Peace picks April 28 – May 2

1. American Energy Prowess in a Strategic Foreign Policy Perspective

Monday, April 28 | 12 – 4:30pm

12th floor, The Atlantic Council; 1030 15th Street NW

REGISTER TO ATTEND

The Atlantic Council and the Hungarian Presidency of the Visegrad Group invite you to an upcoming two-day conference titled American Energy Prowess in a Strategic Foreign Policy Perspective. The aim of the conference is to discuss and debate the strategic foreign policy aspects of the American shale gas revolution and its effect on the transatlantic relationship and the Central and Eastern European region. The Ukraine crisis has brought European energy security back into the forefront. The conference will bring together leaders from the US government, Central and Eastern Europe, and the energy industry to determine ways to strengthen European energy security and the transatlantic alliance through reinforced energy ties.

The conference begins with a luncheon discussion on Monday, April 28 at the Atlantic Council. The following day, participants will continue over breakfast on Capitol Hill to engage with key congressional decision-makers.

A full agenda of the event can be found here 

2. An Assessment of President Obama’s Trip to Korea and Japan

Monday, April 28 | 2 – 3pm

Korea Economic Institute Conference Facility, 1800 K Street NW Suite 1010

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President Barak Obama will travel to Korea and Japan this week as part of a four-nation trip to Asia to highlight the United States’ commitment to the region. In Korea, he is expected to reaffirm the United States’ commitment to the alliance, review progress on efforts to denuclearize North Korea, and discuss the continuing implementation of the U.S.-Korea FTA. In Japan, the President hopes to expand progress on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, highlight efforts to modernize the alliance, and explore ways to expand cooperation within the alliance.

SPEAKERS
Michael Green, Senior Vice President for Asia and Japan Chair, CSIS & Associate Professor of International Relations, Georgetown University

James Fatheree, Executive Vice President, U.S.-Korea Business Council & Senior Director for Korea and Japan, U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Scott Snyder, Senior Fellow for Korea Studies and Director of the Program on U.S.-Korea Policy, Council on Foreign Relations

Moderated by: David Sanger, National Security Correspondent, The New York Times

3. India’s Post-Election Foreign Policy

Monday, April 28 | 3 – 4:30pm

The Carnegie Endowment, 1779 Massachusetts Avenue NW

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Will the next government in New Delhi have new answers to old foreign policy challenges? India will still face a weakening Pakistan, a strengthening China, a global order stressed by continuing challenges to sovereignty and threats to the global commons, and questionable strategic partnerships.
C. Raja Mohan, Jayant Prasad, and Ashley J. Tellis will assess the future of India’s foreign policy.

4. Reimagining India: What’s at Stake in the World’s Largest Democracy?

Tuesday, April 29 | 9 – 11am

Webcast only

Register to watch live webcast

As Indians head to the polls to elect a new government, the country and its leaders – in government, business, civil society, the media and beyond – face critical choices that will impact India’s  political, business, technology, social, cultural and foreign policy spheres. .

On April 29, the Asia Society, The India Project at Brookings and McKinsey & Company will host a discussion examining these choices and exploring the challenges and opportunities facing India outlined in the publication, Reimagining India: Unlocking the Potential of Asia’s Next Superpower. Published by McKinsey & Company, the volume provides insights from Gurcharan Das, Sonia Faleiro, Bill Gates, Shekhar Gupta, Vinod Khosla, Mallika Sarabhai, Eric Schmidt and Fareed Zakaria, among others.

India’s Ambassador to the United States Dr. S. Jaishankar will give a keynote address, and will be followed by a panel of experts who will explore what is at stake in the election and beyond for India’s people, its economy and security and for the U.S.-India relationship. Panelists will include Brookings President Strobe Talbott; Senior Fellow Stephen P. Cohen; Christopher Graves, global CEO of Ogilvy Public Relations; and Adil Zainulbhai, senior advisor to McKinsey India. Tom Nagorski, executive vice president at the Asia Society will provide introductory remarks.

5. Women and Youth in Modern Iran: A Film Festival
Presented by Search for Common Ground and the Middle East Program and the Woodrow Wilson Center

Tuesday, April 29 at 8:30am to Wednesday, April 30 at 1:30pm

6th Floor, Woodrow Wilson Center; 1300 Pennsylvania Ave NW

REGISTER TO ATTEND

Please join us for a two-day screening of a selection of Iranian films highlighting the present day realities of women and youth in Iran. Each day concludes with a panel discussion with experts on Iranian cinema. These films display the complexities and the various aspects of Iranian culture from a religious, traditional, and legal point of view.

The list of films and schedule can be found here

6. Israel vs. al-Qaeda: Emerging Challenges on Two Fronts

Tuesday, April 29 | 12:30 – 2pm

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 1828 L Street NW Suite 1050

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For Israel, the major battlefields of the post-9/11 “global war on terror” were long confined to faraway countries such as Afghanistan, Yemen, and Mali. Yet with the emergence of potent al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Israel now faces the prospect of being a frontline state, as jihadist threats on its northern and southern borders compound the longstanding challenge from the Iran-Syria-Hezbollah axis.
To discuss these issues, The Washington Institute is pleased to host a Policy Forum with Ehud Yaari and Michael Morell.

7. The Future of the Russian-American Security Dialogue after the Ukrainian Crisis
Cosponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Wednesday, April 29 | 4 – 5pm

5th Floor, Woodrow Wilson Center; 1300 Pennsylvania Ave NW

REGISTER TO ATTEND

Power politics seem to be back in Europe, pulling the U.S.-Russian relationship back into a standoff reminiscent of the Cold War. Despite renewed confrontation over Ukraine, the US and Russia still have fundamentally compatible views on threats such as transnational crime, terrorism, proliferation of WMD and sensitive technologies, man-made disasters, piracy, illegal cyber activity, drug trafficking, and climate change. What is in store for U.S.-Russian cooperation on these challenges in the wake of the Ukraine crisis? Is a common security agenda vis-à-vis these threats still possible?

SPEAKER
Feodor Voitolovsky
Head of Section, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of World Economy and International Relations of Russian Academy of Sciences

8. A Transatlantic Pivot to Asia, featuring H.E. Frans Timmermans, Foreign Minister of the Netherlands

Thursday, May 1 | 8am – 2pm

CSIS, 1616 Rhode Island Ave NW

To RSVP, please contact James Mina at CSIS: jmina@csis.org

Please join us for a timely discussion on America’s foreign policy rebalancing toward Asia and future prospects for enhanced transatlantic cooperation in the region on the occasion of the release of the Center for Transatlantic Relations’ new book, A Transatlantic Pivot to Asia: Towards New Trilateral Partnerships, edited by Hans Binnendijk (available May 1). At a time when the international community is faced with a number of challenges in Asia ranging from territorial disputes in the South China Sea, an unpredictable regime in North Korea, and the economic rise of China and its neighbors, enhanced transatlantic cooperation in the region is more essential than ever. Both Washington and Brussels have sought to strengthen their relationships with their Asian partners in recent years through a series of bilateral and multilateral initiatives, yet these efforts have been largely uncoordinated. How can Washington and Brussels work more effectively together with their partners in Asia to enhance prosperity, peace, and stability in the region? What lessons can the U.S. and EU draw from their economic and political efforts in Asia thus far? How do the U.S. trade agendas for both the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) work together? How will the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and escalating tensions with Russia impact U.S. policy in Asia? Our panelists will address these pressing questions and highlight the findings of CTR’s latest book.

A schedule of the event can be found here

9. Freedom House: Freedom of the Press 2014

Thursday, May 1 | 9 – 10:30am

The Newseum, Knight Conference Center, 3rd Floor; 555 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

REGISTER TO ATTEND

The event will feature an in-depth panel discussion on the advances and setbacks in press freedom worldwide.

SPEAKERS
Karin Karlekar
Freedom of the Press project director, Freedom House

Scott Shane
National security reporter, New York Times 

Sue Turton
Correspondent, Al Jazeera 

Moderator
Jim Sciutto
Chief national security correspondent, CNN

10. The OneVoice Movement: Toward a Two-State Solution

Thursday, May 1 | 2 – 3pm

5th Floor, Woodrow Wilson Center; 1300 Pennsylvania Ave NW

REGISTER TO ATTEND

Join OneVoice Palestine-Gaza Director Ezzeldeen Masri as he discusses the challenges of promoting a two-state solution in Gaza and the role of civil society in promoting a peace agreement. Ambassador Marc Ginsberg will provide introductory remarks.

11. Where Next for Japan’s Economic Revitalization?

Thursday, May 1 | 2 – 3:15pm

The Carnegie Endowment, 1779 Massachusetts Avenue NW

REGISTER TO ATTEND

Japan is beginning to emerge from its prolonged economic stagnation following the success of Abenomics. But successful implementation of the administration’s action plan, adopted in January, is critical for sustained economic revitalization.

Yasutoshi Nishimura, senior vice minister of Japan’s Cabinet Office, will discuss the progress in the structural reforms outlined in the plan. He will also address the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade negotiation and its potential to positively impact Japan and the region. Former State Department and White House adviser Matthew P. Goodman will provide comments from a U.S. perspective, and Carnegie’s James L. Schoff will moderate.

12. Twin Challenges to Peace and Stability in Africa and to U.S. Policy: Boko Haram in Nigeria and Civil Conflict in South Sudan

Friday, May 2 | 10 – 11:30am

5th Floor, Woodrow Wilson Center; 1300 Pennsylvania Ave NW

The Africa Program and the International Crisis Group (ICG) invite you to join in a discussion on two of the most imposing threats to African stability: Boko Haram in Nigeria and civil conflict within South Sudan.  Earlier this month, the ICG published its disturbing findings of the political and humanitarian impact of the spreading violence in Nigeria less than one year before the presidential elections.  It also released an analysis of the international community’s failure to foresee and prevent the deadly consequences of the closure of political space in South Sudan.  Both Nigeria and South Sudan are critical to U.S. policy objectives in the region and there has yet to be proposed a clear way forward.

SPEAKERS
Dr. Comfort Ero
Africa Program Director, International Crisis Group

Amb. Princeton Lyman

Monde Muyangwa

Africa Program Director, Wilson Center