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Peace Picks | October 19 – 23

Notice: Due to public health concerns, upcoming events are only available via live stream. 

1. New START and the Future of US-Russia Arms Control | October  19, 2020 | 10:00 – 11:00 AM EDT | Wilson Center | Register Here

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) is the last strategic nuclear arms control agreement still in force between the United States and Russia. It will expire in less than 4 months unless extended, and negotiations to that end are now underway. On October 19, Lynn Rusten and Feodor Voitolovsky will join us for a conversation on the American and Russian perspectives on the future of New START and the changing technological and security landscape that will shape the next five years of arms control.

Speakers:

Lynn Rusten: Vice President, Global Nuclear Policy Program, Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI)

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

Matthew Rojansky, moderator: Director, Kennan Institute

2. RESOLVE Network 2020 Global Forum: Violent Extremism in 2020 and Beyond | October  19, 2020 | 10:00 – 11:15 AM EDT | United States Institute for Peace | Register Here

The year 2020 has ushered in rapid and significant shifts in existing threats to global security. From the COVID-19 pandemic to climate change and longstanding violent conflict, the pressures facing our current global system are increasingly complex and all-encompassing. Among these, violent extremism remains a significant challenge—shifting as actors adapt and take advantage of ongoing and emerging global shocks and sources of instability. 

How has the violent extremism landscape changed in the five years since the “fall” of ISIS? How has rising global instability, populism, and disinformation altered violent extremist operations and ideologies, and vice versa? What challenges do we face in addressing violent extremism in the new threat landscape? Can we apply any lessons from past experiences to address emerging threats and dynamics in 2020 and beyond? 

Please join the RESOLVE Network and USIP for a discussion about these challenges and more during part one of RESOLVE’s fifth annual Global Forum series. Convened virtually, the forum will bring together leading experts and researchers for thought-provoking conversations on evolving trends and dynamics in the violent extremist landscape.

Speakers:

Dr. Mary Beth Altier: Clinical Associate Professor, Center for Global Affairs, New York University

Dr. Amarnath Amarasingam: Assistant Professor, School of Religion, Queen’s University, member of the RESOLVE Research Advisory Council

Dr. Colin P. Clarke: Senior Research Fellow, The Soufan Center, member of the RESOLVE Research Advisory Council

3. Amid Multiple Crises, a Divided Nation | October  19, 2020 | 1:00 – 2:30 PM EDT | Brookings Institute | Register Here

In the wake of over 210,000 deaths from the coronavirus, massive unemployment, protests over racial justice, the death of a U.S. Supreme Court justice, and unprecedented wildfires in multiple western states, questions remain about who will turn out to vote and what will drive them to the polls. Now, a new and extensive national survey of more than 2,500 Americans reveals a great deal about the public’s views of the presidential candidates and their attitudes toward pressing issues such as health care, the economy, racial justice, immigration, the changing demographics of the nation, climate change, and the fairness and reliability of the elections themselves.

On October 19, Governance Studies at Brookings and PRRI will host the release of PRRI’s eleventh annual American Values Survey (AVS). A panel of experts will discuss the survey results and what they reveal about Americans’ attitudes toward a variety of issues that are sure to shape the outcome of this presidential election. The survey also highlights the impact of media consumption on attitudes, long-term trends in partisan and religious affiliation, and how these changes have produced two starkly contrasting visions for the nation.

Speakers:

E.J. Dionne, Jr., moderator: W. Averell Harriman Chair and Senior Fellow – Governance Studies

William A. Galston, moderator: Ezra K. Zilkha Chair and Senior Fellow – Governance Studies

Karlyn Bowman: Senior Fellow – American Enterprise Institute

Andra Gillespie: Associate Professor of Political Science; Director, James Weldon Johnson Institute – Emory University

Robert P. Jones: CEO and Founder – PRRI (Public Religion Research Institute)

4. Cross-Strait Seminar Series: Taiwan and the future of US-China strategic competition | October  19, 2020 | 1:00 PM EDT | The Atlantic Council | Register Here

As US-China relations continue to deteriorate in the era of COVID-19, the role of Taiwan has received increasing attention from both Washington and Beijing. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has made reunification with Taiwan, peaceful or otherwise, a key objective of his extended tenure, and has overseen a ratcheting up of military exercises, influence operations, and other pressures across the Taiwan Strait in recent years. Meanwhile, the United States has taken a series of concrete steps to demonstrate renewed commitment to its relationship with Taiwan, including recently issuing a joint declaration on 5G security, launching a new bilateral economic dialogue, and sending Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex M. Azar II and Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Keith Krach – the two highest-profile visits from US officials to Taiwan since 1979.

These major developments raise a number of key questions about Taiwan’s role in the future of US-China strategic competition. What is the long-term vision and strategic goals of the US-Taiwan relations? Where does Taiwan fit into the US Indo-Pacific strategy? Likewise, how do US relations fit into the second Tsai administration’s vision for foreign and economic policy? How are recent developments in US-Taiwan relations shaping cross-strait geopolitics, and how the US and Taiwan can work with other US allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific approaching engagement with Taiwan in light of ongoing developments? What should be Taiwan’s role in a broader network of global democracies on key strategic issues such as 5G, global supply chains, maritime security, defense technology, and countering influence operations? Ultimately, what will the decade ahead hold for the Taiwan Strait as one of greatest geopolitical flashpoints in US-China relations?

Please join the Atlantic Council’s Asia Security Initiative, housed within the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, for a public panel discussion on the changing role of Taiwan amid US-China strategic competition.

Speakers:
Mr. Michael Mazza: Visiting Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

Mr. Dexter Tiff Roberts: Nonresident Senior Fellow, Asia Security Initiative, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, Atlantic Council

Mr. Randall G. Schriver: Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Affairs; Chairman, Project 2049

Ms. Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, moderator: China Reporter, Axios

5. A Fragmented Society: the Internal Dynamics of Libya’s Conflict | October  19, 2020 | 10:00 – 11:30 AM EDT | Middle East Institute | Register Here

While most discussions about the Libyan crisis revolve around geopolitics and international interference,  internal divisions within Libya’s civil society and political institutions have also played a fundamental role in destabilizing the country since the fall of Moamar Gaddafi in 2012. Governance in Libya is fragmented with very few truly national actors. It also continues to lack political institutions that are seen by all Libyans as legitimate. The ongoing conflict consists of many contending local and tribal players, including spoilers who have demonstrated opposition to either  peace or reconciliation except on the basis of total victory by their group.

What are the major obstacles to stabilization? How can Libya approach the establishment of political institutions? In what ways can the international community support a Libyan-led peace process? The Middle East Institute, the Regional Program Political Dialogue South Mediterranean of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, and the Policy Center for the New South are pleased to jointly host a group of experts to discuss these questions and more in a closed roundtable format.

Speakers:

Youness Abouyoub: Director, Governance and State-Building Division for the MENA Region, United Nations; former senior political advisor to the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General to Libya 

Emadeddin Badi: Nonresident senior fellow, Atlantic Council 

Virginie Collombier: Research fellow, European University Institute

Mohamed Dorda: Co-Founder, Libya Desk 

Mohamed Eljarh: Co-Founder, Libya Outlook for Research and Consulting 

Mary Fitzgerald: Independent researcher 

Amanda Kadlec: Founder and director, Evolve Governance

Karim Mezran: Resident senior fellow, Atlantic Council

Tarik Mgerisi: Policy fellow, North Africa and Middle East Programme, European Council on Foreign Relations

Amal Obeidi: Associate professor of Comparative Politics, Department of Political Science; faculty of Economics, University of Benghazi, Libya 

Jason Pack: Nonresident scholar, Middle East Institute; founder, Libya-Analysis LLC 

Jonathan Winer: Nonresident scholar, Middle East Institute; former United States Special Envoy for Libya

Len Ishmael, moderator: Senior Fellow, Policy Center for the New South

6. Iran and North Korea: Proliferation and Regional Challenges for the Next Administration | October  20, 2020 | 3:00 – 4:00 PM EDT | Brookings Institute | Register Here

Among the numerous and varied foreign policy challenges facing the next administration will be the nuclear proliferation and regional security threats posed by Iran and North Korea. The next administration will need to consider how to build international and domestic support for addressing those threats, whether and when to engage those regimes diplomatically, and the balance between pressure and diplomacy in pursuing U.S. policy objectives.

On Tuesday, October 20, the Foreign Policy program at Brookings will host an online discussion with experts who previously served as Defense and State Department officials, nuclear negotiators, and intelligence community officers.

Speakers:

Suzanne Maloney, moderator: Vice President and Director – Foreign Policy

Jung H. Pak: SK-Korea Foundation Chair in Korea StudiesSenior Fellow – Foreign Policy, Center for East Asia Policy Studies

Robert Einhorn: Senior Fellow – Foreign Policy, Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Initiative

Matthew Kroenig: Professor – Georgetown UniversityDeputy Director of The Scowcroft Center – Atlantic Council

Eric Edelman: Roger Hertog Distinguished Practitioner-in-Residence – School of Advanced International Studies

7. Women Transforming Peace: Celebrating 20 Years of UNSCR 1325 and Beyond | October  20, 2020 | 9:30 – 11:00 AM EDT | United States Institute for Peace | Register Here

Twenty years ago, the U.N. Security Council sparked a global policy revolution when it recognized, for the first time, the unique experiences of women and girls in violent conflict. Resolution 1325, otherwise known as the Women, Peace, and Security agenda, laid a foundation for governments and civil society to place women at the center of peace processes—not only as victims, but as essential builders of peace. However, despite national action plans and legislation in 84 countries, women remain undervalued in peacebuilding and underrepresented in peace processes. Policymakers and practitioners must look beyond this policy framework first established two decades ago to achieve women’s meaningful participation in peace and security moving forward.

Join USIP and the U.S. Civil Society Working Group on Women, Peace and Security to mark the 20th anniversary of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325. The discussion will look at how countries are expanding on the Women, Peace and Security agenda by adopting feminist foreign and development policies—and how civil society organizations have invested in masculinities programming as a complementary approach. These and other frameworks may prove more effective in advancing gender equality in peace and security, especially in light of the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Ambassador Jacqueline O’Neill: Ambassador for Women, Peace and Security, Government of Canada

Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins: Founder and President, Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security and Conflict Transformation & Member of U.S. CSWG

Rita M. Lopidia: 2020 USIP Women Building Peace Award Recipient & Executive Director and Co-Founder, Eve Organization for Women Development, South Sudan and Uganda

Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, MBE: Founder and CEO, International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) & U.S. CSWG Member

Anthony Keedi: Masculinities Technical Advisor, ABAAD: Resource Center for Gender Equality, Lebanon

Kathleen Kuehnast, moderator: Director, Gender Policy and Strategy, U.S. Institute of Peace

8. How Crimea’s Tatars are Fighting Occupation and Displacement | October  20, 2020 | 10:00  AM EDT | Atlantic Council | Register Here

Crimea’s indigenous Tatar population has faced persecution and adversity for generations. Today, as Crimea is held under Russian occupation, new hardships have forced Crimean Tatars to make their voices heard. When Kremlin forces illegally seized the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, Moscow began rapidly moving hundreds of thousands of Russians to the territory, instituted discriminatory laws that targeted the predominately Muslim Tatars, and displaced approximately one-sixth of the almost 300,000 Tatars in Ukraine.

One of the biggest challenges for Crimean Tatars now is the documentation of violence and rights violations against those living under Russian occupation—a police state, where affiliation with religious groups and the reporting of abuse leads to numerous Tatars being imprisoned by authorities. Crimean Tatars are fighting to be heard—is anyone listening? How can Kyiv and the international community step in to support this marginalized and targeted ethnic minority? How are Crimean Tatars standing against their occupiers?

Speakers:

Ayla Bakkalli: US representative, executive member, World Congress of Crimean Tatars. representative of the Crimean Tatars at the United Nations

Rustem Umerov: member of parliament in the Verkhovna Rada

Terrell Jermaine Starr (moderator): Eurasia Center fellow; senior reporter at The Root

9. Conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia: Scope and Implications | October  21, 2020 | 9:30 – 10:30 AM EDT | Middle East Institute | Register Here

The military conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has entered its fourth week. The scope of the war has not been limited to the boundaries of the combat zone, resulting in human loss and destruction of civil infrastructure. The region’s important network of energy infrastructure, including oil and gas pipelines, are not immune to this latest round of fighting. The military confrontation is taking place in proximity to the critical energy infrastructure that connects the Caspian basin with the European markets. Can the fighting cause disruption to oil and gas flows to the West? What could potential disruption mean for global markets? Can the Southern Gas Corridor be prevented from being launched by the end of this year as had been planned? What are the interests of regional stakeholders such as Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Iran and others that are either energy exporters, consumers or transit nations for Caspian hydrocarbons. And finally, what are the interests of the United States in this conflict and its impact on the energy markets?

Speakers:

Rauf Mammadov: Scholar, MEI

Mamuka Tsereteli: Nonresident scholar, Frontier Europe Initiative, MEI

Alex Vatanka: Senior fellow and director, Iran program, MEI

10. Tackling the Pandemic in Situations of Fragility, Conflict, and Violence | October  23, 2020 | 10:00 – 11:00 AM EDT | CSIS | Register Here

Fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV) pose critical development challenges. By 2030, up to two-thirds of the world’s extreme poor will live in fragile and conflict-affected countries, threatening efforts to end extreme poverty and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In recent years we have seen more violent conflicts globally than at any time in the past 30 years, and 79.5 million people have been forcibly displaced by conflict and violence worldwide. FCV therefore has a significant destabilizing impact, and takes a huge toll on human capital, creating vicious cycles that reduce people’s lifetime productivity, earnings and socioeconomic mobility. The Covid-19 crisis has exacerbated these challenges and caused significant health and economic harm to those living in FCV settings, threatening to further hinder stability and progress over the longer-term. This event will address how the international community can work together to (1) mitigate the impact of the pandemic on existing drivers of fragility and conflict through enhanced stabilization efforts, (2) support the most vulnerable, (3) better coordinate bilateral and multilateral responses to Covid-19 in fragile contexts, and (4) rebuild societies and economies post pandemic.

Speakers:

Stephanie Hammond: Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Stability and Humanitarian Affairs

Franck Bousquet: Senior Director of the World Bank’s Fragility, Conflict, & Violence Group

James (Jim) A. Schear: Adjunct Senior Political Scientist at the RAND Corporation