A busy week ahead in the Nation’s Capital:
1. Unthinkable: Iran, the Bomb, and the American Strategy
Monday, September 16, 2013 | 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM EDT
Brookings Institute, 1775 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20036
Lying behind the turmoil over Syria is another, greater challenge. It is the challenge of a nuclear Iran, which already haunts our Syria debate. President Rouhani’s election has revived the hope of many that a negotiated resolution of this issue is still possible. However, the history of U.S.-Iranian relations leaves room for considerable skepticism. Should these negotiations fail too, the United States will soon have to choose between the last, worst options: going to war to prevent a nuclear Iran or learning to contain one. A nuclear Iran is something few in the international community wish to see, but many fear that a choice will have to be made soon to either prevent or respond to that reality. Can the U.S. spearhead a renewed international effort to prevent a nuclear Iran, or will it be forced to do the unthinkable: to determine how to contain a nuclear Iran?
In his new book, Unthinkable: Iran, the Bomb, and American Strategy, Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Kenneth M. Pollack tackles these daunting questions. Pollack delves deeply into what the U.S. can do to prevent a nuclear Iran, why the military options leave much to be desired and what the U.S. might have to do to make containment a viable alternative. On September 16th at 2:30pm, Foreign Policy at Brookings will host Senior Fellow Kenneth M. Pollack to discuss these sobering issues. Robin Wright, a United States Institute of Peace distinguished fellow and author of several highly-regarded books on Iran, will moderate the discussion, after which the author will take audience questions. Copies of the book will also be available for sale at the event.
EVENT AGENDA
Tamara Cofman Wittes
Director, Saban Center for Middle East Policy
Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy,Saban Center for Middle East Policy
@tcwittes
Kenneth M. Pollack
Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy,Saban Center for Middle East Policy
Robin Wright
Distinguished Fellow, United States Institute of Peace
2. Is Egypt on the Right Path? A Conversation with Egyptian Policymakers
Monday, September 16 | 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Woodrow Wilson Center, One Woodrow Wilson Plaza, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Event Speakers
Mohamed Anwar El Sadat
Chairman of the Reform and Development Party and
former Chairman of Human Rights Committee (People’s Assembly)
Sameh Fawzy
Former member of the Shoura Council
Nelly Yaacoub
Former member of the Shoura Council
Monday, September 16, 2013
12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
5th floor conference room
Woodrow Wilson Center
LOCATION:
5th Floor, Woodrow Wilson Center
3. US-Indian Economic Relations: A Reality Check
Tuesday, SEP 17, 2013 | 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM
FHI Conference Center, 1825 Connecticut Avenue
Featuring keynote remarks by:
Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky
Former U.S. Trade Representative
Followed by a panel discussion:
Economic Issues in the U.S.-India Relationship
Panelists:
Diane Farrell
Executive Vice President
U.S.-India Business Council
Linda Menghetti Dempsey
Vice President
National Association of Manufacturers
Raymond Vickery
Senior Director
Albright Stonebridge
We are pleased to invite you to a discussion on recent economic developments in India, including a series of recent economic reforms and judicial decisions. International buisinesses have raised concerns about their ability to securely operate in India, specifically regarding its policies on procurement, intellectual property rights, taxes, and preferential market access. Do these reforms signal a protectionist turn and isolation from international business?
This event will showcase the views of stakeholders in the public and private sector their views on the current economic situation in India and chart ways forward in order to maximize the economic potential of the bilateral relationship.
*Please note our event will take place at the FHI Conference Center, 1825 Connecticut Avenue.*
4. Report Launch: China-US Cooperation: Key to the Global Future
Tuesday, September 17, 2013 | 10:00 am – 12:00pm
Atlantic Council, 1030 15th Street NW, 12th Floor
Washington, D.C.
Please join the Strategic Foresight Initiative (SFI) of the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security for the launch of its latest report,China-US Cooperation: Key to the Global Future. Building upon advances made at the Sunnylands summit by Presidents Xi and Obama, the report provides significant recommendations on how to shape this new model for international power relations, which will be critical to addressing future global challenges.
A DISCUSSION WITH
Mr. Stephen J. Hadley
Principal
RiceHadleyGates
Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, USAF (Ret.)
President
The Scowcroft Group
Mr. C.H. Tung
Chairman
China-United States Exchange Foundation
and
Vice Chairman
Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference
Mr. Li Zhaoxing
Former Foreign Minister
People’s Republic of China
MODERATED BY
Mr. Frederick Kempe
President and CEO
Atlantic Council
Supported by the China-United States Exchange Foundation, SFI partnered with the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS) under the Chinese Foreign Ministry to engage in a joint assessment of long-term global trends and their implications for the China-US relationship and our global future. This joint assessment, based on separate Chinese and US global trends reports and completed by high-level working groups on both sides, concluded that future global prosperity and security will require a strong US-China relationship, along with multilateral cooperation to meet global challenges that no country can manage on its own.
If you have any questions, please contact us via email. The event will also be available online via Livestream and live tweeted with the hashtag#USChinaFuture.
Please note the Atlantic Council’s new address, and use the West Tower elevators to the 12th floor when you arrive.
Agenda:
10:00 a.m. Welcome
Stephen J. Hadley, Principal, RiceHadleyGates
C.H. Tung, Former President and Chief Executive Officer, Executive Council of Hong Kong
10:10 Introductory Remarks
Cui Tiankai, Ambassador, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China
10:20 Report Highlights
Mathew J. Burrows, Director, Strategic Foresight Initiative, Atlantic Council
10:30 Panel Discussion
Moderator: Frederick Kempe, President and CEO, Atlantic Council
11:20 Audience Questions and Answers
This report is published in partnership with the China Institute of International Studies and funded by the China-US Exchange Foundation.
Bios:
Mr. Stephen J. Hadley is a principal at RiceHadleyGates and a board director at the Atlantic Council. He served as national security advisor from 2005 to 2009. During his tenure, Mr. Hadley served as the principal White House foreign policy advisor to President George W. Bush, directed the National Security Council staff, and managed the interagency national security policy development and execution process. Prior to serving as the president’s national security advisor, Mr. Hadley served as assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor from 2001 to 2005. He has also served as assistant secretary of defense for international security policy (1989-93) and counsel to the special review board established by President Ronald Reagan in 1987 to inquire into arms sales to Iran (the Tower Commission).
Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, USAF (Ret.) is the president of The Scowcroft Group and interim chairman of the Atlantic Council. He has served as the national security advisor to both Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush. From 1982 to 1989, he was vice chairman of Kissinger Associates, Inc., an international consulting firm. His twenty-nine-year military career began with graduation from West Point and concluded at the rank of lieutenant general following service as the deputy national security advisor. His Air Force service included professor of Russian history at West Point; assistant air attaché in Belgrade, Yugoslavia; head of the political science department at the Air Force Academy; special assistant to the director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and military assistant to President Richard Nixon. In 1991, Gen. Scowcroft was presented with the Medal of Freedom by President George H.W. Bush and in 1993 was presented with the i nsignia of an Honorary Knight of the British Empire (KBE) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace. In 2009, he was presented the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Mr. C.H. Tung is founding chairman of the China-US Exchange Foundation. Mr. Tung served two terms as chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“HKSAR”), People’s Republic of China from 1997 to 2005. Mr. Tung studied in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, and graduated from the University of Liverpool in 1960 with a Bachelor of Science. He was conferred an Honorary Doctor of Law, University of Liverpool and an Honorary Doctor of Social Sciences, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Mr. Tung was previously the chairman of Orient Overseas (International) Limited, a listed company in Hong Kong, from 1979 to 1996.
Mr. Li Zhaoxing is president of the China Public Diplomacy Association. Mr. Zhaoxing has been one of China’s most outstanding and best known international statesmen for over twenty-five years. He was chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of China’s National People’s Congress from 2008 to 2013 and served as China’s Foreign Minister from 2003 to 2007. Earlier in his career, Mr. Zhaoxing served as the Chinese Ambassador to the United States from 1998 to 2001, and as the Chinese Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1993 to 1995. Since recently stepping down as head of the Foreign Ministry, Mr. Zhaoxing has been appointed president of the Research Centre for National Soft Power at the China Foreign Affairs University and honorable president of the Chinese People’s Institution of Foreign Affairs.
The moderator for this event, Mr. Frederick Kempe, is president and CEO of the Atlantic Council. He comes to the Council from a twenty-five year career at the Wall Street Journal, where he won national and international recognition while serving in numerous senior editorial and reportorial capacities. His last position with the paper was in New York, where he served as assistant managing editor, international, and “Thinking Global” columnist. Prior to that, he was for seven years, the longest serving editor and associate publisher of the Wall Street Journal Europe, simultaneously functioning as European editor for the Global Wall Street Journal from 2002 to 2005. As managing editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe from 1992 to 1997, he founded and managed the Central European Economic Review (CEER), which covered the countries of the former Soviet bloc. In 1993 he also co-founded Convergence, a magazine on Europe’s digital economy. Mr. Kempe has written four books that have been published in several languages: Divorcing the Dictator: America’s Bungled Affair with Noriega; Siberian Odyssey: A Voyage into the Russian Soul; and Father/Land: A Personal Search for the New Germany, BERLIN 1961: Kennedy, Khrushchev and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth (a New York Times bestseller).
5. Raising the Stakes on Syria: The US Policy Debate and Regional Dynamics
Wednesday, September 18, 2013 | 9:00am – 10:30 am
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1779 Massachusetts Avenue NW
In the wake of President Obama’s national address, U.S. allies and adversaries are struggling to assess the implications of the Russian proposal on Syria’s chemical weapons and what Washington’s next steps will be on Syria.
Pressure is building for the Obama administration to get more involved in arming the rebel opposition, even as Americans continue to send a clear message that they want their country to stay out of the conflict. Carnegie experts will discuss regional views of recent developments and the impact of U.S. policy.
Andrew S. Weiss is vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment, where he oversees research in Washington and Moscow on Russia and Eurasia.
Karim Sadjadpour is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment. A leading researcher on Iran, he has conducted dozens of interviews with senior Iranian officials and hundreds with Iranian intellectuals, clerics, dissidents, paramilitaries, businessmen, students, activists, and youth, among others.
Paul Salem is director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, Lebanon. He works and publishes on the regional and international relations of the Middle East as well as issues of political development and democratization in the Arab world.
Marwan Muasher is vice president for studies at Carnegie, where he oversees research in Washington and Beirut on the Middle East. His career has spanned the areas of diplomacy, development, civil society, and communications.
6. A New Look at American Foreign Policy: The Second in a Series of Discussions
Wednesday, September 18, 2013 | 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Heritage Foundation, Lehrman Auditorium, 214 Massachusetts Avenue NE
American foreign policy is in flux. Libertarian-minded conservatives are joining liberals in their critiques of military interventions, defense budgets and the surveillance practices of the National Security Agency. “Neo” conservatives like John McCain are lining up with liberals in denouncing libertarian conservatives as “isolationists.” Liberals and conservatives alike are unhappy with the Obama Administration’s tepid support for humanitarian interventions in Syria and its failure to advance human rights abroad – normally touchstones of liberal internationalism. Are fundamental ideological changes in American foreign policy afoot?
Join us as Heritage continues a series of discussions regarding this question, what the dangers and opportunities are, and whether they afford an opportunity to take a “new look” at American foreign policy.
William Inboden
Assistant Professor of Public Affairs, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin
Richard Williamson
Partner, Salisbury Strategies, LLP
Ted R. Bromund, Ph. D.
Senior Research Fellow in Anglo-American Relations, Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, The Heritage Foundation
Kim R. Holmes, Ph.D.
Distinguished Fellow
7. The Future of US Aid to Egypt
Wednesday, September 18, 2013 | 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Project on Middle East Democracy and the Rafik Hariri Center, Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2220
Following the Egyptian military’s July 3 ouster of the country’s first freely elected president and other troubling indications of democratic reversal, the debate surrounding U.S. military and economic aid to Egypt is heating up again. Some in Congress argue that the U.S.-Egypt relationship should adapt to a changing Egypt, while others contend that linking U.S. assistance, especially military aid, directly to Egyptian democracy may not be in line with U.S. security interests. As the end of the current Fiscal Year approaches on September 30, decisions hang in the balance regarding assistance not yet delivered to Egypt’s military.
Beyond pressing questions regarding the continuation or suspension of aid, broader questions regarding the structure and nature of U.S. assistance to Egypt remain. The U.S. aid package to Egypt has remained essentially unchanged for decades, and many argue that it no longer serves U.S. interests effectively. Some in Congress want to strengthen democracy-related conditions in recent spending bills and limit the ability of the State Department to waive them. At the same time, others argue that the primary basis for U.S. aid to Egypt must continue to be Egypt’s upholding of its peace treaty with Israel and its cooperation on regional security issues.
Please join us to hear a distinguished expert panel examine this timely and complex issue. The panelists will examine the U.S.-Egypt foreign assistance relationship, including an exploration of how foreign aid could be an effective lever to encourage progress toward democracy in Egypt.
Join us for a discussion of these topics with:
Larry Diamond
Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
Director, Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, Stanford University
Stephen McInerney
Executive Director,
Project on Middle East Democracy
Ambassador Dennis Ross
Counselor,
Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Moderator: Michele Dunne
Director, Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East
Vice President, Atlantic Council
Please contact Alex Russell at alex.russell@pomed.org with any questions.
8. Syria’s Humanitarian Crisis and Its Political Implications
Wednesday, September 18, 2013 | 10:00am – 11:30am
Brookings Institution, Falk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Avenue NW
The mounting civilian casualties in Syria and the displacement of millions of Syrians – with prospects of more casualties and displacement – make this the most daunting humanitarian crisis facing the world today. Over two million Syrians are presently registered as refugees in neighboring countries like Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon, which are struggling to meet the needs of Syrian refugees arriving at their borders. Five million Syrians have been internally displaced and delivery of humanitarian aid inside the country is incredibly difficult. The destruction and displacement have political implications for the region and for the international community.
On September 18, the Brookings Foreign Policy Program will host a discussion on the humanitarian crisis in Syria and its political consequences and will launch a new policy brief, “Syrian Crisis: Massive Displacement, Dire Needs and a Shortage of Solutions.” Senior Fellow Elizabeth Ferris, co-director of the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement, will introduce the policy brief, provide insights based on recent travel to the region and moderate the discussion. The head of U.S. delegation at the International Committee of the Red Cross, François Stamm, will provide perspectives based on their work inside Syria. Salman Shaikh, director of the Brookings Doha Center, will offer comments on both the immediate and long-term political effects of the humanitarian crisis.
After the program, the panelists will take audience questions. Follow the conversation on Twitter at #FPSyria.
MODERATOR
Elizabeth Ferris
Co-Director, Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement
Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy
@Beth_Ferris
Salman Shaikh
Director, Brookings Doha Center
Fellow, Saban Center for Middle East Policy
@Salman_Shaikh1
François Stamm
Head of Delegation, United States
International Committee for the Red Cross
9. The State of the US-India Relationship
Wednesday, September 18, 2013 | 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Brookings Institution, Falk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Avenue NW
On September 27, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet with President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. Over the last decade and a half, U.S.-India relations have progressed steadily, albeit with some hiccups along the way. More recently, there has been a sense that the relationship has been dominated by drift and differences, but even so, the bilateral relationship today is broader and deeper than ever before.
On September 18, the India Project at Brookings will host a discussion on the state of U.S.-India relations, exploring the foreign and security policy, economic, energy and people-to-people dimensions of the relationship, the prospects for further cooperation and the differences that might persist. Panelists will include Subir Gokarn, director of research of Brookings India in New Delhi; Tanvi Madan, fellow and director of the India Project; Neil Ruiz, senior policy analyst and associate fellow in the Brookings Metropolitan Policy program; and Charles Ebinger, senior fellow and director of the Brookings Energy Security Initiative. Brookings Senior Fellow Stephen P. Cohen will moderate the discussion.
After the program, panelists will take audience questions.
EVENT AGENDA
Moderator
Stephen P. Cohen
Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy,Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence
MODERATOR
Subir Gokarn
Director of Research, Brookings India & Senior Fellow
The Brookings Institution
Tanvi Madan
Fellow, Foreign Policy
Director, The India Project
@tanvi_madan
Neil Ruiz
Senior Policy Analyst & Associate Fellow, Metropolitan Policy
The Brookings Institution
@neil_ruiz
Charles K. Ebinger
Director, Energy Security Initiative
Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy
@CharlesEbinger
10. The United States and Iraq: A Time for Remembrance and Renewal
Wednesday, September 18, 2013 | 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Brookings Institution, Saul/Zilkha Rooms, 1775 Massachusetts Avenue NW
With a number of crises in the Middle East developing with ever greater intensity, many Americans wish to turn inward. While the Obama administration wishes to turn eastward toward Asia and the Pacific, the problems of the Middle East will not allow it. Amid debates over Middle East policy, Iraq is a recurring subject. It is used as a warning, as a specter and even as a curse. Rarely is it cast as a U.S. interest, let alone as an ally. Yet Iraq is suffering its own crises, and it is largely forced to weather them alone. Buffeted by the events in the wider region, struggling with its own internal fissures, Iraq soldiers on.
Largely overlooked by Americans and most of the rest of the world, Iraqi oil production has expanded so that it is the second largest exporter in OPEC and as such a critical element in the health of the global (and American) economy. In the spring, Iraq held provincial elections that were remarkable for being free and fair, for delivering a striking political outcome and reaffirming the demand of the Iraqi people that their country cling to its nascent democracy despite the rising tide of violence. And lying on the eastern flank of the Arab world, spanning the ethnic and religious divides of the Middle East, almost alone among the states of the region, Iraq has sought to maintain some degree of neutrality in the fights that threaten to consume their part of the world.
Americans may wish to forget Iraq, but we should not. Iraqis cannot afford to forget about the United States.
On September 18, the Saban Center for Middle East Policy will host His Excellency Lukman Faily, Ambassador of Iraq to the United States, for an address and discussion on Iraq’s current circumstances, events in the region and an outline of Baghdad’s thinking about a new partnership with Washington. Senior Fellow Kenneth M. Pollack will moderate the discussion, as well as a question and answer session following Ambassador Faily’s remarks.
Featured Speaker:
H.E. Lukman Faily
Iraqi Ambassador to the United States
Moderator:
Kenneth M. Pollack
Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy,Saban Center for Middle East Policy
11. Consolidating a Culture of Peace in Africa: A Contribution to International Peace in Africa
Friday, September 20, 2013 | 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Woodrow Wilson Center, One Woodrow Wilson Plaza, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Event Speakers
The Honorable Blaise Compaoré, President of Burkina Faso, will give an in-depth look at the current security situation on the continent and will discuss the future challenges to peace in West Africa. This event will also feature introductory remarks from Wilson Center President, Director, and CEO, Jane Harman. Steve McDonald, Africa Program and Project on Leadership and Building State Capacity Director, will moderate the discussion.
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