Next week’s “peace picks”

Good stuff, especially early in the week.  Heavy on Johns Hopkins events, but what do you expect?

1.  Strengthening the Armenianj-Azerbaijani Track II Dialogue, Carnegie Endowment, October 17, 10-11:45 am

With Philip Gamaghelyan, Tabib Huseynov, and Thomas de Waal

With the main diplomatic track negotiating the conflict over Nagorny Karabakh apparently deadlocked, more attention is being focused on how tension can be reduced and bridges built through Track II initiatives and dialogue between ordinary Armenians and Azerbaijanis.

2.  Afghanistan: To Stay or Not to Stay? Fen Hampson, room 417 Nitze building of JHU/SAIS, 12:30-2 pm
Hosted by the Canadian Studies Program and Global Theory and History Program Fen Hampson, director of the Norman Peterson School of International Affairs and fellow at the Royal Society of Canada, will discuss this topic. For more information and to RSVP, contact slee255@jhu.edu or 202.663.5714.
3.  Tunisia: Act Two, room 500, The Bernstein-Offit Building of JHU/SAIS, 2:30-4 pm
Hosted By: SAIS Center for Transatlantic Relations (CTR)

Mohamed Salah Tekaya, Tunisian ambassador to the United States; Tamara Wittes, deputy assistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs and deputy special coordinator for Middle East Transitions at the U.S. Department of State; Mohamed Ali Malouche, president of the Tunisian American Young Professionals; and Kurt Volker (moderator), managing director of CTR, will discuss this topic. For more information and to RSVP, visit http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2279443878/mcivte

4.  Mexico and the War on Drugs:  Time to Legalize, former Mexican President Vicente Fox, held at Mount Vernon Place, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, Cato Institute, to be held at the Undercroft Auditorium, 900 Massachusetts Ave., N.W. October 18, noon

Mexico is paying a high price for fighting a war on drugs that are consumed in the United States. More than 40,000 people have died in drug-related violence since the end of 2006 when Mexico began an aggressive campaign against narco-trafficking. The drug war has led to a rise in corruption and gruesome criminality that is weakening democratic institutions, the press, law enforcement, and other elements of a free society. Former Mexican president Vicente Fox will explain that prohibition is not working and that the legalization of the sale, use, and production of drugs in Mexico and beyond offers a superior way of dealing with the problem of drug abuse.

To register for this event, email events@cato.org, fax (202) 371-0841, or call (202) 789-5229 by noon, Monday, October 17, 2011.

Monday, October 17, 2011
7:30 PM – 9:00 PM

Lindner Family Commons, Room 602
1957 E Street, NW

5. Revolutionary vs. Reformist Islam: The Iran-Turkey Rivalry in the Middle East, Lindner Family Commons, room 602, 1957 E St NW, October 18, 7:30-9 pm

Ömer Tapinar, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

Hadi Semati, Iranian Political Scientist

Mohammad Tabaar, Adjunct Lecturer, GW

The Arab Spring has brought Iran and Turkey into a regional rivalry to sell their different brands of Islam. While Tehran is hoping to inspire an “Islamic awakening”, Ankara is calling for a “secular state that respects all religions.” The panelists will discuss this trend and its influences on domestic politics in Iran and Turkey.

The Middle East Policy Forum is presented with the generous support of ExxonMobil.

This program will be off the record out of respect for its presenters.

RSVP at: http://tinyurl.com/3ntfx9o

Sponsored by the Institute for Middle Eastern Stuides

6.  Is There a Future for Serbs in Kosovo? SAIS Center for Transatlantic Relations (CTR), room 410 Nitze, October 18, 4-5 pm
Slobodan Petrovic, deputy prime minister of Kosovo; Daniel Serwer, senior fellow at CTR and professorial lecturer in the SAIS Conflict Management Program; and Michael Haltzel (moderator), senior fellow at CTR, will discuss this topic. For more information and to RSVP, visit http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2316101522/mcivte.
7.  United Nations Peacekeeping Operations:  Fit for Purpose? Saul/Zilkha Rooms, The Brookings Institution 1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW, October 18, 4:30-6 pm
Historic demand for United Nations peacekeeping has seen 120,000 peacekeepers deployed worldwide, managing crises from Lebanon to Darfur. UN political officers are currently assisting the new government in Libya and logisticians are backing up African Union troops in Somalia. But while crises from Haiti to Sudan underline the critical role of these operations, increasing budgetary and political pressures, and questions about the role and impact of peacekeeping, are adding complexity to policy debates about reform.
Introduction and Moderator
Panelists
Anthony Banbury
Assistant-Secretary General for Field Support
United Nations
William J. Durch
Senior Associate, Future of Peace Operations
Stimson Center

 PS:  I really should not have missed this Middle East Institute event:

Troubled Triangle: The US, Turkey, and Israel  in the New Middle East, Stimson Center, 1111 19th St NW, 11th floor, October 18, 4:30-6 pm

The trilateral relationship between Turkey, Israel and the United States has deteriorated in recent years as Israel’s and Turkey’s foreign policy goals in the Middle East continue to diverge. Despite repeated attempts, the United States has failed to reconcile these two important regional allies since the divisive Mavi Marmara incident in May 2010. Please join us for a discussion of this critical yet troubled trilateral relationship in a time of unprecedented change in the Middle East.  The discussion will feature Prof. William B. Quandt, Edward R. Stettinius, Jr., Professor of Politics at University of Virginia, Lara Friedman, Director of Policy and Government Relations and Gönül Tol, Executive Director of MEI Center for Turkish Studies, and will be held on October 18 at the Henry L. Stimson Center.

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