This week’s peace picks
Are things slowing down, or is it just me? Still some excellent events:
1. Is the Arab Awakening Marginalizing Women? WWC, 9 am-12:45 pm May 14
The Middle East Program and the Council of Women World Leaders
of the Woodrow Wilson Center
present
Is the Arab Awakening Marginalizing Women?
Monday, May 14, 2012
6th Floor Flom Auditorium
8:30 – 9:00am Coffee
9:00 – 9:20am Welcoming Remarks: Haleh Esfandiari, Director, Middle East Program, Woodrow Wilson Center
Opening Remarks: Jane Harman, President, Director and CEO, Woodrow Wilson Center
9:20 – 11:00am PANEL 1
Fatima Sbaity-Kassem, Former Director, UN-ESCWA Centre for Women
“A Cup Half Full or Half Empty: Is a ‘Women’s Spring’ Inevitable in Transitions to Democracy?”
Lilia Labidi, Visiting Research Professor, Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore; Former Minister of Women’s Affairs, Tunisia; and Former Fellow, Woodrow Wilson Center
“Tunisia: Policies and Programs for Women during a Democratic Transition”
Moushira Khattab, Public Policy Scholar, Woodrow Wilson Center; Former Egyptian Ambassador to South Africa and to the Czech and Slovak Republics; and Former Minister of Family and Population, Egypt
“Lost in Translation: The Case of Egyptian Women”
Moderator: Haleh Esfandiari, Director, Middle East Program, Woodrow Wilson Center
11:00 – 11:15am Coffee Break
11:15 – 12:45pm PANEL 2
Rend Al-Rahim, Executive Director, Iraq Foundation; and Former Iraqi Ambassador to the United States
“Iraq: Frustrated Expectations”
Rola Dashti, Former member of Kuwaiti Parliament and Chairman, Kuwait Economic Society
“Arab Springs without Flowers”
Caryle Murphy, Public Policy Scholar, Woodrow Wilson Center
“Awakening Rains on Saudi Desert, Brings Green Shoots of Hope, Change”
Rangita de Silva de Alwis, Director, Women in Public Service Project Institute 2012, Wellesley College; and Director of International Human Rights Policy, Wellesley Centers for Women
“The Way Ahead: Some Lessons from Other Post-Conflict Communities”
Moderator: Robin Wright, USIP-Wilson Center Distinguished Scholar
Read MEP’s latest publication on women in the Arab Spring: Reflections on Women in the Arab Spring
2. Solution or Stall? The Next Round of Talks with Iran, Bipartisan Policy Center, 10-11:30 May 14
Address:
1225 Eye St. NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC, 20005
On May 23, the United States and its international partners will sit down in Baghdad for another round of talks with Iran. While a diplomatic deal remains the best hope for a peaceful resolution to the international standoff over Iran’s nuclear program, experts disagree over what terms the United States should accept and what can be expected from Iran. Join BPC and a distinguished panel for a discussion of what to expect from, and what is at stake in, the upcoming negotiations.
Featuring
Ambassador Dennis Ross
Counselor, The Washington Institute
Elliott Abrams
Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
Undersecretary Nick Burns
Professor, Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of of Government
Steve Rademaker
Principal, Podesta Group
Member, BPC Iran Task Force
Moderated by
Mortimer Zuckerman
CEO and Chairman, Boston Properties
Member, BPC Iran Task Force
Introduction by
Michael Makovsky
Director, BPC Foreign Policy Project
REGISTER
3. Delivering Dignity in the Arab World through Political and Economic Reform, CIPE, noon-2 pm May 15
CIPE, 1155 15th Street, NW, 7th Floor
May 15, 2012
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
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Speakers: Larry Diamond, Director, Stanford University’s Center on Michele Dunne, Director, Atlantic Council’s John D. Sullivan, Executive Director, Moderated by Steve Clemons, Editor at Large, The Atlantic, Last year’s uprisings made clear that people were willing to make great sacrifices to build states and societies capable of delivering dignity to their citizens. This luncheon will offer an opportunity to explore the key linkages between political and economic reform in the Arab world and identify the opportunities and challenges to institutionalizing democratic values in economies throughout the region. |
Lunch will be provided.
RSVP by Friday, May 11, 2012
4. The U.S. National Security Budget, AEI, 1-2:30 May 15
On Tuesday, May 15, join the American Enterprise Institute, the Center for a New American Security and the New America Foundation to discuss an issue sure to face the next administration: U.S. defense spending in light of American grand strategy. With the “sequestration” mechanism set to cut at least $500 billion from the Department of Defense, on top of budget reductions in recent years, discussants will consider how these cuts could affect defense policy. Former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michèle Flournoy will provide introductory remarks.
This event continues a unique collaboration among these institutions in the presidential campaign season, “Election 2012: The National Security Budget.” Past conversations covered the U.S. role in the world and policy in East Asia, and a later event will consider U.S. relations with the greater Middle East.
Schedule:
12:45 p.m. – Registration
1:00 p.m. – Remarks
Featured Speaker
Michèle Flournoy
Former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
Panelists
David Barno
Senior Advisor and Senior Fellow, Center for a New American Security
Thomas Donnelly
Resident Fellow and Co-Director of the Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies, American Enterprise Institute
Michael Waltz
Senior National Security Fellow, New America Foundation
Former Advisor on South Asia to Vice President Cheney
Moderator
Peter David
Washington Bureau Chief, The Economist
2:30 p.m. – Adjournment
Election 2012: Informing the National Security Agenda was launched on March 15 with a kickoff discussion on America’s role in the world and the strategies this might suggest for the elected commander-in-chief.
Future Events Include:
The U.S. and the Greater Middle East, keynote to be announced
July 17, 2012
New America Foundation, 1899 L St. NW #400 Washington, DC
This fall’s presidential election comes at a critical moment for the United States and the world. The demands for U.S. leadership are substantial–particularly in the dynamic Middle East and Asia-Pacific–yet fiscal challenges are forcing reductions in American military power and defense spending, sparking new thinking about American engagement with the world. In this important election season, many Americans will look to the next U.S. president to repair the economy, but he will nonetheless inherit complicated military and diplomatic engagements and govern as commander-in-chief of the globe’s most powerful nation. As a result, the discussion of national security issues must take a central role in the 2012 presidential election.
This event is the third in a series of four campaign-season seminars on the critical issues of U.S. foreign and defense policy, sponsored by AEI, the Center for a New American Security and the New America Foundation.
5. A Blueprint for Engagement Amid Austerity: A Bipartisan Approach to Reorienting the International Affairs Budget, 10:30-noon, May 16
Featuring report co-authors:
John Norris, Executive Director of the Sustainable Security and Peacebuilding Initiative, Center for American Progress
Connie Veillette, Director of the Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Program, Center for Global Development
And distinguished panelists:
Gordon Adams, Professor, School of International Service, American University, and Distinguished Fellow, the Stimson Center
Andrew Preston, Counsellor for Development, Foreign and Security Policy Group, British Embassy
Moderated by:
George Ingram, MFAN Co-Chair
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
10:30am–12:00pm
The Glover Park Group
1025 F St NW, 9th Floor
Washington, DC
Please RSVP by Monday, May 14th to event@modernizeaid.net. Space is limited.
Please join MFAN for a discussion on a new report from the Center for American Progress and the Center for Global Development. The report, A Blueprint for Better Engagement Amid Austerity: A Bipartisan Approach to Reorienting the International Affairs Budget, calls for a more focused approach to how the U.S. delivers economic and security assistance.
We will be joined by the report’s authors to share their findings and recommendations followed by a reactions from a distinguished panel and Q and A.
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