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Peace picks September 19-23

1. Central Asian Fighters in Syria: Classification, Factors, Scale Assessment | Monday, September 19^th | 9am – 10.30am | Elliot School of International Affairs | click HERE to register

The war in Syria, like a magnet, pulled radicals from around the world, including Central Asian fighters. There are different figures on the number of Central Asian militants in Syria. Separate research was conducted in Kazakhstan under the leadership of Dr. Yerlan Karin to estimate and organize all the data, as well as determine the main factors of radicalization attracting young people from Central Asia to Syria. The research is comprised of several surveys of former combatants and is the first such study in the region. Yerlan Karin is Director of the Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of Kazakhstan. Yerlan Karin is a leading expert in Kazakhstan on security and terrorism and is the author of more than 100 publications in Kazakhstan and abroad on issues of terrorism, national and regional security, and history of Kazakhstan.

2. Winning the War Against Islamist Terror: A Conversation with Chairman Michael McCaul | Tuesday, September 20^th | 4pm – 5pm| American Enterprise Institute | click HERE to register |

Fifteen years ago on September 11, Americans experienced firsthand the grave consequences of Islamist terrorism flourishing abroad. Following recent terror attacks in Paris, San Bernardino, Brussels, Orlando, Nice, Istanbul, and beyond, it has never been more apparent that the US and its allies are in a generational, ideological struggle against a determined enemy and that we are not winning. How can we thwart lone wolf attacks and stop radicalization at home? How can America and its partners prevent power vacuums from turning into terrorist safe havens? Join AEI for a conversation with House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul as he releases a new national counterterrorism strategy outlining how the US can protect the American homeland, take the fight to Islamist extremists abroad, and prevail in this long war. Discussion between Michael McCaul, Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security (R-TX) and Danielle Pletka, AEI.

3. Arrested Development: Rethinking Politics in Putin’s Russia | Wednesday, September 21^st | 10am – 12pm | The National Press Club | click HERE to register |

The Center on Global Interests is pleased to invite you to a discussion on Russia’s political development with members of the Russia Political Insight Project, an international research collaboration that seeks to deepen the understanding of Russia’s current domestic political landscape. Panelists will present the results of their forthcoming book, Arrested Development: Rethinking Politics in Putin’s Russia, scheduled for release in 2017. The book explores the role of the Russian security forces, media, regional elites, public opinion, and other politically relevant actors in the making of domestic policy. Confirmed speakers include Andrei Soldatov, Maria Lipman, Nikolay Petrov, Kirill Rogov, and Daniel Treisman. Maria Lipman is an Editor-in-Chief of Counterpoint journal, published by the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, George Washington University. Nikolay Petrov is a professor and head of the Laboratory of Methodology of Regional Development Evaluation at the Higher School of Economics, Moscow. He also heads the Center for Political-Geographic Research, and is a columnist for the information agency RBC (RosBusinessConsulting). Kirill Rogov is a well-known Russian journalist, a regular columnist for the publications Vedomosti, Forbes-Russia, and Novaya Gazeta. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, and a member of the supervisory board of the Liberal Mission Foundation (Moscow). Andrei Soldatov is an investigative journalist and editor of Agentura.ru, an information hub on intelligence agencies.  Daniel Treisman is a professor of political science at the University of California, Los Angeles and a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

4. Islam and Politics in the Age of ISIS: A Smarter Strategy for Countering Violent Extremism | Wednesday, September 21^st | 12pm – 1.30pm | Atlantic Council |click HERE to register |

In recent decades, Muslims have been debating political and social aspects of their religious teachings in new ways. The religious debates are connected to and sometimes stem in considerable part from underlying political and social trends – demographic shifts, rising education, unaccountable and authoritarian governance, stuttering economic and governmental performance, and corruption. They cannot, however, be wholly reduced to those trends. Religion is not an isolated field, but neither is it simply a mask for other struggles; the terms and outcomes of religious debates matter in their own right.  Please join us for a conversation with the authors of the newly published Middle East Strategy Task Force (MEST) Working Group on Religion, Identity, and Countering Violent Extremism report to discuss these issues and more. Geneive Abdo is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. Nathan J. Brown is a professor of political science and international affairs and the director of the Institute for Middle East Studies at the George Washington University as well as a nonresident senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Frederic C. Hof is the director of the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East.

5. Russia and the Middle East | Wednesday, September 21^st | 6pm – 7.15pm |Elliot School of International Affairs | click HERE to register

Ambassador Thomas Pickering joins MEPF to discuss Russia and the Middle East. Drawing on his past experiences as the Ambassador to the Russian Federation and his diplomatic career in the Middle East, Ambassador Pickering discusses Russia’s political interests in the turbulent conflicts of the region. What is the historical context for Russia’s current role in the Middle East? How has Russia’s increased involvement affected its relationships with Middle East power players? Will Russia be a hindrance or a help in achieving lasting solutions to current conflicts in Syria, Iraq, and beyond?