AFCEA West / U.S. Naval Institute’s panels on China in 2013 and 2014. He has published works in the Wall Street Journal, U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, Naval Intelligence Professionals Quarterly, Fox News, Switzerland’s Military Power Review, and the Hoover Digest. Jim is the creator and manager of the Asia Security forum Red Star Rising since 2005. He is married to Cornelia Fanell and currently resides in Switzerland.
Contact Andrea Mogni
Andrea Mogni has over thirty years’ experience with the European Union as a senior advisor on international economic and financial matters, global economic governance, EU regulatory reform and EU external relations with emerging economies and BRICs.
He holds post-graduate degrees in Law and Social Science from Genoa University, in Economics from the University of Rome and in International Trade from LUISS University in Rome. From 1981 to 1985 he served as economist and programmer at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome. He joined the European Commission in 1985, first serving in the EU Delegation to Ethiopia and then monitoring and supporting economic and financial transition of the countries in Central and Eastern Europe.
In 2000 he joined the economic unit of the External Relations department of the European Commission where he was in charge of international economic and financial matters, EU programming instruments and financing facilities. In 2011 he joined the Global economic issues division of the European External Action Service (EEAS) and acted as senior advisor to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on international economic and financial matters including EU relations with the IFIs and BRICs, relations with the EIB and global financial governance issues (G7, G20, IMF). He retired from the EEAS in 2013 and has acted in a senior advisory role since then. He has written extensively on international economic and financial subjects.