Past Speakers and Seminars
2011-12-14 - Dr. Silvio Contessi, Research Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Presents: "The European Debt Crisis"
Speaker: Dr. Silvio Contessi, Research Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
Topic: "THE EUROPEAN DEBT CRISIS"
Place: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
Date: Wednesday December 14, 2011
Time: 12:00 noon luncheon
The Louisville Committee on Foreign Relations is pleased to announce our speaker for December, Dr. Silvio Contessi, who will speak about the European debt crisis and its implications for the U. S. economy and U.S. foreign policy.
Dr. Silvio Contessi, a native of Milan, Italy, specializes in International Economics (Trade and Finance), banking, and the economics of multinational firms. Prior to joining the Federal Reserve Bank in St Louis in 2007 Dr. Contessi worked in the Congressional Budget Office, as a consultant on the World Bank’s Poverty Reduction Team, and with the Gruppo Clas in Milan. He also worked at the Academy of Fine Arts “Tadini” in Lovere, Italy during 1999-2000.
Dr. Contessi is the author of numerous articles and papers on domestic and international banking and economic issues, including the TARP program, European capital flows, foreign direct investment and productivity, trade, world banking crises, and other topics. Dr. Silvio Contessi earned his B.A. summa cum laude at Bocconi University (Milan, Italy), and his M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from Johns Hopkins University. He has participated in the Erasmus Exchange Program at the Stockholm School of Economics, and has presented talks and participated in conferences throughout the U.S., in Europe, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Dr. Contessi has taught at Johns Hopkins University and Bocconi University (Milan), and in spring 2012 will be teaching a course on understanding the financial crisis at Washington University in St. Louis. He holds dual Italian and American citizenship, and in addition to fluency in those languages also knows French, Spanish, German and Swedish.
**Please note that Mr. Philip French, Executive Director of the American Committees on Foreign Relations, will be present at this meeting. Phil is a retired Foreign Service officer with 30 years’ experience in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Don’t miss this chance to hear a great talk, and meet ACFR’s new Executive Director!
2011-11-16 - Dr. Sergey Markedonov, Visiting Research Fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies Presents: "Geopolitical Interests and Great Power Competition in the Caucasus: The U.S., Russia, Turkey and the EU after the Russo-Georgian War"
Speaker: Dr. Sergey Markedonov, Visiting Research Fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Topic: "Geopolitical Interests and Great Power Competition in the Caucasus: The U.S., Russia, Turkey and the EU after the Russo-Georgian War"
Place: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
Date: Wednesday November 16, 2011
Time: 12:00 noon luncheon
The Louisville Committee on Foreign Relations is pleased to announce our speaker for November, Dr. Sergey Markedonov, who is a Visiting Research Fellow in the Center for Strategic and International Studies Russia and Eurasia program, in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Markedonov is an expert on the Caucasus, as well as the Black Sea, regional security, nationalism, interethnic conflicts and de-facto states in the post-Soviet area. His publications include several books and reports, 50 academic articles, and more than 400 press pieces. Recently published books and reports include The Turbulent Eurasia (Academia, 2010), The Big Caucasus: Consequences of the “Five Day War,” New Challenges and Prospects (International Centre for Black Sea Studies, 2009), and The Ethno-national and Religious Factors in Social-political Life of the Caucasus Region (Moscow State University, 2005). His numerous articles and interviews have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Washington Times, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, RIA Novosti, Abkhaz World, and the Russia Times online.
Sergey Markedonov graduated from Rostov-on-Don State University in 1995. He earned his doctoral degree in history at Rostov-on-Don State Pedagogical University in 1999. From 1996 to 1999, he was a lecturer in the History Department of Rostov-on-Don State Pedagogical University. From 1998 to 2001, he served as senior fellow at the Governor's Press-Service in the Rostov Regional Administration. From 2001 to 2010, he worked as head of the Interethnic Relations Group and deputy director at the Institute for Political and Military Analysis in Moscow. From 2006 to 2010, he also held teaching positions at the Russian State University for the Humanities, the Moscow State University, and the Diplomatic Academy. Dr. Markedonov has presented talks at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Jean Monet Institute, the University of Michigan, University of Illinois and many other venues throughout Russia, Europe and the United States.
Please join us for this unique and timely talk.
2011-10-21 - Mr. John R. Schmidt, Professorial Lecturer, George Washington University Presents: "The Unraveling: Pakistan in the Age of Jihad"
Speaker: Mr. John R. Schmidt, Professorial Lecturer, George Washington University
Topic: "The Unraveling: Pakistan in the Age of Jihad"
Place: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
Date: Friday, October 21, 2011
Time: 12:00 noon luncheon
The Louisville Committee on Foreign Relations is pleased to announce our speaker for October, Mr. Gary Schmidt, Professorial Lecturer at George Washington University, who will speak on the topic of his new book, published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Mr. Schmidt will also do a book signing, courtesy of Carmichael’s Bookstore.
Mr. John R. Schmidt is a 30-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service who has served in many key positions at the State Department and at the NSC. His expertise covers a diverse range of geographical and functional issues. As one of the leading NATO experts in the U.S. government, he has headed the NATO office at State and served as NATO director at the NSC. He was Chief of the Balkan Conflict Group during the height of the war in Bosnia and founding Deputy Coordinator for Security and Governance in the civilian stabilization and reconstruction office at State.
His favorite posting was in Islamabad where he served as Political Counselor during the three years running up to 9/11. He continues to follow developments in Pakistan closely and has organized and moderated high-level roundtables at the State Department on the future of Pakistan and on the radical Islamic threat. He is an expert on the Pakistani political class, the Pakistan Army, the Kashmir dispute, and the rise of radical Islam in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Despite his busy career, he has managed to find time to write articles on topics drawn from his Foreign Service experience in such journals as Survival, The Washington Quarterly, Orbis and The World Today.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said of The Unraveling: Pakistan in the Age of Jihad, “this is a book filled with useful information, objectively presented, and offered at precisely the right time.” Strobe Talbott, President of the Brookings Institution, says “he administers a bracing and necessary dose of tough love to one of the most important and troubled inter-state relations on earth.”
Please join us for this important and timely talk, and get a copy of the book for yourself!
2011-06-07 - Ambassador Kenneth C. Brill, President, Fund for Peace, and former Director of the Office of Egyptian Affairs, U.S. Department of State Presents: "What Does the Tahrir Square Revolution Mean for Egypt, the United States, Israel and the Region?"
Speaker: Ambassador Kenneth C. Brill, President, Fund for Peace, and former Director of the Office of Egyptian Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Topic: “What Does the Tahrir Square Revolution Mean for Egypt, the United States, Israel and the Region?”
Date: Tuesday June 7, 2011
Time: Dinner meeting: cocktails 6:00 pm; dinner 6:30 pm
Location: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
The Louisville Committee is very pleased to announce our speaker for June, Ambassador Kenneth C. Brill, President of the Fund for Peace in Washington, D.C. Ambassador Brill will draw on his extensive diplomatic experience to discuss possible scenarios for Egypt and the Middle East in the wake of the Tahrir Revolution.
Ambassador Brill completed a 35-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service in April, 2010. In his final Foreign Service assignment, he was the founding Director of the U.S. National Counterproliferation Center (NCPC), which is part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Ambassador Brill served as NCPC’s Director for five years. He became President of the Fund for Peace on November 1, 2010, succeeding Pauline Baker who held the position for 15 years. LCFR members may recall that Dr. Baker spoke to our Committee in March 2008.
Ambassador Brill’s overseas assignments with the Department of State included serving as Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the UN Office in Vienna, Ambassador to the Republic of Cyprus, acting-Ambassador and Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India, and Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan. His domestic assignments in the Department of State included service as acting-Assistant Secretary and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Executive Secretary of the Department and Special Assistant to the Secretary of State, and Director of the Office of Egyptian Affairs.
Ambassador Brill has written and spoken on the subjects of the nuclear nonproliferation regime,countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the challenges of WMD terrorism, the environment as a national security issue and U.S. intelligence reform. Ambassador Brill is a graduate of Ohio University and received his MBA from the University of California at Berkeley. He is married and has two grown children.
Please join us for this exciting last event of the 2010-2011 season!
2011-05-18 - Dr. John A. Ritchie, Former State Department Official and Consul General, Monterrey, Mexico Presents: "U.S.—Mexico Relations: Drug Trafficking and Related Violence"
Speaker: Dr. John A. Ritchie, Former State Department Official and Consul General, Monterrey, Mexico
Topic: "U.S.—Mexico Relations: Drug Trafficking and Related Violence"
Place: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
Date: Wednesday May 18, 2011
Time: Luncheon Meeting, 12:00 Noon
We are very pleased to be able to reschedule Dr. John A. Ritchie for a May luncheon meeting. Dr. Ritchie has lived and worked for 24 years in seven Latin American and European countries. He is a respected Ph.D. analyst of complex public and private policy issues, and an effectivernadvocate for trade expansion and overseas business operations. Dr. Richie is a successful negotiator experienced in counter-terrorism programs. He is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, and holds active Top Secret/SCI security clearances.
Dr. Ritchie’s professional experience consists of thirty years’ service in the U.S. Department of State (1976-2006), including Coordinator, U.S.-Mexico Border Affairs, in Washington, D.C. (2004-2006), Consul General, Monterrey (2001–2004), Counselor of Embassy for Labor Affairs, Mexico (1996-2001), Counselor of Embassy for Political/Economic Affairs, Montevideorn(1993-1996), and Chief, Internal Political Affairs, U.S. Embassy Madrid (1989-1993). After retiring from State he served as Liaison for the State Department to Congress on Immigration issues (2008 and 2009).
His key achievements include co-negotiating an end to Mexico’s Rio Grande River water debt to the United States; streamlining the permitting process for North American border infrastructure projects; coordinating the first-ever multi-agency counter-terrorism assistance programrnabroad; and guiding trade/labor relations in NAFTA and MERCOSUR countries.
Dr. Ritchie has received the award for Excellence in Labor Diplomacy from the Secretaries of State and Labor, and has been cited for Outstanding Leadership in directing diplomatic operations overseas. He received his BS and MS degrees from the University of Wisconsin, and his Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University. Dr. Ritchie has taught at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, the University of Central Oklahoma, and Southern Methodist University.
2011-04-12 - Special Luncheon Meeting with Philip C. French, Executive Director, American Committees on Foreign Relations
Special Luncheon Meeting with Philip C. French, Executive Director, American Committees on Foreign Relations
Location:Vincenzo’s Restaurant
Date:Tuesday April 12, 2011
Time: 12:30 pm
Please join us Tuesday April 12 at 12:30 pm at Vincenzo’s for a special open meeting of the Executive Committee with the new Executive Director of the ACFR, Mr. Philip French. Having just succeeded Ken Jensen, Mr. French is only the second Executive Director in the sixteen-year history of the ACFR.
We plan to discuss current relations between the LCFR and the ACFR, and Mr. French would like Members’ input on future directions for cooperation between the Louisville Committee and our parent organization.
Philip C. French retired as a senior career diplomat after 30 years in the U.S. Foreign Service, serving in Latin America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, in addition to two tours in the State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs in Washington, D.C. Following a tour in Madrid as Consul General, Mr. French was assigned in 2001 to San Salvador as Deputy Chief of Mission and later served there as acting Chief of Mission. He was posted to Caracas as Deputy Chief of Mission in 2007 before hisrnfinal assignment as Team Leader for the Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team in Fallujah, Iraq in 2008. A graduate of the University of California, Riverside, Mr. French spent the 1996-97 academic year as Diplomat in Residence at the Yale Center for International and Area Studies.
2011-04-11 - Mr. Kevin Bales, President, Free the Slaves Presents: "The End of Slavery?"
Speaker: Mr. Kevin Bales, President, Free the Slaves
Topic: “The End of Slavery?
Date: Monday April 11, 2011
Time: Dinner meeting, 6:00 pm cocktails; 6:30 pm dinner
Location: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
The Louisville Committee is very pleased to announce our speaker for April, Mr. Kevin Bales. Mr. Bales is President of Free the Slaves, the Washington-based sister organization of Anti-Slavery International (the world’s oldest human rights organization), and Professor of Sociology at Roehampton University in London. He is also the 2011 winner of the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order for his 2007 book Ending Slavery: How We Free the Slaves Today(Berkeley: University of California Press).
Mr. Bales serves on the Board of Directors of the International Cocoa Initiative. His earlier book Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy, published in 1999, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and has now been published in ten other languages. Archbishop Desmond Tutu called it “a well researched, scholarly and deeply disturbing exposé of modern slavery”. A revised edition was published in 2005. In 2006, his work was named one of the top “100 World-Changing Discoveries” by the association of British universities.
The Italian edition of Disposable People won the Premio Viareggio for services to humanity in 2000, and the documentary based on his work, which he co-wrote, Slavery: A Global Investigation, won the Peabody Award for 2000 and two Emmy Awards in 2002. He was awarded the Laura Smith Davenport Human Rights Award in 2005; the Judith Sargeant Murray Award for Human Rights in 2004; and the Human Rights Award of the University of Alberta in 2003. He is a Trustee of Anti-Slavery International and was a consultant to the United Nations Global Program on Trafficking of Human Beings. Bales has been invited to advise the US, British, Irish, Norwegian, and Nepali governments, as well as the governments of the Economic Community of West African States, on the formulation of policy on slavery and human trafficking.
His work has also been reflected in legislation—in 2008 the U.S. Congress passed the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, an anti-slavery law which includes recommendations from his book. The non-profit group International Justice Mission added “the end of slavery” to its goals, while Lexis-Nexis’ charitable foundation gave away hundreds of copies of “Ending Slavery” to the American Bar Association.
Please join us for what promises to be an important and informative event.
2011-03-08 - Dr. John A. Ritchie, Former State Department Official and Consul General, Monterrey, Mexico Presents: "U.S.—Mexico Relations: Drug Trafficking and Related Violence"
Speaker: Dr. John A. Ritchie, Former State Department Official and Consul General, Monterrey, Mexico
Topic: "U.S.—Mexico Relations: Drug Trafficking and Related Violence"
Place: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
Date: Tuesday March 8, 2011
Time: Dinner Meeting: Cocktails 6:00 pm; Dinner 6:30 pm
Dr. John A. Ritchie has lived and worked for 24 years in seven Latin American and European countries. He is a respected Ph.D. analyst of complex public and private policy issues, and an effective advocate for trade expansion and overseas business operations. Dr. Richie is a successful negotiator experienced in counter-terrorism programs. He is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, and holds active Top Secret/SCI security clearances.
Dr. Ritchie’s professional experience consists of thirty years’ service in the U.S. Department of State (1976-2006), including Coordinator, U.S.-Mexico Border Affairs, in Washington, D.C. (2004-2006), Consul General, Monterrey (2001–2004), Counselor of Embassy for Labor Affairs, Mexico (1996-2001), Counselor of Embassy for Political/Economic Affairs, Montevideo(1993-1996), and Chief, Internal Political Affairs, U.S. Embassy Madrid (1989-1993). After retiring from State he served as Liaison for the State Department to Congress on Immigration issues (2008 and 2009).
His key achievements include co-negotiating an end to Mexico’s Rio Grande River water debt to the United States; streamlining the permitting process for North American border infrastructure projects; coordinating the first-ever multi-agency counter-terrorism assistance program abroad; and guiding trade/labor relations in NAFTA and MERCOSUR countries.
Dr. Ritchie has received the award for Excellence in Labor Diplomacy from the Secretaries of State and Labor, and has been cited for Outstanding Leadership in directing diplomatic operations overseas. He received his BS and MS degrees from the University of Wisconsin, and his Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University. Dr. Ritchie has taught at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, the University of Central Oklahoma, and Southern Methodist University.
2011-02-16 - Mr. Matthew Hoh, Senior Fellow, Center for International Policy and Director, Afghanistan Study Group Presents: "How To End The $800 Billion War in Afghanistan”
Speaker: Mr. Matthew Hoh, Senior Fellow, Center for International Policy and Director, Afghanistan Study Group
Topic: “How To End The $800 Billion War in Afghanistan”
Place: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
Date: Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Time: 12:00 noon
We are very pleased to announce that our speaker for February will be Mr. Matthew Hoh, Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington, D.C., and the Director of the Afghanistan Study Group, a network of foreign and public policy experts and professionals advocating for a change in US strategy in Afghanistan.
A former State Department official, Matthew resigned in protest from his post in Afghanistan over US strategic policy and goals in Afghanistan in September 2009. His resignation made national deadlines, with large articles in the Washington Post and the Christian Science Monitor, and appearances on PBS’s Newshour and ABC News. It is a mark of Mr. Hoh’s tenacity that even Richard Holbrook could not persuade him to stay in an official position. (for the Washington Post story, follow this link)
Prior to his assignment in Afghanistan, Matthew served in Iraq; first in 2004-5 in Salah ad Din Provincernwith a State Department reconstruction and governance team and then in 2006-7 in Anbar Province as a Marine Corps company commander. When not deployed, Matthew worked on Afghanistan and Iraq policy and operations issues at the Pentagon and State Department from 2002-8.
Matthew’s writings have appeared in Defense News, the Huffington Post, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. The Council on Foreign Relations has cited Matthew’s resignation letter from his post in Afghanistan as an Essential Document. In 2010 Matthew was named the Ridenhour Prize Recipient for Truth Telling.
Do join us for what promises to be a fascinating discussion!
2011-01-14 - Dr. Jason Abbott, Aung San Suu Kyi Endowed Chair, and Director of the Center for Asian Democracy, University of Louisville Presents: "Southeast Asia and China's 'String of Pearls Strategy': Challenges and Implications for the U.S. Foreign Policy in the Region"
Speaker: Dr. Jason Abbott, Aung San Suu Kyi Endowed Chair, and Director of the Center for Asian Democracy, University of Louisville
Topic: Southeast Asia and China's "String of Pearl's Strategy": Challenges and Implications for the U.S. Foreign Policy in the Region
Place: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
Date: Friday January 14, 2011
Time: 12:00 noon
We are very pleased to announce that our first speaker of 2011 will be Dr. Jason Abbott, the new holder of the Aung San Suu Kyi Endowed Chair at the University of Louisville, and Director of the Center for Asian Democracy. Dr. Abbott will discuss China’s naval expansion and more aggressive presence in Southeast and South Asia, its efforts to create a string of bases in the region, and the implications for U.S. foreign policy.
Dr. Jason Abbott is a specialist in Southeast Asian politics with a focus on democratization and political economy. He has previously held positions at the University of Surrey, the School of Oriental and African Studies and The Nottingham Trent University. He is the author of two monographs and three edited volumes as well as articles in a range of journals including Asian Affairs, Asian Studies Review, Contemporary Politics, Development Policy Review, Southeast Asia Review, Security Dialogue and Third World Quarterly. He is an experienced broadcaster and has provided interviews to a range of media organizations, including the BBC New 24, BBC World Service, CNN, Al-Jazeera and the Voice of America.
The Center for Asian Democracy at the University of Louisville was established with funding from the U.S. Congress to promote research and discussion on democracy, processes of democratization, and obstacles to democracy in Asia, including East, Southeast, South and Central Asia. Dr. Abbott joined the University of Louisville in August 2010 to help build the CAD into a nationally and internationally recognized center of expertise on democracy in Asia.
Please join us for what promises to be a timely and interesting meeting!
2010-12-08 - Mr. Henry A “Hank” Levine, Senior Vice President and head of the China Practice with the Albright Stonebridge Group Presents: "US.-China Economic Relations"
Speaker: Mr. Henry A “Hank” Levine, Senior Vice President and head of the China Practice with the Albright Stonebridge Group
Topic: "US.-China Economic Relations"
Place: **Frazier Museum (829 West Main Street), 4th Floor**
Date: Wednesday December 8, 2010 TIME: 12:00 noon luncheon
The Louisville Committee on Foreign Relations is pleased to announce our speaker for December, Mr. Henry Levine, Senior Vice President and head of the China Practice with the Albright Stonebridge Group, and a specialist on Chinese economic issues. Mr. Levine will address U.S.-China relations with a special focus on the vital issues of the U.S. trade deficit with China, investment, and currency valuation.
Hank Levine is a Senior Vice President and head of the China Practice with the Albright Stonebridge Group (ASG) -- a strategic advisory firm in Washington, DC. In this capacity, Mr. Levine helps international firms deepen their interactions with government and non-government entities in China and resolve business issues.
Prior to joining ASG, Mr. Levine spent 25 years as a Foreign Service Officer with the US Department of State. In addition to other assignments, he served twice at the US Embassy in Beijing, and as US Consul General in Shanghai. He also served for three years as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia at the US Commerce Department. In that capacity he was the senior China advisor to two secretaries of Commerce and a lead negotiator for the annual US-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade. Mr. Levine also served for two years as the Chair of the Intensive China Area Studies Course at the US State Department’s Foreign Service Institute.
Mr. Levine has a B.A. in Political Science from Bucknell University. He did graduate work in international affairs at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He is a graduate, with distinction, from the US National War College. He is fluent in Chinese (Mandarin).
PLEASE NOTE THAT WE WILL AGAIN BE AT THE FRAZIER MUSEUM. PARKING IS AVAILABLE BEHIND THE BUILDING.
2010-11-19 - Mr. Jonathan Temin, Senior Program Officer United States Institute for Peace Presents, "Paths to Peace in Sudan"
Speaker: Mr. Jonathan Temin, Senior Program Officer United States Institute for Peace
Topic: "Paths to Peace in Sudan"
Place: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
Date: Friday November 19, 2010
Time: 12:00 noon luncheon
The Louisville Committee on Foreign Relations is pleased to announce our speaker for November, Mr. Jonathan Temin of the U.S. Institute for Peace. Mr. Temin will speak on the subject of the upcoming vote on independence by southern Sudan.
After twenty years of bloody civil war, and five years of uneasy peace, Sudan’s southern region is by all indications poised to vote for independence in the January 2011 referendum. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called the referendum a “ticking time bomb,” and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, under indictment by the ICC for genocide and war crimes, has given mixed signals about whether Khartoum will accept the results.
Jonathan Temin is a Program Officer in the Center for Mediation and Conflict Resolution, where he focuses on Sudan and leads the Institute’s Sudan team. Prior to joining the Institute he spent five years with the nongovernmental organization CHF International designing development and peace-building programs throughout Africa and elsewhere. He has working experience in more than a dozen countries across Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe.
Mr. Temin is the author of more than a dozen publications focusing on Africa, conflict, governance and media in respected journals, edited volumes and newspapers. Mr. Temin is an adjunct professor at Webster University teaching graduate-level courses on Africa and humanitarianism. He holds a B.A. from Swarthmore College and an M.A. in International Relations from The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. He is a former Fulbright Fellow in Ghana.
Please join us for what promises to be a very timely meeting.
2010-10-22 - Hon. Rose Gottemoeller, Assistant Secretary of State for Verification, Compliance, and Implementation Presents "Advancing the Arms Control Agenda in the 21st Century"
Speaker: Hon. Rose Gottemoeller, Assistant Secretary of State for Verification, Compliance, and Implementation
Topic: "Advancing the Arms Control Agenda in the 21st Century"
Place: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
Date: Friday October 22, 2010
TIME: 12:00 noon luncheon meeting
Rose Gottemoeller was sworn in as the Assistant Secretary of State for Verification, Compliance, and Implementation on April 6, 2009. Since 2000, she had been with the CarnegiernEndowment for International Peace. She most recently was a senior associate in the Carnegie Russia & Eurasia Program in Washington, D.C., where she worked on U.S.–Russian relations and nuclear security and stability. She also served as the director of the Carnegie Moscow Center from January 2006 – December 2008. She has been the key figure in negotiating the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with the Russian government.
Formerly Deputy Undersecretary of Energy for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation and before that, Assistant Secretary for Nonproliferation and National Security, also at the Department of Energy, she was responsible for all nonproliferation cooperation with Russia and the Newly Independent States. She first joined the Department of Energy in November 1997 as director of the Office of Nonproliferation and National Security. Prior to her work at the Department of Energy, Gottemoeller served for 3 years as Deputy Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. From 1993 to 1994, she served on the National Security Council in the White House as director for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia Affairs, with responsibility for denuclearization in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus. Previously, she was a social scientist at RAND and a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow. She has taught on Soviet military policy and Russian security at Georgetown University.
Ms. Gottemoeller received a B.S. from Georgetown University, and a M.A. from George Washington University. She is fluent in Russian. Some of you may recall that Ms. Gottemoeller spoke to our Committee in 2001 on the issue of arms control and negotiations. Please give her a warm Kentucky welcome as she returns to Louisville.
2010-09-23 - Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, Director, American Center for Democracy Presents: "The New Economic Warfare Against the U.S. and the West"
Speaker: Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, Director, American Center for Democracy
Topic: “THE NEW ECONOMIC WARFARE AGAINST THE U.S. AND THE WEST”
Place: Frazier Museum, 829 West Main Street, 4th Floor (parking is available behind the museum for $2.00)
Date: Thursday September 23, 2010
Time: Dinner Meeting, 5:45pm cocktails, 6:30 dinner
Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld is one of the world’s top authorities on the financing of terrorism. She is the world’s foremost authority on narco-terrorism, and a sought-after commentator and consultant on the problems of international terrorism, political corruption, money laundering, political terror financing and economic terrorism.
Dr. Ehrenfeld’s book Funding Evil; How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop It (2005) resulted in one of the world’s most famous cases of “libel tourism” when Saudi billionaire Sheikh Khalid bin Mahfouz sued her in a British court and won a £10,000 judgment based on Britain’s libel laws. In response, Dr. Ehrenfeld designed and promoted the Speech Act, which protects the First Amendment freedoms of Americans in foreign defamation suits. The Speech Act was passed by Congress earlier this year (HR 2765) and signed into law by President Obama on August 10.
Dr. Ehrenfeld has lectured in many countries, and has advised banking communities, law enforcement agencies, and governments in many countries. She was a research scholar at New York University School of Law, a visiting scholar at the Columbia University Institute of War and Peace Studies, and a fellow at Johns Hopkins SAIS. She holds the PhD in Criminology from the Hebrew University School of Law, Jerusalem.
Dr. Ehrenfeld’s articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times the Los Angeles Times, the Jerusalem Post, and the New York Sun. She frequently appears as a guest on television news programs, including BBC’s The World, Fox News, C-SPAN, CNN, ABC, NBC, and MSNBC.
PLEASE NOTE WE WILL BE AT THE FRAZIER MUSEUM FOR THIS EVENT. LCFR members are welcome to tour the Museum’s exhibits after Dr. Ehrenfeld’s talk (see directions below. Directions are on the back of the hard copy).
For additional information about the American Center for Democracy and Dr. Ehrenfeld’s work, please see the Center’s website at Public Integrity.
2010-05-19 - Ambassador Brian E. Carlson, Senior Inspector and Team Leader. Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of State Presents: "The Battle For Global Public Opinion"
Speaker: Ambassador Brian E. Carlson, Senior Inspector and Team Leader. Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of State
Topic: “The Battle For Global Public Opinion”
Date: Wednesday May 19, 2010
Time: 12:00 noon luncheon meeting
Location: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
The Louisville Committee is pleased to announce our speaker for May, Ambassador Brian E. Carlson.
Ambassador Brian Carlson, an experienced public diplomacy specialist and a Career Minister in the Foreign Service, serves the State Department as senior inspector and team leader in the Office of the Inspector General.
For the last three years, Ambassador Carlson was the State Department’s key liaison with the Department of Defense for strategic communication. He worked under the direction of three Under Secretaries of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs: Karen Hughes, James K. Glassman and Judith McHale.
Ambassador Carlson served 36 years in the Foreign Service, including as the Ambassador to the Republic of Latvia 2001-2005. Other postings abroad took him to Spain, England, Norway, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Venezuela. Since returning to Washington in 2005, Ambassador Carlson has led inspection teams for the Inspector General of the Department of State and the Broadcasting Board of Governors in the Middle East and Washington. He lectures on strategic communication and public diplomacy at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center and before public and civic groups.
Before going to Riga, and while managing worldwide operations for the Under Secretary of State, Ambassador Carlson co-produced President Clinton’s November 2000 “White House Conference on Culturernand Diplomacy.” He has advanced nine overseas trips for U.S. presidents and managed press operations forrninternational events.
During his years in Madrid, Carlson helped found the U.S.-Spain Council and develop a $4 million scholarship fund to send young Spaniards to American universities. In London, during the first Gulf war, he helped establish ties to emigre Arab newspapers to support U.S. policy. As the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Carlson managed the opening of new U.S. public diplomacy operations in Eastern Europe, Russia and the new former-U.S.S.R. states. His Washington assignments include directing the State Department press office and managing public diplomacy programs in Eastern and Western Europe. Ambassador Carlson speaks Latvian, Spanish, Norwegian, Bulgarian and Serbian, and enjoys flying his single-engine plane.
2010-04-20 - Dr. Vanda Felbab-Brown, Foreign Policy Fellow, Brookings Institution Presents: "The Complexities of Narco-Terrorism"
Speaker: Dr. Vanda Felbab-Brown, Foreign Policy Fellow, Brookings Institution
Topic: "The Complexities of Narco-Terrorism"
Place: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
Date: Tuesday April 20, 2010
Time: 12:00 noon Luncheon
The Louisville Committee on Foreign Relations is pleased to present our speaker for April, Dr. Vanda Felbab-Brown, who will speak on the timely issue of narcoterrorism. Dr. Felbab-Brown is a Foreign Policy Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. where she focuses on the national security implications of illicit economies and strategies for managing them. She is also an adjunct professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown Univer-rnsity’s School of Foreign Service.
Dr. Felbab-Brown has been an Assistant Professor, Security Studies Program, Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service (2007-08); Research Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University (2005-06); Research Associate, Seminar XXI (2004-05); Teaching Fellow, Department of Political Science, MIT (Spring 2004); Re-rnsearch Assistant, Department of Political Science, MIT (2001-03); and Junior Fellow, CarnegiernEndowment for International Peace (1999-2000).
A frequent commentator for the media, Dr. Felbab-Brown is the author of Shooting Up:rnCounterinsurgency and the War on Drugs (Brookings Press, 2009), which examines drugs and terrorism issues in Columbia, Peru, Afghanistan, Burma, Northern Ireland, Turkey and India. In addition, she has published articles on narco-terrorism in the Journal of International Peacekeeping, Journal of Conflict Studies, National Strategy Review Forum, The Washington Quarterly, and many others.
Dr. Felbeb-Brown received her Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2007, and her B.A. from Harvard University (1999). Her dissertation received the American Political Science Association’s Harold D. Lasswell Prize for best dissertation in the field of public policy in 2007. She is fluent in French and Czech. A notable quote of Dr. Felbab-Brown’s: "There has not been one single case in which an insurgency has been defeated by eco-rnnomic means -- and this includes drugs. It has never worked anywhere."
Please join us for this important meeting, and bring a guest!
2010-03-25 - Mr. David Culp, Legislative Representative, Quaker Nuclear Disarmament Program Presents: "The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and Start Topic: Follow-on Agreement"
Speaker: Mr. David Culp, Legislative Representative, Quaker Nuclear Disarmament Program Presents: "The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and Start Topic: Follow-on Agreement"
Place: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
Date: Thursday March 25, 2010
Time: 12:00 noon Luncheon
The Louisville Committee on Foreign Relations is pleased to announce our speaker for late March, Mr. David Culp of the Friends Committee on National Legislation. Mr. Culp will speak to us on the issue of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which President Obama’s administration is trying to get through the Senate, but which faces serious opposition.rn
David Culp has fifteen years’ experience on the issue of nuclear arms control and disarmament legislation. He was instrumental in the passage of the nuclear testing moratorium in 1992; the ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1997; and the defeat of a new nuclear warhead, the “bunker buster,” in 2004.
Prior to his current position with the Friends Committee on National Legislation, Mr. Culp was a lobbyist in the Indiana State Legislature for a statewide citizens group, successfully opposing two nuclear power plants. He is one of six lobbyists on nuclear disarmament registered to work on Capitol Hill.rn
The United States Senate has in the past declined to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, but it’s likely to come up for a vote this summer. Speaking at the National Defense University in February of this year, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced the Obama administration would move aggressively to seek Senate ratification of the Treaty this summer, as part of the administration’s Nuclear Posture Review (see the New York Times, February 18, 2010).
Please join us for what promises to be a lively and informative meeting!rn
2010-02-16 - Dr. Asbed Kotchikian, Lecturer, Bentley University Presents: "Iran: The Islamic Republic Challenged"
Speaker: Dr. Asbed Kotchikian, Lecturer, Bentley University
Topic: "Iran: The Islamic Republic Challenged"
Place: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
Date: Tuesday February 16, 2010
Time: 12:00 noon luncheon
The Louisville Committee on Foreign Relations is pleased to have as our February speaker Dr. Asbed Kotchikian, Lecturer at the Global Studies Department at Bentley University, in Waltham, Massachusetts. Dr. Kotchikian will discuss the current turmoil in Iran and the implications for US foreign policy.
Before joining Bentley, Dr. Kotchikian was the Assistant Director of the International Affairs Program at Florida State University where he taught courses in Eurasian and Middle Eastern politics. He spent two years (2000-2002) in former Soviet republics of Armenia, Georgia and Latvia, where he conducted research and was a visiting lecturer in political science and international relations at local universities.
During the last 10 years, Dr. Kotchikian has also traveled extensively and lived in the Middle East (Iran, Lebanon, Syria) and former Soviet Union. He has written, lectured, presented, and organized conferences on topics such as foreign policies of small and weak states, national identity, and regional developments in the Middle East and Eurasia within academic and public venues in the South Caucasus, Middle East, the US, and Europe.
Dr. Kotchikian has published articles and book chapters in various venues including Demokratizatsiya, Insight Turkey, and Central Asia and the Caucasus. His book, entitled The Dialectics of Small States: Foreign Policy Making in Armenia and Georgia, was published in 2008. He is currently the editor of the academic peer reviewed journal, Armenian Review.
Dr. Kotchikian received his MA and Ph.D. from Boston University, and completed his BA at American University in Beirut, Lebanon. He specializes in the politics of the Middle East and the former Soviet Union, and is well-versed in the politics of the Caucasus.
2010-01-19 - Mr. Joseph V. Montville, Director of the Abrahamic Families Reunion Project, Senior Fellow and Chairman, Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution Presents: "Muslim-Jewish Reconciliation: The Key To Middle East Peace"
Speaker: Mr. Joseph V. Montville, Director of the Abrahamic Families Reunion Project, Senior Fellow and Chairman, Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution
Topic: “Muslim-Jewish Reconciliation: The Key To Middle East Peace”
Date: Tuesday January 19, 2010
Time: 12:00 noon luncheon meeting
Location: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
The Louisville Committee is very pleased to announce our speaker for January, Mr. Joseph V. Montville. Mr. Montville is Director of the Abrahamic Families Reunion Project at the Easlen Center for Theory and Research and TRACKTWO: an Institute for Citizen Diplomacy. In addition, he is Senior Fellow and Chairman of the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University. Mr. Montville is also Distinguished Diplomat in Residence at American University, Senior Advisor on Interfaith Relations at the Washington National Cathedral, Member of the International Council on Conflict Resolution at the Carter Center in Atlanta, and Member of the International Steering Committee of UNESCO’s Project on Water and Civilization.
Among his many additional posts, Joseph Montville has been Coordinator of the Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission (2003-04), Founder and Director of the Preventive Diplomacy Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington (1994 – 2003), and Lecturer on Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (1993-95). His government service has included working as Consultant on Peacetime Engagement, Office of Strategic Initiatives and Institute for Water Resources, US Army Corps of Engineers (1990-93), and Senior Consultant on Conflict Resolution, Center for the Study of Foreign Affairs (CSFA), Foreign Service Institute, US Department of State (1988-92). He was also Director of the Office of Global Issues, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State (1981-84), and Chief of the Near East Division, Office of Research and Analysis for the Near East and South Asia, in State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (1979-81). During his career in the State Department Mr. Montville served in Libya, Morocco, and Iraq.
Mr. Montville has had many awards and grants, including the Nevitt Sanford Prize “for distinguished professional contribution to political psychology,” of the International Society of Political Psychology, and the Department of State Meritorious Honor Award. He has held an APSA Congressional Fellowship (working for Congressman Lee Hamilton and Senator Gary Hart). He is the author of four books and dozens of articles and book chapters on religion and the Middle East. Mr. Montville received his BA from Lehigh University, his AM from Harvard, and was a PhD Candidate at Columbia University.
The LCFR would like to thank Gray Henry for making Mr. Montville’s visit possible. Please join us for what promises to be a very interesting talk.
2009-11-12 - The Hon. John Yarmuth, Congressman, 3rd District Kentucky Presents: "The Role of The House In U.S. Foreign Policy"
Speaker: The Hon. John Yarmuth, Congressman, 3rd District Kentucky
Topic: The Role of The House In U.S. Foreign Policy
Date: Thursday November 12, 2009
Time: 12:00 noon luncheon meeting
Location: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
The Louisville Committee is very pleased to announce our speaker for November, the Honorable John Yarmuth, Congressman for Kentucky’s 3rd District. Congressman Yarmuth will discuss current foreign affairs issues and the role of the House of Representatives in U.S. foreign policy.
rnRepresentative Yarmuth was first elected to Congress in 2006. In his second term, Congressman Yarmuth was appointed to the Committee on Budget and the Committee on Ways & Means, which is the oldest and considered by many to be the most powerful committee in Congress. He served as President of the Freshman Class, is a Senior Whip for the majority party, and he was named 2007 Legislator of the Year by the Kentucky Reading Association, "Outstanding New Member of Congress" by the Committee for Education Funding, which is the largest non-partisan education organization in the nation, and "Best of Congress" by Working Mother Magazine and Corporate Voices for Working Families.
Though best known for his work in the media, Yarmuth’s diverse career, prior to entering the political arena, gave him a solid background in policy, business, higher education, and healthcare Yarmuth previously worked on Capitol Hill as Legislative Aide for Kentucky Senator Marlow Cook from 1971 to 1974, before moving back to Louisville, to publish Louisville Today Magazine. He went on to work as Associate Vice President of University Relations at the University of Louisville and Vice President of a local healthcare firm.
In 1990, Yarmuth founded LEO Newsweekly, a free publication with approximately 150,000 monthly readers. With Yarmuth as editor, LEO won nearly 100 Metro Louisville Journalism Awards, 16 of which were awarded to Yarmuth for his editorial and column writing. He owned the paper from 1990 to 2003, and continued writing his columns through 2005.
On television he debated local and national politics as co-host and commentator on WAVE 3’s "Yarmuth & Ziegler" in 2003 and “Hot Button” in 2004 and 2005. Born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Congressman Yarmuth graduated from Atherton High School where he served as student government president. He went on to earn a degree in American Studies from Yale University. He and his wife Cathy have one son, Aaron, who graduated from Indiana University in 2006.
Please join us for this unique session with Congressman John Yarmuth.
2009-09-15 - E. Wayne Merry, Senior Associate, American Foreign Policy Council Presents "Dealing With Russia After The Moscow Summit: Reset, Freeze, or a New Operating System?"
Speaker: E. Wayne Merry, Senior Associate, American Foreign Policy Council
Topic: “Dealing With Russia After The Moscow Summit: Reset, Freeze, or a New Operating System?"
Date: Tuesday September 15, 2009
Time: 12:00 noon luncheon meeting
Location: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
The Louisville Committee is pleased to announce our speaker for September, E. Wayne Merry, Senior Associate at the American Foreign Policy Council, a private educational foundation in Washington, D.C. established in 1982. Mr. Merry serves on the boards of directors of the Kolodzei Art Foundation and the Center for Realistic Foreign Policy Studies. He was Director of the Program on European Societies in Transition at the Atlantic Council of the United States in Washington (1999-2000) and later a non-resident Senior Fellow there. He also served for several years as a Senior Fellow of the Lester Pearson Peacekeeping Center in Nova Scotia and as a Russia Country Specialist for Amnesty International/USA. In a twenty-six year career in the United States Foreign Service (1972-98), Mr. Merry served six years in Moscow as a specialist in Soviet (1980-83) and Russian (1991-94) politics. In the early Nineties he was in charge of reporting and analysis on the Soviet collapse and emergence of independent Russia.
In early 1995 Mr. Merry joined the staff of Secretary of Defense Perry as Regional Director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia to develop defense relations with the states of the former Soviet Union. Before retiring from the Foreign Service, Mr. Merry was Senior Advisor to the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, a bipartisan Congressional-Executive human rights monitoring body.rn
Mr. Merry also served in the German Democratic Republic during the early period of the U.S. diplomatic presence in East Berlin (1977-79). At the Embassy in Athens (1987-90), he reported on domestic politics, Greek-Turkish relations and the Cyprus issue, and terrorism. At the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York (1983-85) he specialized in arms control and disarmament issues. He also served in the State Department’s Office of Congressional Relations (1972-74) and Office of Central European Affairs (1985-87), at the Headquarters of the U.S. Marine Corps (1976-77), and at the Embassy in Tunisia (1974-76). He worked on trade issues at the U.S. Treasury (1972).
He has written for the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, International Herald Tribune, Financial Times, USA Today, New York Newsday, Chicago Sun-Times, Washington Times, Defense News, Nation, National Interest, Weekly Standard, American Conservative, Problems of Post-Communism, Ideas on Liberty, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Journal of International Security Affairs, Journal of the USA/Canada Institute in Moscow, Berlin Tagesspiegel and various Internet sites. He is the author of “Russia and China in Asia: Changing Great Power Roles” (AFPC, 2002), “Politics of Central Asia: National in Form, Soviet in Content” in In the Tracks of Tamerlane (NDU, 2004), and “Passing the Baton in the Balkans” in Exiting the Balkan Thicket (CATO, 2001). Mr. Merry has been interviewed on PBS NewsHour and Frontline, CBS 60 Minutes and Evening News, CNBC News, CNN & CNN International, C-Span, National Public Radio's Morning Edition and All Things Considered, Pacifica Radio, WOR New York, Los Angeles Public Radio, Fox Radio Factor and Fox and Friends, Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Asia, BBC World and domestic television and radio, British Independent TV News, German WDR TV, Russian NTV News, CNN Turk, Greek radio and TV, and is often cited in other media.
Mr. Merry lectures for the U.S. Foreign Service Institute, various War Colleges, NATO School, George Marshall European Center for Security Studies, at universities, and for the American Committees on Foreign Relations. He has testified as an expert witness before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, House Government Reform Subcommittee on Agency Organization, Congressional Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and was cited in the report of the Cox Congressional Commission on Russia policy. A native Oklahoman, Mr. Merry attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison (B.A. 1970), Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (M.P.A. 1972), and the U.S. Army Russian Institute in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (1990-91).
2009-06-05 - Dr. Seymour (Sy) Goodman, Professor of International Affairs and Computing Presents: "International Dimensions of Cyber Security"
Speaker: Dr. Seymour (Sy) Goodman, Professor of International Affairs and Computing, Co-Director of the Center for International Strategy, Technology and Policy, Georgia Tech University
Topic: “INTERNATIONAL DIMENSIONS OF CYBER SECURITY”
Place: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
Date: Friday June 5, 2009
Time: Luncheon Meeting, 12:00 noon
The Louisville Committee on Foreign Relations is pleased to announce our June speaker, Dr. Seymour (Sy) E. Goodman. Dr. Goodman is Professor of International Affairs and Computing, jointly at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He serves as Co-Director of both the Georgia Tech Information Security Center and the Center for International Strategy, Technology and Policy. rnProf. Goodman's research interests include international developments in the information technologies (IT), technology diffusion, IT and national security, and related public policy issues. Areas of geographic interest include the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and parts of Africa. His current work includes research on the global diffusion of the Internet and the protection of large IT-based infrastructures.
Immediately before coming to Georgia Tech, he was Director of the Consortium for Research on Information Security and Policy (CRISP) at the Center for International Security and Cooperation, with an appointment in the Department of Engineering Economic Systems and Operations Research, both at Stanford University; and Professor of MIS and a member of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arizona. Earlier tenured and visiting appointments have been at the University of Virginia (Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, and Soviet and East European Studies), Princeton University (Mathematics, and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs), and the University of Chicago (Economics).
Prof. Goodman is Contributing Editor for International Perspectives for the Communications of the ACM , and has served with many government, academic, professional society, and industry advisory and study groups. His research pursuits have taken him to all seven continents and over 80 countries, and have included testimony before legislative bodies and Ministerial-level briefings. He is currently principal investigator on two large grants from the National Science Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation.
Prof. Goodman was an undergraduate at Columbia University, where he started as an aspiring English major, and obtained his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology, where he worked on problems of applied mathematics and mathematical physics.
Please join us for this very timely meeting, and bring a guest!
2009-03-12 - Dr. Cynthia A. Watson, Chair, Department of Security Studies, National War College, Washington, D.C. "What's Burning? Immediate International Priorities For the New President"
Speaker: Dr. Cynthia A. Watson, Chair, Department of Security Studies, National War College, Washington, D.C.
Topic: "WHAT'S BURNING? IMMEDIATE INTERNATIONAL PRIORITIES FOR THE NEW PRESIDENT”
Place: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
Date: Thursday March 12, 2009
Time: Luncheon Meeting, 12:00 noon
The Louisville Committee on Foreign Relations is pleased to announce our speaker for March, Dr. Cynthia A. Watson, Professor and Chair of the Department of Security Studies, National War College. Dr. Watson will speak on the key foreign policy issues facing President Barack Obama.
Dr. Watson studies China-Taiwan in Latin America, civil-military relations and China in the international system. Having joined the faculty of the National War College in August 1992, Cynthia Watson served for five years as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, then for Curriculum and Faculty Development. The National War College’s mission is “to prepare future leaders of the Armed Forces, State Department, and other civilian agencies for high-level policy, command, and staff responsibilities.” Toward this end, selected U.S. and foreign military officers and federal officials receive intensive training in security studies at the Fort McNair facility in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Watson earned a BA from the University of Missouri at Kansas City, a MA from the London School of Economics, and a doctorate from the University of Notre Dame. Before joining the National War College, Dr. Watson was Assistant Dean for Social Sciences and taught in the Department of Political Science at Loyola University Chicago. She has also taught Politics at Ithaca College. Additionally, Dr. Watson has worked for the U.S. General Accounting Office and U.S. House of Representatives.
Dr. Watson is on the Governing Boards of a number of professional organizations and the Editorial Board of Third World Quarterly. Her books, U.S. National Security, and Nation-Building, were published in 2002 and 2004, respectively. In 2006-2007, she published four volumes on U.S. Military Service, Professional Military Education, Nation-Building and Stability Operations, and U.S. National Security (2nd edition). She is currently completing a two-volume set on combatant commands.
2009-02-17 - Dr. Peggy Sands Orchowski: "Immigration and The American Dream: Battling The Political Hype and Hysteria"
Speaker: Dr. Peggy Sands Orchowski, Congressional Correspondent, Hispanic Outlook on Higher Education
Topic: Immigration and The American Dream: Battling The Political Hype and Hysteria
Place: Vincenzo's Restaurant
Date: Tuesday February 17, 2009
Time: 12:00 noon - 1:30 pm
Peggy Sands Orchowski is currently the Congressional Correspondent in Washington DC for the Hispanic Outlook on Higher Education magazine; she covers Congressional, political and legislative affairs that affect Latinos, particularly in higher education. She also writes a monthly column “UNCENSORED”. She was a reporter for the Associated Press in South America, living mostly in Peru, Ecuador and Argentina, where she was an Inter-American Press Association Fellow. Dr. Orchowski also worked in the United Nations Press Corps in Geneva, Switzerland, and her hometown newspaper the Santa Barbara News Press, where she wrote about bilingual education.
In 2005-06, she was an editor at the Congressional Quarterly. Peggy earned her B.A. in journalism at the University of California--Berkeley, MAs in urban affairs (Occidental College) and International Relations (UC Santa Barbara) and a Ph.D. in international educational finance from UC Santa Barbara. Her book Immigration and the American Dream: Battling the Political Hype and Hysteria, was released by Rowman and Littlefield in June 2008. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson wrote that it “should be required reading in every office in Congress and every policy think tank in D.C.”
Peggy speaks four languages and raised her two children to be bilingual/ bicultural. For the past two years she was Vice President for Programs for the Woman’s National Democratic Club in Washington DC, and is an active member of the National Press Club and JAWS, a national symposium for women journalists.
Dr. Orchowski says her most exciting job was Director of the National Olympic Committee department of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, where she developed a staff of 125 interpreters, bilingual aids, and team and press liaisons for the Santa Barbara Olympic Village. Orchowski loves sports, and in her free time, she is an avid golfer, swimmer and biker. In addition, Peggy Orchowski plays violin in several chamber music ensembles in Washington, DC, California, and even in Europe.
2009-01-14 - Ambassador Thomas Dodd, "U.S.-Latin American Relations in a Time of Transition"
Speaker: Ambassador Thomas Dodd, Professor of Latin American History and Diplomacy, Georgetown University
Topic: "U.S.-Latin American Relations in a Time of Transition"
Place: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
Date: 01/14/2009
Time: 6:00 p.m. - 8:30 pm
Thomas Dodd served as ambassador to Costa Rica. Earlier he was Ambassador to the Republic of Uruguay and a professor of Latin American History and Diplomacy at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. From 1969-1973 he was the Director of the Latin American Studies Program forrnGeorgetown's graduate school. Between 1971 and 1991 Ambassador Dodd was a lecturer at several institutions, including the Foreign Service Institute, the Defense Intelligence College, the National Defense University, and the Instituto Technologico de los Estudios Superiore in Guadalajara, Mexico.
From 1970-1972 he served as a consultant to the Policy and Coordination Staff in the Office of the Secretary of State. He worked for the Department of State again when he was Chairman of the Advanced Seminar on Central America and the Spanish Caribbean at the Foreign Service Institute from 1981-1986. He has been a member of the Faculty Advisory Board for the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy since 1982 and has presented lectures to the Business Council on International Understanding at AmericanrnUniversity since 1984. He is a member of numerous professional societies including the American Historical Association, Caribbean Studies Association, and the Inter-American Council, serving as President (1976-1977 and 1985-1986).
Since his diplomatic assignments in Latin America, he has been an adjunct professor in the school of foreign Service of Georgetown University, School of International Service of American University, and the Honors Program at Georgetown University. He also taught American Diplomatic History at the Lizarski University in Warsaw, Poland. Among courses he has offered at the universities are "The Art and Conduct of Diplomacy: Case Studies in Inter American Relations," "US Diplomacy Since the End of World War II", and Latin American Political Leaders in Biographies and Novels".
Ambassador Dodd was a Second Lieutenant at Ft. Holabird in Baltimore, Maryland, from 1958-1959. From 1960-1961 he was a Captain in the U.S. Army, Military Intelligence Detachment with the 49thrnArmored Division. He was awarded the U.S. Army Commendation Medal in 1961. He received his B.S. in 1957 from Georgetown University School, of Foreign Service. In addition to a M.A. in Latin American History from Elliot School of International Relations and a Ph.D. in Latin American History from George Washington University., Ambassador Dodd has studied at the Universities of Barcelona and Santander inrnSpain, Iberoamericana in Mexico, and the John Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC.
2008-11-21 - Mr. David C. Isby, Security Consultant & Defense Analyst Presents: "Afghanistan: An Update"
Speaker : Mr. David C. Isby, Security Consultant & Defense Analyst
Topic : “AFGHANISTAN: AN UPDATE”
Place : Vincenzo’s Restaurant
Date : Friday November 21, 2008
Time : 12:00 noon luncheon
We are very pleased to have as our November speaker Mr. David Isby, a Washington based attorney and consultant on security issues, who will speak on “America’s Forgotten War: An Update on Afghanistan.” Mr. Isby is the author of three books on Afghanistan War in a Distant Country: Afghanistan, Invasion and Resistance; War in Afghanistan: The Soviet Empire at High Tide; and Russia's War in Afghanistan, in addition to many articles on the subject. He has also just returned from a month in Afghanistan.
Mr. Isby has written or edited 20 books and over 350 articles on national security. He has published articles in The Washington Times, International Defense Review, Jane’s Intelligence Review, Military Intelligence, and Field Artillery Journal. He is a former specialist correspondent for Jane’s Intelligence Review, a leading open-source monthly publication on current and potential threats. Mr. Isby is familiar with many of the key players in Afghanistan. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Committee for a Free Afghanistan Inc., a non-partisan 501c3 educational and relief group established in 1981, and he is a former staff member of the U.S. Congress.
Mr. Isby has provided policy support for U.S. government negotiations (bilateral and multilateral), and has written studies and given advice to the U.S. government on security matters. He has testified before congressional committees as an independent expert on Afghanistan. Mr. Isby frequently appears in print and electronic media as an expert on national security issues, including on PBS, CNN, Voice of America, C-Span, the Lehrer Newshour, the McLaughlin Group, Fox and Friends, and others.
In earlier times, Mr. Isby was condemned by the Soviet government as a "bourgeois falsifier of history" and "a CIA agent...with whom accounts will be settled" in reference to his work on Afghanistan.
2008-10-29 - Major Wade Weems, Director, Iraq Provincial Reconstruction, Transition and Stabilization, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, U.S. Department of State: "The Situation in Iraq"
Speaker: Major Wade Weems, Director, Iraq Provincial Reconstruction, Transition and Stabilization, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, U.S. Department of State.
Topic: "THE SITUATION IN IRAQ"
Place: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
Date: Friday October 29, 2008
Time: 12:00 noon luncheon
The Louisville Committee on Foreign Relations is pleased to announce that on October 29 we will host Major Wade Weems, Director for Provincial Reconstruction, Transition and Stabilization in Iraq with the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs in the State Department. Major Weems will discuss how the provincial reconstruction teams in Iraq have worked with local and provincial governments, business groups and civil society leaders on training, job creation, and stabilization in Iraq in the wake of the surge (please see the back of this notice for a description of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams’ work).
Wade Weems is the Director of the office of Iraq Provincial Reconstruction, Transition and Stabilization at the U.S. Department of State. Major Weems graduated from Yale University and was commissioned in the U.S. Marine Corps, serving on active duty for five years. Upon leaving the service, he attended Georgetown Law School and the Georgetown School of Foreign Service.
Upon graduating, Major Weems clerked for a federal appellate judge and practiced law at the Williams & Connolly firm in Washington, DC. Recalled to active duty in 2004, then-Major Weems deployed to Iraq as a civil affairs officer in Fallujah. He was hired by the State Department in 2006 to serve in the newly-formed Iraq Provincial Reconstruction Team program, first as the Deputy Team Leader and Team Leader with the Muthanna province PRT until July 2007, and then as Team Leader in the Wasit province PRT until May 2008, when he returned to the United States to take his current position with the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC.
Please make your reservations right away for this important and timely meeting.
2008-10-06 - The U.S., The European Union, and NATO: Dealing With A Resurgent Russia
Speaker: His Excellency Dominique Struye de Swielande, Belgian Ambassador to the United States
Topic: "The U.S., The European Union, and NATO: Dealing With A Resurgent Russia"
Place: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
Date: Monday October 6, 2008
Time: 5:45 pm cocktails, 6:30 pm dinner
The Louisville Committee on Foreign Relations is very pleased to announce our speaker for October, His Excellency Dominique Struye de Swielande, Belgian’s Ambassador to the United States. The Ambassador will speak on the timely topic of how Europe and the United States should react to recent Russian actions in the Caucasus.
Dominique Struye de Swielande became ambassador of Belgium to the United States on December 29, 2006. Ambassador Struye previously served as Belgium’s permanent representative to NATO (2002-06), ambassador to Germany (1997-2002), head of cabinet for the staternsecretary for international cooperation (1995-96), and director-general for administration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1994-95).
In addition, Ambassador Struye was diplomatic counselor and deputy head of cabinet for the prime minister (1992-94), head of cabinet for the minister of foreign affairs (1991-92), director of the European Section at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1990), deputy permanent representative and consul general to the United Nations in Geneva (1987-90), as well as counselor in the cabinet of the foreign affairs minister (1984-87). He has also served postings in Zaire,rnZimbabwe, Nigeria and Austria. Ambassador Struye, who joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1974, holds a doctorate in law from the Catholic University of Leuven, a master’s of law from the University CollegernLondon, and a master’s of European Law from the University of Ghent.
Those of you who attended the May 2008 National Conference of the American Committees on Foreign Relations will remember that Ambassador Struye hosted the Thursday evening reception at his residence. Please join us on October 6 for what promises to be a delightful evening!
2008-09-24 - Dr Arthur Cyr, A.W. and Mary Margaret Clausen Present: "Presidential Politics and Foreign Policy: Continuity or Change?"
Speaker: Dr Arthur Cyr, A.W. and Mary Margaret Clausen Distinguished Professor of Political Economy and World Business, and Director of the Clausen Center for World Business, at Carthage College
Topic: Presidential Politics and Foreign Policy: Continuity or Change?
Place: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
Date: Wednesday September 24, 2008
Time: 12:00 noon
We are very pleased to have as our first speaker of the 2008-09 season Dr. Arthur Cyr, A.W. and Mary Margaret Clausen Distinguished Professor of Political Economy and World Business, and Director of the Clausen Center for World Business, at Carthage College in Kenosha Wisconsin. Previously, he was President of the Chicago World Trade Center Association, the Vice President of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, a faculty member and administrator at UCLA, and an executive at the Ford Foundation.
Dr. Cyr is a 1966 graduate of UCLA and received a Ph.D. with distinction in political science from Harvard University in 1971. At Harvard, he was a Frank Knox fellow in England, an NDEA Title IV fellow, and a teaching fellow. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He is the author of four books: After the Cold War – American Foreign Policy, Europe and Asia (Macmillan and New York University Press 1997; revised edition 2000, translated into Korean by Oruem Publishing), Liberal Politics in Britain (John Calder Ltd. and Transaction Press 1977; revised edition 1988), U.S. Foreign Policy and European Security (Macmillan and St. Martin’s 1987), British Foreign Policy and the Atlantic Area: The Techniques of Accommodation (Macmillan 1979); and the monograph Taiwan: The Commercial State (Baltimore: University of Maryland School of Law 2003; revised edition 2005). His articles have appeared in Armed Forces and Society, The Atlantic Community Quarterly, Comparative Politics, International Affairs, National Strategy Forum Review, Orbis, Parliamentary Affairs, Perceptions, Policy Sciences, Political Science Quarterly, RUSI Journal, and Society. He has also written for the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, The China Post, Financial Times, JoongAng Daily (Korea), Los Angeles Times, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Milwaukee Business Journal, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, and other newspapers as well as the Scripps Howard News Service.
Dr. Cyr is a director of the Institute of World Affairs in Milwaukee. He is a member of the Century Association and the Council on Foreign Relations, the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, and the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). Dr. Cyr served in the U.S. Army reserves and on active duty as an officer in military intelligence.
2008-05-21 - Dr. Anthony T. Sullivan, President of Near East Support Services and Associate, Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, University of Michigan Presents: "A New War In The Middle East?"
Speaker: Dr. Anthony T. Sullivan, President of Near East Support Services and Associate, Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, University of Michigan
Topic: "A NEW WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST?
Place:Vincenzo’s Restaurant
Date: Wednesday May 21, 2008
Time: 12:00 noon- 1:30 pm
The Louisville Committee on Foreign Relations is pleased to host Dr. Anthony T. Sullivan, President of the consulting firm Near East Support Services and an internationally recognized senior scholar who holds an honorary position as Associate at the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Michigan. He is the author of or contributor to five books and some 80 journal articles and academic reviews focusing on the Arab and Islamic world. He has lectured at many universities and public policy institutes in the United States and abroad.
In recent years Dr. Sullivan has played a major role in bringing together moderate Muslim intellectuals and their appropriate Western counterparts to address contemporary challenges which are common to both the West and the Islamic world. Currently, he is a Senior Fellow at the Fund for American Studies in Washington, D.C. and serves as a faculty member at the International Institute of Political and Economic Studies (Greece) operated in conjunction with Georgetown University.
For many years Dr. Sullivan held senior positions at Relm and Earhart foundations in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He retired from Earhart Foundation in December 2000 as Director of Program and Corporate Secretary. Earhart Foundation supports advanced research in such disciplines as international affairs, political science, economics, and history, as well as in related fields in the humanities. Dr. Sullivan received his B.A. degree from Yale University, his M.A. from Columbia University, and his Ph.D in European and Middle Eastern history from the University of Michigan. He speaks both French and Arabic and travels frequently to Europe and the Middle East.
Following our last meeting, a number of members indicated an interest in hearing an alternative viewpoint on the subject of Islam and the Middle East. Dr. Sullivan’s career suggests that he will indeed present “the other side.” Our email subscribers can read his most recent article, “Wars and Rumors of War: The Levantine Tinderbox,” Middle East Policy (Spring 2008), as an attachment to this announcement.
2008-04-15 - Ms. Leslie S. Lebl, Senior Fellow of the Atlantic Council, and a Principal of Lebl Associates: "Radical Islam in Europe"
Speaker: Ms. Leslie S. Lebl, Senior Fellow of the Atlantic Council, and a Principal of Lebl Associates
Topic: "RADICAL ISLAM IN EUROPE"
Place: Vincenzo’s Restaurant
Date: Tuesday April 15, 2008
Time: 12:00 noon-1:30 pm
Leslie S. Lebl is a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Atlantic Council of the United States and Principalrnof Lebl Associates. A writer, lecturer and consultant on political, security and military matters, she is arnformer Foreign Service Officer with expertise in European political and defense issues, Balkan peacekeeping and Russian politics and economy.
Ms. Lebl's publications include a monograph about advancing U.S. interests with the European Union,rnpublished by the Atlantic Council pursuant to a grant from the Smith Richardson Foundation; analysesrnof European defense policy for the Cato Institute and of various aspects of U.S.-European relations for Orbis; U.S.-EU cooperation in combating terrorism in Policy Review; and U.S.-German security ties in EuroFuture, as well as articles in The Weekly Standard and The Hartford Courant. Please see one of her articles on the back side of this announcement.
During and after her 24-year career in the State Department, Ms. Lebl has spoken on a variety of foreign policy subjects at Wilton Park, the Royal Institute for International Affairs in London, the NATO Winter Seminar in Moscow, the NATO School in Oberammergau, the College of Bruges, the Leader Development and Education for Sustained Peace Course at the Naval Postgraduate School, and the Central European University in Budapest. Her topics have included transatlantic relations, European security issues,rnradical Islam in Europe, peacekeeping in the Balkans, civil-military cooperation in crisis management operations, and the role of the EU in the Balkans.
In the Foreign Service, Ms. Lebl served as Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels. Prior to that, she was Political Advisor to the Commander of Stabilization Forces (SFOR) in Bosnia-Herzegovina, first in the American sector in Tuzla and then at SFOR headquarters in Sarajevo. Other assignments included Russia, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York, Bolivia, Germany and Poland, as well as a year as diplomat-in-residence at Yale University.rnShe speaks French, German, Russian, Polish and Spanish.
Ms. Lebl is a fellow of the World Affairs Council of Connecticut and a member of the Foreign Policy Research Institute and Women in International Security. A graduate of Swarthmore College (B.A. in history, 1972), Ms. Lebl received an M.A. in foreign affairs from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in 1979. She currently lives with her husband, Giora M. Lebl, in Woodbury, Connecticut.
Understanding Muslim extremism
2008-03-06 - Dr. Pauline H. Baker, President, Fund for Peace: "WEAK AND FAILING STATES: WHAT ARE THEY? HOW DO WE RECOGNIZE THEM? WHAT DO THEY SIGNIFY? HOW SHOULD WE RESPOND?"
SPEAKER:Dr. Pauline H. Baker, President, Fund for Peace
TOPIC:"WEAK AND FAILING STATES: WHAT ARE THEY? HOW DO WE RECOGNIZE THEM? WHAT DO THEY SIGNIFY? HOW SHOULD WE RESPOND?"
PLACE:Vincenzo’s Restaurant
DATE:Thursday March 6, 2008
TIME:12:00 noon-1:30 pm
We are very pleased to announce our speaker for March, Dr. Pauline H. Baker. Pauline Baker is President of the Fund for Peace, a research and educational organization that works to prevent war and alleviate the conditions that cause war. The Fund for Peace specializes in the diagnosis and resolution of conflicts associated with weak and failing states and on foreign policy responses.
A political scientist with over 40 years of experience, Dr. Baker has been Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She has taught at the University of Lagos in Nigeria, the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. She was also a professional staff member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and staff director of the African Affairs Subcommittee. She received her PhD from the University of California at Los Angeles, and her undergraduate degree from Douglass College, Rutgers University.
Dr. Baker pioneered the development of CAST, the Conflict Assessment System Tool, which provides a model for the early warning and assessment of post-conflict policies. CAST was the basis for the Failed States Index, published by Foreign Policy magazine and the Fund for Peace. As you can see from the Washington Post article on the reverse of this announcement, the Failed States Index is used to assess the status of such fragile states as Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Pakistan, Burma, and North Korea.
Dr. Baker is the author of Urbanization and Political Change: The Politics of Lagos, The United States and South Africa: The Reagan Years, and over 80 articles and essays. She is a member of the Board of the Council for a Community of Democracies, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and has been a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at American University. She also served as Deputy Director of the Congressional Program at the Aspen Institute, an educational program in which over 100 Members of Congress participated. Be sure to join us for this timely talk!
2008-02-13 - Dr. Minxin Pei, Senior Associate and Director of the China Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Dr. Minxin Pei. Dr. Pei is a senior associate and director of the China Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His research focuses on democratization in developing countries, economic reform and governance in China, and U.S.-China relations. He is the author of From Reform to Revolution: The Demise of Communism in China and the Soviet Union (Harvard University Press, 1994), and many articles in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, National Interest, Modern China, China Quarterly, Journal of Democracy, New York Times, Washington Post, International Herald Tribune, Newsweek International, and many other periodicals. Pei is a frequent commentator on BBC World News, Voice of America, and National Public Radio. Please see his recent article from the Financial Times on the back of this announcement.
Dr. Pei’s most recent book, just issued in paperback, is China’s Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental Autocracy (Harvard University Press, 2006). Philippe Schmitter (European University Institute) said of the book, “Pei's notion of a 'trapped transition' will prove valuable-and not just for its application to China. It serves to challenge the deterministic and evolutionary assumptions behind much of the literature on democratization.” Joseph Fewsmith (of Boston University) said “In this superb work, Pei asks penetrating questions about the course of China's development. He offers a very effective critique of the gradualist approach to reform, explaining that the problems China faces are not incidental to but an integral part of that approach. Powerfully argued, this is a major contribution sure to stir debate.” Elizabeth Perry of Harvard has called him “unquestionably one of this country's best informed and most insightful analysts of contemporary Chinese politics.”
Dr. Pei received the M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University, his MFA from the University of Pittsburgh, and his BA from the Shanghai International Studies University. Please join us for this important and timely meeting!
2008-01-15 - Mr. Gustavo Coronel, International Energy Consultant: "Venezuela: Strategies of an Authoritarian Petro-State"
Mr. Gustavo Coronel is an internationally-recognized energy consultant and also the Founder and President of Pro Calidad de Vida, a Caracas-based non-governmental organization devoted to promoting civic values, ethics and leadership in his native Venezuela. In 1988 he served as election campaign manager for Henrique Salas Romer, who challenged Hugo Chavez for the Presidency of Venezuela (and lost).
2007-12-14 - Ms. Tamar Jacoby, Senior Fellow, The Manhattan Institute, Speaks About "Immigration Reform: Policy and Politics"
The Louisville Committee is pleased to host Ms. Tamar Jacoby, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, for a December 14th talk on the pressing topic of immigration reform. Ms. Jacoby, a leading conservative voice in favor of immigration reform, works to organize the center-right behind reform proposals taking shape in Washington.
The luncheon will take place at 12:00 noon at Vincenzo's Restaurant on Friday December 14th, 2007.
2007-11-09 - Israel and Palestine: Time to Make Peace
Ambassador Philip C. Wilcox, President, Foundation for Middle East Peace, Washington, DC “Israel and Palestine: Time to Make Peace”
2007-10-15 - Engaged Democracies: The Future of Indo-US Relations
Dr. Sumit Ganguly, Director of the India Studies Institute and Rabindranath Tagore Professor of Indian Cultures and Civilizations at Indiana Universityrn“Engaged Democracies: The Future of Indo-US Relations”
2007-09-17 - The End of Alliances
Dr. Rajan Menon, Fellow of the New America Foundation, and Monroe J. Rathbone Professor of International Relations, Lehigh Universityrn“The End of Alliances”
2007-09-06 - Securing America: The Challenge of National Security in the 21st Century
Dr. Lawrence J. Korb, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progressrn“Securing America: The Challenge of National Security in the 21st Century”rn
2007-05-30 - American Diplomacy: Whatever Happened to Walking Softly?
Ambassador Carey Cavanaugh, Director of the Patterson School for Diplomacy and Internal Commerce, University of Kentuckyrn“American Diplomacy: Whatever Happened to Walking Softly?"
2007-04-19 - At War’s End: Building Peace After Civil Conflict
Dr. Roland Paris, Winner of the 2007 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Orderrn“At War’s End: Building Peace After Civil Conflict”
2007-03-20 - Annihilation From Within: The Ultimate Threat to Nations
Dr. Fred Charles Ikle, Distinguished Scholar, Center for Strategic and International Studiesrn“Annihilation From Within: The Ultimate Threat to Nations”
2007-02-14 - The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister: Three Who Changed the World
Mr. John O’Sullivan, Senior Fellow, the Hudson Institute, and Editor-at-Large, The National Reviewrn“The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister: Three Who Changed the World”
2007-01-17 - Israel Lebanon, and a Dangerous Middle East
Mr. Barry Jacobs, Director of Strategic Studeis and Associate Director, Asia and Pacific Rim Institute, American Jewish Committeern“Israel Lebanon, and a Dangerous Middle East”