Peace Picks: December 3 – 9

Posted in Tal Marom - December 3, 2018 - 0 Comment

An acute crisis has been unfolding in the Gaza Strip for over a decade. Its nearly 2 million residents live amid a man-made humanitarian disaster, with severe urban crowding, staggering unemployment, and a dire scarcity of basic services, including electricity, water, and sewage treatment. Three rounds of open warfare have devastated Gaza while placing Israelis under constant threat. Recent weeks have seen a sharp escalation in fighting, again illustrating the precarious balance of this situation. Moreover, the continued political and physical separation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank hinders Palestinian national development while making a two-state solution even more remote.

On December 3, the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings and the Center for a New American Security will launch their new report, “Ending Gaza’s Perpetual Crisis: A New U.S. Approach.” The authors, informed by the deliberations of a high-level task force on the future of U.S. policy toward Gaza, argue that the United States should no longer accept the perpetuation of the current state of affairs in Gaza, given its moral, security, and political costs. They propose instead a route by which American policymakers can help bring an end to this continued state of crisis.

Speakers
Hady Amr
Visiting Fellow, Foreign Policy

Natan Sachs
Director, Center for Middle East Policy

Ilan Goldberg
Senior Fellow and Director, Middle East Security Program at Center for a New American Security

Khaled Elgindy
Fellow, Foreign Policy & Center for Middle East Policy

Lucy Kurtzer-Ellenbogen
Director, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Program at US Institute of Peace

Dennis Ross
William Davidson Distinguished Fellow, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

After the Ukraine crisis, Belarus has improved its image as a contributor to regional security. Part of this shift stems from greater cooperation with the West. This, along with Minsk’s selective non-compliance with Eurasian integration, however, brings closer scrutiny and potential pressure from Moscow. This panel will host a delegation of Belarusian analysts, organized by Pact and USAID, to offer a fresh examination of Belarus’s relationship with the West and with Moscow

Speakers
Vasili Kukharchyk
Country Director, Pact Belarus
Chief of Party, USAID BRAMA Activity

Kateryna Bornukova
Academic Director, Belarus Economic Research and Outreach Center

Yauheni Preiherman
Director, Minks Dialogue

How is the threat of terrorism defined in the East Asia Pacific? Who are the actors and what are their objectives? What are the technologies of terrorism and appropriate policy measures to combat the evolving threat? Moreover, how do individual states and the international community ensure that counterterrorism policies protect individual rights under the rule of law?

On December 4, the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at Brookings will host distinguished U.S. and Asian counterterrorism experts to articulate the terrorist threat in East Asia and how it has evolved in the region. Panelists will also assess the mechanisms for protecting civil liberties and good governance under a counterterrorism strategy, as well as its implications for regional and international cooperation. This conference is part of the Asia Transnational Threats Forum, an interdisciplinary forum launched by the Brookings Korea Chair that harnesses the collective expertise of U.S. and foreign partners to tackle key strategic issues affecting all of Asia. The first event was on cybersecurity in Asia on June 2018.

Speakers
Jung H. Pak
SK-Korea Foundation Chair in Korea Studies
Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy & Center for East Asia Policy Studies

Yeong Gi Mun
Director, National Counterterrorism Center of the Republic of Korea

Audrey Kurth Cronin
Professor of International Security, American University

Mayuko Hori
Chief Officer, Counterterrorism Cooperation Unit of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan

Samm Sacks
Cybersecurity Fellow and China Digital Economy Fellow, New America

Joshua Geltzer
Visiting Professor of Law, Georgetown University

Zachary Abuza
Professor of National Security Strategy, National War College

James Baker
Visiting Fellow, Governance Studies

Ji-Hyang Jang
Senior Fellow, Asian Institute for Policy Studies

Jeffrey Feltman
Visiting Fellow, Foreign Policy

The Middle East Institute (MEI) and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) are pleased to announce the 9^th Annual Conference on Turkey. The conference will bring together international policy makers and experts to discuss the challenges Turkey faces domestically and its relations with the Middle East and the West.

Speakers
Knut Dethlefsen
Representative to the US and Canada, FES

Gonul Tol
Director, Center for Turkish Studies at Middle East Institute

Mustafa Akyol
Senior Fellow, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity at the CATO Institute

Abdullah Akyuz
Former President, Turkish Industry and Business Association

Sinan Ciddi
Executive Director, Institute for Turkish Studies at Georgetown University

Menderes Cinar
Professor of Political Science, Baskent University

Max Hofman
Associate Director, National Security and International Policy at Center for American Progress

The Honorable Serpil Midyatli
Member, State Parliament of Germany

Berkin Safak Sener
International Consultant on Employment, UN Development Programme

Semuhi Sinanoglu
PhD Student at Department of Political Science, University of Toronto

Amb. (ret.) Gerald Feierstein
Senior Vice President, Middle East Institute

… and others.

Over the past two years, the Atlantic Council’s Rebuilding Syria Initiative has worked to inform and advance transatlantic policy to foster a transition toward legitimate public order in Syria through economic reconstruction and stabilization. In this effort, we have pooled expertise from specialists to cover the many challenges of rebuilding Syria, including in political economy, development, infrastructure, civil society, law, and employment.

Lessons learned from these engagements are captured in the Initiative’s final report, “Rethinking Stabilization in Eastern Syria: Toward a Human Security Framework,” authored by Dr. Steven Heydemann.

The report finds that as the focus of the Syrian conflict narrows to the two remaining contested areas of the country, the presence of US forces on the ground gives the United States some leverage in shaping the closing trajectory of the conflict. In eastern Syria, the United States has an opportunity to use stabilization—a political endeavor to create conditions where locally legitimate authorities and systems can peaceably manage conflict—to advance both short- and long-term interests.

Speakers
Dr. Steven Heydemann
Professor in Middle East Studies, Smith College

Dr. Tamara Cofman Wittes
Senior Fellow, Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution

Faysal Itani
Senior Fellow, Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East at the Atlantic Council

Hudson Institute will host a timely discussion on the increasing risk that rapidly emerging advanced technologies pose to U.S national security. To explore these critical issues, Rep. Mike McCaul, Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, will deliver keynote remarks then engage in a moderated Q&A with Senior Fellow Arthur Herman, director of Hudson’s Quantum Alliance Initiative.

Competitor nations, such as Russia and China, have devoted significant resources in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum information science, particularly quantum computing. A recent report from the bipartisan Commission on the National Defense Strategy for the United States warned that “U.S. superiority in key areas of innovation is decreasing or has disappeared [while] U.S. competitors are investing heavily in innovation.” Given their enormous promise for benefiting human kind, how should Washington respond to ensure U.S. military superiority while also promoting the peaceful use of AI and quantum technology?

A panel discussion will follow Rep. McCaul’s remarks with Dr. Herman, Aaron VanDevender from Founders Fund, Elsa Kania from the Center for New American Security, Andrew Kim from Google, and Hudson Senior Fellow Sorin Ducaru, a former senior NATO official for emerging security challenges.

Speakers
The Honorable Mike McCaul (R-TX)
Chair, Homeland Security Committee, House of Representatives

Aaron Van Devender
Chief Scientist, Founders Fund

Elsa Kania
Adjunct Fellow, Technology and National Security Program, Center for New American Strategy

Sorin Ducaru
Former Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges, NATO
Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute

Arthur Herman
Senior Fellow and Director, Quantum Alliance Initiative, Hudson Institute

Andrew Kim
Senior Analyst, Public Policy and Government Relations, Google

Please join CSIS and the United States Naval Institute (USNI) for a Maritime Security Dialogue event featuring a conversation with the Honorable Richard V. Spencer, 76th Secretary of the Navy. He will be discussing the state of the Navy and Marine Corps and innovation in the naval domain.

Speakers
The Honorable Richard V. Spencer
76th Secretary of the Navy

Vice Admiral Peter Daly, USN (ret.)
Chief Executive Officer, US Naval Institute

John J. Hamre
CSIS President and CEO

The Middle East Institute (MEI) is pleased to host a moderated conversation on Syria with Salman Shaikh, the founder and CEO of The Shaikh Group, and Ambassador Frederic C. Hof. Syria’s political process is at a standstill, with a constitutional commission still not formed and UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, soon to depart his role. With the conflict continuing to evolve and international attention shifting, new thinking is needed to tackle the Middle East’s most thorny issue: how to resolve the crisis in Syria.

Shaikh will discuss his lessons learned from many years of intensive Track II efforts on Syria and how they might be applied to designing more effective, alternative pathways forward; and Hof will expand on the implications and sustainability of the newly announced U.S. strategy in Syria and prospects for progress on the political track.

MEI’s senior fellow and director of the Countering Terrorism and Extremism program Charles Lister will moderate the conversation.

Speakers
Amb. Frederic C. Hof
Professor and Diplomatic in Residence, Bard College
Nonresident Senior Fellow, Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, Atlantic Council

Salman Shaikh
Founder and CEO, The Shaikh Group

Charles Lister
Senior Fellow and Director, Countering Terrorism and Extremism Program, Middle East Institute

Tags : artificial intelligence, Asia, Counterterrorism, eastern europe, gaza, Israel, maritime, Palestine, Security, South Korea, Syria, The Middle East, Turkey

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