Day: November 6, 2018
Peace Picks: November 5 – 11
1. Artificial Intelligence & National Security: The Importance of the AI Ecosystem | Monday, November 5, 2018 | 10:00 am – 12:00 pm | Center for Strategic & International Studies | 1616 Rhode Island Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036 | Register Here
Join the Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group and the International Security Program for a discussion on national security, artificial intelligence, and the nexus between AI’s national security applications and its broader commercial applications. At this launch event, we will present the research and findings of our newest report, Artificial Intelligence and National Security: The Importance of the AI Ecosystem. A public panel discussion will follow, where dialogue will focus on opportunities and challenges in AI investment, adoption, and operational management in the context of national and international security.
Speakers
Dr. David Sparrow
Researcher, Institute for Defense Analysis
Ms. Erin Hawley
Vice President of Public Sector, DataRobot
Dr. Drew Vandeth
IBM Distinguished Researcher & Senior Intelligence Adviser – Systems Acceleration and Memory at IBM Research
Mr. Ryan Lewis
Vice President, CosmiQ Works, In-Q-Tel
Andrew Philip Hunter
Director, Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group and Senior Fellow, International Security Program
2. Afghanistan: What’s Next After Parliamentary Elections | Monday, November 5, 2018 | 12:15 pm – 1:45 pm | New America Foundation | 740 15th St NW #900 Washington, D.C. 20005 | Register Here
What is the state of the war and governance in Afghanistan? With Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections having been completed, recent insider attacks, and a looming presidential election next year, critical events continue to occur in Afghanistan, yet the country where the United States remains fighting its longest war has largely disappeared from American news coverage.
To discuss current events in Afghanistan and the lead up to the country’s 2019 presidential election, New America welcomes Ioannis Koskinas, a senior fellow with New America’s International Security program currently based in Afghanistan and CEO of the Hoplite Group, a company focused on sustainable and innovative solutions to complex problems, in the most challenging environments and harshest conditions. Koskinas retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2011 after a twenty-year career in Special Operations.
Speakers
Ioannis Koskinas
Senior Fellow, New America International Security Program
Tresha Mabile
Journalist and Emmy-Award Nominated Documentary Director, Producer, and Writer
3. Mexican Migration Flows: From Great Wave to Gentle Stream? | Tuesday, November 6, 2018 | 9:30am – 12:00 pm | Wilson Center | 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 6th Floor, Washington, DC 20004 | Register Here
There are few relationships as long-standing, rich, and complex as the relationship between Mexico and the United States. Mexicans have always made substantial contributions to the labor force, economy, and culture of the United States, and today Mexicans continue to be the largest immigrant population in the United States. Not only is this population substantial in size, the flow of Mexican migrants coming to the United States is becoming more diverse. From farm workers to engineers, restaurant owners to computer coders, Mexican immigrants reflect more and more the diversity and richness of the Mexican labor force. Yet, the number of Mexicans migrants coming to the United States has declined significantly in recent years.
This event aims to shed light on the diversity of Mexicans migrants, as well as discuss opportunities and challenges for them to engage in U.S and Mexican policy. This event will focus on the changing face of Mexican migrants, a narrative of Mexican immigrants and their contributions to the United States, and a discussion on the political and economic power of Mexicans migrants in the UnitedStates and those return to Mexico.
Speakers
Fey Berman
Author, Mexamerica
Ramiro Cavazos
President & CEO, U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Alexandra Délano Alonso
Associate Professor & Chair of Global Studies, The New School
Julia Gelatt
Senior Policy Analyst, Migration Policy Institute
Mario Hernández
Director of Public Affairs, Western Union
Mark Hugo Lopez
Director of Global Migration and Demography Research, Pew Research Center
Maggie Loredo
Co-Founder & Co-Director, Otros Dreams en Acción
Ariel Ruiz Soto
Associate Policy Analyst, Migration Policy Institute
Rachel Schmidtke
Program Associate for Migration, Mexico Institute, Wilson Center
Hon. Ambassador Gerónimo Gutiérrez
Mexican Ambassador to the United States
4. The Ambassador Series: The Evolving U.S.-German Relationship | Wednesday, November 7, 2018 | 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm | Hudson Institute |1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Suite 400Washington, DC 20004| Register Here
Hudson Institute will host Emily Haber, Ambassador of Germany to the United States, for a discussion about the current state of U.S.-German relations. The conversation will be moderated by Walter Russell Mead, the Ravenel B. Curry Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship at Hudson Institute.
The evolving U.S.-German relationship is facing new challenges. While Germany is a critical transatlantic ally, recently the two nations’ leaders have differed publicly on issues ranging from defense spending to trade and Russia. However, as vital trade partners and geopolitical allies, common ground and shared aims continue to unite the two nations
Speakers
Emily Haber
Ambassador of Germany to the United States
Walter Russell Mead
Ravenel B. Curry Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship, Hudson Institute
Kenneth R. Weinstein
President and CEO, Hudson Institute
5. India Connected: How the Smartphone is Transforming the World’s Largest Democracy | Wednesday, November 7, 2018 | 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace | 1779 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20036| Register Here
In 2000, just 20 million Indians had access to the internet. By 2020, the country’s online community is projected to exceed 700 million and more than a billion Indians are expected to be online by 2025. In a new book, India Connected: How the Smartphone is Transforming the World’s Largest Democracy, Ravi Agrawal shows how widespread internet use is poised to transform everyday life in India: the status of women, education, jobs, dating, marriage, family life, commerce, and governance. Building on in-depth reportage, Agrawal will unpack the story of how smartphones and digital technologies are disrupting Indian society in creative and unsettling ways. The Asia Society Policy Institute’s Lindsey Ford will offer introductory remarks and Carnegie’s Milan Vaishnav will moderate. A reception and book signing will follow.
Speakers
Ravi Agrawal
Managing Editor, Foreign Policy Magazine
Lindsey Ford
Director of Political-Security Affairs, Richard Holbrooke Fellow, and D.C. Deputy Director, Asia Society Policy Institute
Milan Vaishnav
Director of the South Asia Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
6. 2018 Midterm Elections: Results & Implications | Thursday, November 8, 2018 | 9:30 am – 11:00 am | Brookings Institute | Falk Auditorium: 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036 | Register Here
This year’s midterm elections could result in a major political shake-up of federal, state, and local leadership. Many candidates face tight, well-funded races and a political climate energized by reactions to President Trump. Once the polls close on Nov. 6, the time for analysis begins: Was the supposed “blue wave” successful? If yes, what are the implications? And if not, why? What can the results tell us about the governing challenges that will face America over the next two years?
On Thursday, Nov. 8, Governance Studies at Brookings will convene a panel of experts to address these questions and more. Panelists will review the results of the race, the factors that produced that outcome, and what this means for the state of American politics moving forward.
Speakers
Indira Lakshmanan
Executive Director, Pulitzer Center
William A. Galston
Ezra K. Zilkha Chair and Senior Fellow, Governance Studies
Elaine Kamarck
Founding Director, Center for Effective Public Management
Senior Fellow, Governance Studies
Molly E. Reynolds
Fellow, Governance Studies
Vanessa Williams
Fellow, Governance Studies
7. A Question of Time: Enhancing Taiwan’s Conventional Deterrence Posture | Friday, November 9, 2018 | 9:30am – 11:00 am | Stimson Center | 1211 Connecticut Ave NW, 8th Floor Washington, DC 20036 | Register Here
The future of Taiwan, a flourishing liberal democracy and vibrant economy, is anything but secure. China, regarding it as a renegade province, has not renounced the use of military force to resolve the standoff. Taiwan must deter China’s aggression, taking steps to convince Chinese leaders that the costs of waging war on Taiwan will outweigh any possible benefits. In a new monograph, “A Question of Time: Enhancing Taiwan’s Conventional Deterrence Posture,” a team of researchers at George Mason University and the University of Waterloo examine a holistic strategy that Taiwan can use to enhance its conventional deterrence posture. Their conclusions are simple but radical: Taiwan must intensely prepare an asymmetric deterrence and challenge orthodoxies in its strategic thinking.
Speakers
Michael A. Hunzeker
Assistant Professor, Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University.
Alexander Lanozska
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Balsillie School of International Affairs, University of Waterloo
Scott Katsnser
Professor, Department of Government and Politics, University of Maryland, College Park
Share this, I'll really appreciate it:
A serious choice
This seems good for election day:
Best guesses are a Democratic win in the House, Republicans retaining the Senate. But if 2016 taught us anything it is not to depend on polling. Polls are heavily dependent on assumptions about turnout, which are particularly difficult this time around. There are lots of indications that more people will vote than usual in midterm elections.
What difference will it make? In foreign policy, the President has free rein. He can pretty much do as he likes, unless legislation constrains him. That is unlikely if the Democrats control only the House, not the Senate.
But there are some issues on which sentiment among both Republicans and Democrats in Congress is different from the White House’s inclinations. Support for NATO and understanding of the European Union, opposition to Russian malfeasance worldwide, sympathy for refugees, doubts about the Yemen war and North Korea, interest in bringing US troops home from Afghanistan and the Middle East, and support for open societies and free economies are all more evident in Congress than in the Administration. If they use their oversight responsibilities well, House Democrats could make common cause on at least some of these issues with like-minded Republicans. That would strengthen the professionals inside government and might lead to some modest course corrections.
But on other issues Democratic control of the House is unlikely to make much difference. They would have preferred that the US stay in the Iran nuclear deal, but they aren’t going to speak up, for fear of being tagged as pro-Iranian, against the renewed sanctions the Administration has imposed. Nor will Democrats strongly oppose tariffs, which some of the party’s traditional support base likes. Certainly China has few sympathizers among Democrats. Support for Israel among Democrats is strong, making it unlikely there will be strong dissent from Trump’s heavy lean against the Palestinians. The areas of bipartisan agreement on foreign policy are not as wide as once they were, but there are still some in which Trump can rely on the House Democrats to be uncritical.
Apart from the specific foreign policy issues, the significance of this midterm election lies in the choice of what kind of America its citizens want. In his pursuit of making America great again, President Trump has tried hard to sharpen the lines of difference between Democrats and Republicans, to appeal to racists, anti-Semites, and xenophobes, and to frighten Americans into voting for incumbents. They include people whose ideal is an America that treats dictators as friends, closes itself off from much of the world, treats even allies as threats, and arms itself to deal with a world in which no norms are the norm. The Democrats, while focusing mainly on domestic issues like education and health care, are projecting a more open and optimistic vision of an America more engaged diplomatically and ready to maintain and expand international norms and commitments.
This is a serious choice. Go vote.
PS: A friend sent this:
I write this on the verge of the 2018 by elections in the United States. I implore you to make this a repudiation of the divisive and anti-democratic tendencies of Trump. As many of you might know, I served 25 years in the US Army defending the Constitution that Trump flouts almost on a daily basis. His rants against the media reveals his distaste for the 1st Amendment (freedom of press and expression). His desire to repeal the 14th Amendment with an executive order shows his lack of knowledge about how Amendments evolve. His political theatre of sending US troops to the border area suggests he does not understand that they cannot engage in law and order enforcement as forbidden by the posse comitatus act of Congress. Most importantly, he has the instincts of a dictator and employs many of the same tactics as used by President Orban who has become an authoritarian leader of Hungary that has attained his power by turning segments of the nation against one another, racism and control of the press and justice system. With 16 years serving with the UN in Former Yugoslavia, I have witnessed first hand how such divisiveness and artificially induced hate of the “other” can destroy a nation.
Vote and repudiate Trump and his enablers.
PPS: Another friend sent this:
RSS - Posts
