World Affairs Council of Northern California
By World Affairs Council of Northern California
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Podcast Description
The World Affairs Council of Northern California offers a forum where diverse audiences engage in dialogue that can inform their actions. Policymakers, business executives, philanthropists, academics, students, civic leaders and an attentive public join in the Council’s programs to listen, learn, discuss and debate–deepening understanding and finding solutions. Many of these conversations are open to the public, and all of them benefit from the Council’s Northern California location. Over the past two decades, this region has emerged as a powerful locus of innovation and forward-looking solutions. We are known for our ideas, our ideals and our entrepreneurship. We search for knowledge. We enjoy diversity. We welcome new thinking. We seek break-through ideas. That spirit is reflected in every conversation we convene and every program we offer.
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CleanThe Next Frontier of International Justice | The World Affairs Council is pleased to welcome the Honorable Stephen Rapp, Ambassador-at-Large for the Department of State’s Office of Global Criminal Justice, to discuss how the US can further accountability for mass atrocities and crimes against humanity at a time when important tribunals and special courts are coming to a close and when the International Criminal Court has limited reach and capacity. The Office of Global Criminal Justice advises Secretary of State Clinton and formulates US policy on prevention and accountability for mass atrocities that occur throughout the world. It also coordinates US government support for international and hybrid courts that are currently conducting trials for war crimes, genocide, and other atrocities. Ambassador Rapp was previously the head prosecutor for the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and has held his current post since 2009. With ongoing wars and conflicts around the world that inevitably create tragic crimes against humanity, the work of the Office of Global Criminal Justice is ever more relevant. | 5/14/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanLife as a 'Child Soldier': A Conversation with Ishmael Beah | What does war look like through the eyes of a 'child soldier'? This question has been investigated by journalists, yet it is rare to find a first-person account from someone who endured the atrocities and survived. Ishmael Beah, author of A Long Way Gone and UNICEF Advocate for Children Affected by War, will discuss his story of abduction and war in Sierra Leone. In a country ravaged by war, Beah spent several years with armed militia forces before finally being rescued and rehabilitated. Tens of thousands of children are recruited and used in various capacities by armed forces or armed groups in over 15 countries around the world. Beah will discuss the use children as a tool of war and how we can help stop it. | 5/10/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanSolving the US Debt Crisis | This election year two of the most hotly debated topics are the state of the US economy and the size of the national debt. As it stands there is more than $30,000 of debt for every person in the US, Congress is entrenched in a bitter fight over deficits, the government has been brought to the brink of shutdown multiple times, and, as a result, government approval is at an all time low. Many politicians are calling for drastic cuts in essential public programs such as Social Security and Medicare in hopes of lowering the deficit, but will these cuts do anything other than worsen the quality of life for thousands of low-income and elderly Americans? Join Simon Johnson, former Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund, as he unravels the conundrum of the national debt, tracks the rise of the US dollar, examines the roots of the current dysfunctional and impotent Congress, and posits a solution to our debt crisis that will result in a strengthened economy without slashing social support programs. | 4/17/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Future of the US as a Global Economic Power | The road to economic recovery is long and difficult. Despite positive change and an unemployment rate at a three-year low, the ratings agencies are considering yet another downgrade of US credit and the world is beginning to consider the real consequences of an ongoing US economic downturn. Long gone are the days of seemingly unending American prosperity and unquestioned US leadership against clear and identifiable enemies. Today the US and the nations that rely on its support need to make a major shift if they are to meet the economic, political and diplomatic challenges that lie ahead. Michael Moran, one of the world’s leading geopolitical and economic forecasters and the director and editor-in-chief of Renaissance Insight, will talk about how America and its allies can successfully navigate this transition and avoid the pitfalls of clinging to the power structure of the 20th century. | 4/12/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanObama's Next Challenge: Managing Iran | With the killing of Osama bin Laden, President Obama closed one chapter of US history; unfortunately, the next is looming large. As years of sanctions and careful diplomatic negotiations with Iran deteriorate into an increasingly fragile state of affairs, President Obama is left with few choices: attempt to restart what many consider failed negotiations or seriously consider a preventative strike. Trita Parsi is the President of the National Iranian American Council and the author of the new book, A Single Roll of the Dice: Obama’s Diplomacy with Iran. He contends that diplomacy with Iran did not fail—it was abandoned. Real diplomacy has barely been tried, he argues, and it remains the only promising option for achieving America’s goals with regard to Iran. Parsi will examine the Obama administration's early diplomatic gestures towards Iran and discuss the best ways to move toward more positive relations between the two discordant states. | 4/10/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanAfter bin Laden: Where is the Terrorist Threat? | Recorded at WorldAffairs 2012, the World Affairs Council’s annual conference designed for global citizens seeking deeper insight, understanding and context surrounding critical issues of our day. | 3/31/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanFood & Water: Sustaining Life on a Crowded Planet | Recorded at WorldAffairs 2012, the World Affairs Council’s annual conference designed for global citizens seeking deeper insight, understanding and context surrounding critical issues of our day. In recognition of Earth Day, April 22. Some predict it is likely that our need for water will overcome our resources and parts of the world may soon be unfit to sustain people and food production. Imagining the world in 2050, we ask: how will we meet our rising food and water needs? Will our cities and farms look like those of today? How will we innovate and adapt to maintain the resources to sustain life on an ever more crowded planet? Two distinguished speakers will discuss these topics: Gawain Kripke, Director of Policy and Research at Oxfam America; and Peter Lochery, the Director of the Water Team at CARE. | 3/31/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanFrom Longitudes to Latitudes: The Rise of a South-South Economic Zone | Recorded at WorldAffairs 2012, the World Affairs Council’s annual conference designed for global citizens seeking deeper insight, understanding and context surrounding critical issues of our day. | 3/31/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanFrom Bailouts to Brussels: Rethinking the Future of the European Union | Recorded at WorldAffairs 2012, the World Affairs Council’s annual conference designed for global citizens seeking deeper insight, understanding and context surrounding critical issues of our day. Some of the questions addressed in this session include: What has been the effect of the current austerity measures in stabilizing the European economies? What impact will the debt crisis have on European cohesion? What are the implications of a large-scale recession in Europe for the global economic landscape? Two distinguished speakers will address these issues: Megan Greene, Head of European Economics at Roubini Global Economics; and Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, Senior Research Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. | 3/30/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanAfter the Arab Spring | Recorded at WorldAffairs 2012, the World Affairs Council’s annual conference designed for global citizens seeking deeper insight, understanding and context surrounding critical issues of our day. In 2011, three dictators were overthrown as massive popular protests gripped the Middle East. A year after these movements began, what has changed inside Tunisia, Egypt and Libya? Have these unique opportunities for reform been successful? What have these changes done to affect the greater balance of power in the Middle East? And what challenges and opportunities will President Obama or his challenger face when formulating US policy toward the region? Ellen Laipson, President and CEO of the Stimson Center and Robin Wright, Senior Fellow at the US Institute of Peace, and a Distinguished Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, will discuss these topics. | 3/30/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanFrom Pyongyang to Tehran, Curbing the Nuclear Threat | From regime change in North Korea to Iran’s announcement of a new uranium enrichment plant, 2012 began with unsettling news of nuclear proliferation. While these two nations pose what many consider the most serious threat to US national security, efforts to stop their nuclear programs have yielded little progress. Between 2003 and 2009, US officials saw both diplomatic and military threats ignored as North Korea increased its stockpiles of nuclear material from one or two bombs worth to as much as eleven. Similarly, negotiations with Iran have stalled as the US and European nations call for further sanctions. What, if any, of these tactics will finally yield progress? Philip Yun and Joe Cirincione will discuss the US and the international community’s successes and failures in pacifying these threats, and compare the track records of the two groups. They will also explore the broader lessons that can be applied to future nuclear threats. | 3/1/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanUnderstanding the Emerging Economies of Africa: Trends & Geopolitical Implications | Is it Africa’s turn? The 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s were disastrous times for Africa. With millions suffering through brutal civil wars, almost all Africans were living under dictatorships. With living standards plummeting, it seemed like things could not get any worse for Africa.Then the HIV/AIDS epidemic hit and Africa began to seem un-savable, but things began to turn around. By the late 1990’s many African nations held multiparty elections, and civic and media freedoms steadily grew. In 2012, Africa is, in many ways, not recognizable from that of the latter twentieth century. Join Ted Miguel as he examines Africa today and tackles some tough questions such as: How are the economies in Africa doing in 2012 and which countries are in the rising tide of south-south trade? What geo-political effects will the rise of south-south cooperation have on the global economic landscape? | 2/29/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanSecuring America | National security has been a hotly-debated topic throughout the last decade. Much has been done to ensure the US remains safe, from the formation of new federal agencies to increased funding of protective programs, but have these measures had the intended effect? David C. Unger, a foreign affairs editorial writer for the New York Times, will discuss the hidden costs of the US’s pursuit for absolute national security. Have the broad war-making powers assumed by Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama and the trillions of dollars diverted from domestic needs to the Pentagon truly made the US safer? | 2/27/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanBorderless Economics: Migration and the Global Economy | Immigration is often called a drain on the US economy and in a presidential election year immigration will be debated intensely. Join The Economist Business Editor Robert Guest for an examination of the effects that international migration has on the global economy and why keeping the US borders open can help the US retain power despite the current economic climate. | 2/24/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanUprisings, Protests and Revolutions: The New Global Unrest | From the streets of Tunisia to Zuccotti Park, 2011 was a year of protests, revolutions and uprisings. The economic crisis and the ever-widening gap between the haves and the have-nots have given rise to a social crisis and a call for new ways of thinking about politics, elite rule and global poverty. Paul Mason will explore the changes in society, technology and human behavior that led to the democratic revolts and social revolutions that have characterized 2011 and will discuss the consequences of this great unrest. | 2/23/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanExamining Online Rights and Freedoms | The Internet has become an indispensable tool, bringing unprecedented access to information and the ability to express oneself to billions of people worldwide. Many believe access to the Internet should be included in the Declaration of Human Rights, but the debate of over Internet freedom continues and it is fierce. As is evident with the Arab Awakening, online tools can be a platform to turn social unrest into real political movements and even revolutions, but internet censorship can also be a key to modern oppression. What does this convergence of unchecked government actions and unaccountable company practices mean for the future of democracy and human rights around the world? What are the advantages and limitations of online dialogue as a platform for social change? Join Rebecca MacKinnon and Jillian York, two internet theorists on the forefront of this debate, for a discussion the complex power dynamics amongst governments, corporations and citizens in cyberspace. | 2/14/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe United States, Egypt and The ‘New Middle East’ | Following the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011 and the parliamentary elections this past November, Cairo’s Tahrir Square continues to draw large crowds demanding genuine change in the military-led regime. Steven Cook, author of The Struggle for Egypt: From Nasser to Tahrir Square, will explore Egypt’s history, why the revolution occurred and where the country might be headed next. | 1/31/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWhat Can the US Learn From China? | In his 2011 State of the Union address, President Obama called China’s rise a new ‘Sputnik moment.’ China appears to be on the same trajectory as the US, with exponential improvements in wages, working conditions and global influence. Today China is the second largest economy in the world and many believe it will overtake the US by 2020. What is the next move for the US? Join NYU professor Ann Lee to discuss a new way of looking at US-China relations. The US cannot ignore China’s shortcomings, but must realize that learning is a two-way street; what can we learn from China so that the US may remain strong throughout the century? | 1/19/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanFilm Screening: Gangs Without Borders | Gang War USA examines the long-standing policy of deporting gang members as a strategy to curb threats posed by transnational gangs like the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13. Marc Shaffer gained access to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers and interviewed gang members, justice department representatives and Salvadoran government officials to explore the treatment of transnational gangs in the United States. Could the cornerstone immigration policy of deporting gang members be making them stronger and US citizens less safe? Join us for a screening of Gang War USA, followed by a discussion with filmmaker Marc Shaffer. | 1/11/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanInternational Reporting in the Internet Age | Veteran NewsHour correspondent Margaret Warner will discuss how international events – and their coverage –- are being transformed by the internet and social networks, and explore the challenges and opportunities of reporting in an era of unlimited information. Her remarks will draw from some of her recent reporting trips abroad, including two to Egypt in this year of turmoil. Her reporting has also taken her to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen, Korea, China, Kenya , Brazil, Russia and multiple countries in Western Europe. Ms. Warner is one of five senior correspondents on PBS's nightly news program reporting on, and interviewing, leading figures who make and analyze today’s news. She is also lead correspondent for the PBS NewsHour’s Overseas Reporting Unit. Her coverage abroad has won many awards, including a coveted Emmy in 2008. | 12/5/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEntrepreneurship in China: The Next Silicon Valley? | Will the next Steve Jobs be made in China? It's a distinct possibility. The past decade has seen enormous growth in entrepreneurial enterprises in China, but it is still a society and economy beset by censorship, piracy, corruption and state controls. Rebecca Fannin, Founder of Silicon Asia, and Edith Yeung, a Partner at RightVentures, will discuss the hurdles Chinese entrepreneurs encounter, the challenges both local and foreign investors face, and some of the strategies companies employ to make a splash in the Chinese consumer market and compete with global companies. | 12/1/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanFragile States and Implications for International Security | Conventional wisdom holds that weak and failing states are extremely attractive to transnational terrorist groups because they have unmonitored borders and provide places where terrorists can plan attacks. If this is the case, why are only a minority of these states home to terrorist groups? In fact, mainstream beliefs about the threats posed by failing states are based on anecdotal arguments, not on a systematic analysis of the connections between state failure and transnational security threats. A country's institutional weakness is not the only appeal to terrorist groups; it is a state's ambivalent relationship with, or direct support for, these groups that attracts them. Join Stewart Patrick as he shows that while some global threats do emerge in fragile states, most of their weaknesses create misery only for their own citizenry and the real global threats originate farther up the chain in government. | 11/29/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanCan Girls' Education Change the World? | There is a growing consensus among economists and world leaders that girls' education is the single most effective tool for fighting poverty in developing countries. While not a panacea, education yields enormous benefits for girls, their families, and society, including increased future income, lower risk of HIV/AIDS, and improved health outcomes. Yet not all approaches to educating girls are equally effective. Join Ann Cotton, Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg, and Joel Samoff as they discuss the benefits and the challenges of educating girls in Africa, and share lessons learned from years of experience working in the sector. | 11/21/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWars, Revolutions and Transitions - Navigating National Security | Representing the aerospace center of California during nine terms in Congress, Jane Harman served on all the major security committees: six years on Armed Services, eight years on Intelligence and four on Homeland Security. She has made numerous Congressional fact-finding missions to hotspots around the world including North Korea, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Guantanamo Bay to assess threats against the U.S. Most recently, in her new role, she was in Tunisia and Egypt as an election monitor. The Honorable Jane Harman is a former member of Congress, and current President and CEO of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC. This luncheon format offers an opportunity to hear remarks from Ms. Harman on issues of national security, followed by a conversation including your questions and comments. | 11/18/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEx-Patriot? An Arab-American in the CIA | Lebanese-born Nada Prouty was a respected agent for the FBI and CIA who was assigned to high-level terrorism cases, working in Yemen, Pakistan and Iraq. In the months following the 9/11 attacks, she was accused of selling information Hezbollah and stripped of her American citizenship. She was ultimately exonerated, but almost a decade later, she has not regained her citizenship. Prouty will discuss her story, and how anti-Arab sentiment and a rush to judgment may have cost her her livelihood and her American identity. | 11/17/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanInside the Arms Trade | Global total military expenditures is estimated to account for about 2.7% of global GDP. If the sheer size of the business was not enough to influence politics, then the fact that the majority of arms contracts are awarded by governments to supply militaries makes them of incredible political importance. Sometimes these contract negotiations take place publicly but often there is no bidding or competition at all. Join Andrew Feinstein as he draws back the curtain on a world of legitimate multi-billion dollar government contracts, the illicit arms trade and the frequent links between the two. He will reveal the impact this trade has, not only on less stable countries around the world but also the democratic institutions of the United States and the United Kingdom. | 11/10/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanChina and North Korea: Deepening Relations | For the second installment of the three-part series “China: Reshaping the East” the Council is pleased to welcome Dr. Bates Gill, Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute to discuss his recently completed a study on China-North Korea relations. In his analysis Dr. Gill will put a particular focus on the new and emerging actors in China that are seeing to a deepening of relations between Beijing and Pyongyang, and the implications of those relations for US policy in East Asia. | 11/8/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanRemarks by Gen. Carter P. Ham, Commander of US-Africa Command | General Carter F. Ham became commander of U.S. Africa Command headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany on March 9, 2011. U.S. Africa Command is one of six unified geographic commands within the Department of Defense unified command structure. General Carter F. Ham served as an enlisted Infantryman in the 82nd Airborne Division before attending John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio. He was commissioned in the Infantry as a Distinguished Military Graduate in 1976. His military service has included assignments in Kentucky, Ohio, California, Georgia, Italy and Germany to name a few. He has also served in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Macedonia, and Iraq. He has held a variety of positions to include Recruiting Area Commander; Battalion Executive Officer at the National Training Center; Advisor to the Saudi Arabian National Guard Brigade; Commander, 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry; Chief of Staff, 1st Infantry Division; Commander, 29th Infantry Regiment; commander, Multi-National Brigade, Mosul, Iraq; Commander, 1st Infantry Division; Director for Operations, J-3, The Joint Staff, Washington, DC. | 11/8/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanGoing Digital: Technology's Role in Development and Human Rights | Advances in mobile technology and digital tools are radically changing the landscape of human rights reporting and adjudication. They are also allowing development agencies and governments access to parts of the world that were previously unreachable, due to lack of infrastructure. The Council will host three panelists to discuss the role of technology in this growing field. Whether it’s mobile banking in the South Pacific, malaria education in Mali, or human rights reporting in the DRC, technology is playing an increasingly vital role. | 11/2/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanInside Mexico's Drug Cartels | From the outside, Mexico's drug war looks like any other civil war, with assassinations of police chiefs, mass graves, car bombs, beheadings and paramilitary death-squads. Despite the military aid and billions of dollars thrown at the problem south of the Rio Grande by the US, there have been over 30,000 murders since 2006 and seemingly no decrease in the violence. Journalist Ioan Grillo has spent over ten years reporting from the front line of the drug war in Mexico. He has interviewed cartel insiders as well as government and security officials in the hopes of finding who these mysterious figures are who are tearing Mexico apart. Join the World Affairs Council in welcoming Ioan Grillo as he gives a portrait of Mexico's drug cartels, how they have transformed in the last decade and how deep US involvement really goes. | 10/26/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEconomic Competition and the Common Good | The founders of economic theory have taught us that an unfettered market system will produce optimal results. But what if competing market forces do more social harm than good? Robert Frank argues that our economic system has more to learn from Charles Darwin's theory of evolution than Adam Smith's invisible hand. Frank will discuss his theory of evolutionary economics, and propose changes in US economic policies that would benefit the rich, poor and middle class alike. | 10/18/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Erosion of Civil Liberties in the US | Long before the attacks of September 11, 2001 the rights and civil liberties guaranteed by the US Constitution have been challenged by legal compromises made in the name of national security. The result is a system that undermines the criminal justice system’s fairness, enhances the executive branch’s power over citizens and immigrants, and impairs the debate and protest essential in a constitutional democracy. Join the Council in welcoming Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist David Shipler who will discuss how our rights to privacy and justice have been undermined and what we have lost in the process. He will also examine the historical expansion and contraction of fundamental liberties in America, the places where the civil liberties we take for granted have eroded and how much we stand to regain by protesting the recent departures from the Bill of Rights. | 10/18/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanExploring the Internal Implications of U.S. Debt | Exploring the Internal Implications of U.S. Debt | 10/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanBattling Malaria | Every year half a billion people are infected with malaria and millions die from this easily treatable disease. TIME magazine’s Africa Bureau Chief Alex Perry spent two years on the front line of the campaign to eradicate the disease that has devastated human populations for thousands of years. From the office of the UN Special Envoy for Malaria and the White House to the most malaria ravaged towns on Earth, Perry will give a portrait of modern Africa and tell of how the fight against malaria is revolutionizing foreign aid and development. | 10/12/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEmbracing the End of Online Privacy | Thanks to the internet, we now live in public. With more than 750 million people (and half of all Americans) on Facebook, and over 100 million Tweets echoing daily from Tahrir Square to the Mall of America, our personal lives are now shared globally; but is this new openness a positive change? Jeff Jarvis, Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at New York’s City University, will examine the tension between privacy and openness and how it is transforming our communities, identities, businesses and the way we live. Should we embrace technological advancements for creating a more efficient and connected world, or fear that our increasing dependence on this invisible network may be to our detriment? | 10/11/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Transatlantic Relationship Amid the Financial Crisis | The growing European sovereign debt crisis has many looking to Germany, the largest economy in the euro area and the fifth largest in the world, for a solution. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has affirmed that it is Germany’s duty to contribute to securing the euro’s future, but how far is Germany willing to go to defend the common currency? Is the European Union on the brink of implosion or will the debt crisis and other challenges of the globalized world deepen European integration? Join the World Affairs Council and the American Council on Germany for a talk with German Deputy Foreign Secretary Werner Hoyer, who will discuss the outlook for economic growth within the euro zone, Germany’s perspective on what is needed to achieve positive results and why the transatlantic partnership is indispensable for Europe, Germany and the West in an increasingly globalized world. | 10/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanCybersecurity: America at Risk? | Throughout history the battlefield upon which wars are fought has evolved with the weaponry and the spoils sought. Join Dr. Joel Brenner, former head of counterintelligence for the National Security Agency as he describes the next generation of war: battles waged on our databases with serious repercussions not just for governments and corporations but for individuals as well. Today electronic attacks and information theft are easier than ever, as events such as the WikiLeaks release of State Department files have demonstrated, but it is unclear how dangerous the situation has really become. Drawing on his years of experience at the top of the US Counterintelligence system, Dr. Brenner will discuss how our government and corporations are not equipped to stop wholesale theft of the secret information on which our national and economic security is based and how to effectively secure our virtual borders against these new threats | 10/5/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanFueling Tomorrow | What will the world look like when we finally burn the last drop of petroleum and shovel-full of coal? Will we be at a standstill or will we devise a way to continue living in the way our energy and fuel thirsty societies have become accustom? Join Nobel Laureate Robert Laughlin as he takes us several centuries in the future, not to a desolate future-scape but to a world that very much resembles our own: a world where there are still shopping malls and soccer moms, where people still ride in cars and airplanes, but without any of today’s conventional energy sources. Dr. Laughlin will show how solving the energy crisis is just a matter of clever engineering, and that while the world may be a bit warmer in the future, life will go on and the price of electricity will actually be less than it is today. | 10/3/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanInside the War on Terror | The United States has been embroiled in a protracted war on terror for a decade. Images from the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq bombard us on television and in print, but so much more is involved in the war on terror that we do not see. Innovative and creative counterterrorism strategies, adopted under President George W. Bush and expanded under President Barack Obama, have been implemented unbeknownst to most Americans. Join Eric Schmitt as he discusses his work with co-author Thom Shanker in their recently released book Counterstrike. In this account Schmitt and Shanker offer details of how the Pentagon, spy agencies and law enforcement have adapted Cold War methods to expand the field of battle and disrupt jihadist networks. | 9/20/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Rise and Fall of Al-Qaeda | Ten years after the attacks of September 11, 2001, the US is still at war with al-Qaeda. Yet with the recent killing of Osama bin Laden, what kind of threat does this network of terrorists really pose? Fawaz Gerges, a professor of Middle East Politics and International Relations at the London School of Economics, will discuss the current state of al-Qaeda, arguing that since the 9/11 attacks the movement has splintered into feuding factions, neutralizing itself more effectively than any amount of counter-terrorism operations ever could. He will also discuss the democratic revolutions that swept the Middle East in the Spring of 2011 and what they mean for al-Qaeda and its influence on the politics of the region. | 9/19/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanCanada and the US: Examining an Important Energy Partnership | With diverse and abundant energy resources, including the world's third largest oil reserves, Canada is the United States' top energy trading partner. Growth of Canada's energy resources is of crucial importance to the US. Join the Honorable Joe Oliver, Canadian Minister of Natural Resources, for a discussion on Canada's energy resources, including the oil sands, natural gas and hydroelectricity, and the importance of the US-Canada energy relationship. | 9/14/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanInternational Law and Today’s Global Challenges: A Briefing from the Hague | Judge Joan E. Donoghue is wrapping up her first year as the US judge on the fifteen-member International Court of Justice (also known as the World Court) in The Hague. The docket of the World Court, which is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, includes cases between countries over topics ranging from environmental and human rights claims to border disputes, the use of military force and the establishment of new countries. Before joining the court, where she is the first female US judge and only the third female judge in the court’s history, Judge Donoghue had a long and distinguished career as an international lawyer, primarily in the U.S. Department of State, but also with stints in the Treasury Department, the private sector and academe. She will share her insights on the role of the World Court, other international tribunals and international law generally in addressing today’s global challenges. | 8/30/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanRethinking American Policy in Afghanistan | As an ambassador and special envoy to Afghanistan, Peter Tomsen developed close relationships with Afghan leaders, dealt with senior Taliban, warlords, and religious leaders involved in the region’s conflicts over the last two decades. Drawing on his experiences and thousands of previously classified documents Tomsen sheds new light on the American involvement in the long and ongoing war in Afghanistan. With President Obama’s pledge to begin pulling troops out of Afghanistan in July 2011 looming, Tomsen argues American policy makers still do not understand the Afghan tribal environment or how US actions facilitated the ISI-supported Taliban comeback. Despite all the challenges ahead, Tomsen proposes solutions on how the coalition forces can assist Afghanistan and the region to return to peace and stability. | 8/24/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanA New Voice for Israel | Emotions run high when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the role of the United States in helping to resolve it. Jeremy Ben-Ami’s new book seeks to dispel some of the common myths about the national politics and Jewish communal dynamics around Israel. These include the notion that being pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian are mutually exclusive; that leaders of established Jewish organizations speak for all American Jews on Israel; and that talking peace demonstrates weakness. Ben-Ami will lay out a new direction for both American policy and a new rulebook for conducting the conversation on Israel in the American Jewish community | 8/10/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanInside Libya: Remarks by Ambassador Gene Cretz | As the Arab spring turns to summer, tensions are growing at home and abroad about the aims and viability of the NATO operations in Libya, particularly during a time of economic uncertainty. The Honorable Gene Cretz, US Ambassador to Libya, will discuss current and past US relations with Libya, the ongoing NATO operations and international diplomatic efforts and what we can expect in the coming months and years. Ambassador Cretz is a career Foreign Service Officer, having served since 1981 in Syria, Israel, China, and Egypt, among other locations. On January 9, 2009, he became the first US Ambassador to Libya since 1972, after serving for two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Near East Affairs. | 8/8/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanMaya Roads: A Journey Through the Rainforest | Drawing upon three decades of immersion in Central America’s remote and dangerous landscapes, Mary Jo McConahay paints a picture of the people, politics, archaeology and species in the cradle of the Mayan civilization. Through cultural anecdotes and eye-opening tales from the people she has encountered, McConahay brings to life the allure of the jungle and the culture of the Lacandon people while recognizing the bittersweet changes brought by tourism and the unfortunate effects that drug-trafficking and violence have had on the region. | 8/4/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanAssessing the Arab Spring: A Cairo Perspective | Lisa Anderson was appointed president of the American University in Cairo in January 2011, just one month before the popular protests began in Egypt. Prior to joining AUC, Anderson served as Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs and Director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University. A specialist on politics in the Middle East and North Africa, she will offer analysis and commentary on the events from her perspective both as a university president with a campus in the heart of Tahrir Square, and as a political scientist with particular expertise in the government and politics of the region. | 7/21/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanUS-Pakistan Relations at a Turning Point | The world’s second largest Muslim country, with 180 million people, Pakistan faces multiple challenges: a growing militancy, struggling economy, lack of effective governance, and an exploding population. Internal episodes, such as the Taliban attack on Karachi’s naval air base and the killing of journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad, coupled with external strains, like the killing of bin Laden, have brought Pakistan to a critical juncture. Anja Manuel, a Principal at the RiceHadley Group, will discuss what these events mean for the future of this South Asian power, and how US foreign policy in the region can adapt. | 7/18/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanJapan: Looking Ahead | On March 11, 2011 a catastrophic earthquake struck off the coast of Japan triggering a massive tidal wave laying waste to the countryside of the northeast coast of Honshu. The true scale of the devastation won’t be known for some time, but the effects and consequences are under close examination by experts from many different fields. What is happening in Japan three months on? What are the effects this disaster will have on the region and the world? Dr. Steven Vogel, Dr. Barnett Baron and Dr. Tsuneo Akaha discuss the political, economic and humanitarian implications of the disaster in Japan and what we can expect looking forward. | 6/29/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanGender Imbalance | For years there has been a preference for having male offspring in many parts of the world. Consequently today there are over 160 million women and girls missing from Asia’s population and an unknown number missing from other continents thanks to selective sex abortion. This staggering gender gap is beginning to transform entire nations, leading to everything from a spike in bride-buying to an increase in crime. Join the Council in welcoming Mara Hvistendahl as she addresses the issues surrounding gender selection around the world and how the West bears responsibility for the world’s “missing women.” | 6/24/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEnding America's Longest War | Senator Boxer will join the Council to discuss the need for a new course in Afghanistan in a speech entitled, “Ending America’s Longest War.” Senator Boxer is a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and author of a Senate bill that would require the Obama administration to give Congress a plan for the safe redeployment of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. She is the co-chair of the Senate Military Family Caucus and chairs the first Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee to focus on global women's issues. | 6/19/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanPowering America: Does Nuclear Have a Future? | The 8.9 earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11, 2011 set in motion one of the largest nuclear disasters in almost three decades. It also renewed the debate over the future of nuclear energy in the US and abroad. With 104 nuclear power plants across the country, generating about 20 percent of America's energy, there is no doubt that we are currently dependent on nuclear energy, yet the debate over this highly contentious technology is far from resolved. The three panelists will discuss what this disaster means for the future of US energy. How will the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant shape future energy policies and public opinion, and are there existing renewable technologies capable of fulfilling the world’s energy needs? Will nuclear energy be the fuel of the 21st century, or a relic of the past? | 6/14/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanReevaluating Microfinance | Since its beginnings in the 1970s with the founding of the Grameen Bank, microcredit has been praised as a powerful tool for reducing global poverty. By putting small loans into the hands of the poor, microcredit has allowed entrepreneurs world-wide to establish and expand their businesses, delivering sustainable income to those who need it most. The last decade brought an explosion in the number of micro-lenders and borrowers around the world. The number of customers served by microfinance institutions now surpasses 100 million, most of them women. This growth has helped scores of impoverished communities, but the recent commercialization of several large lenders, and the scarcity of quantitative analysis on the lasting impacts of microcredit has drawn scrutiny. Please join Dr. Dean Karlan, Yale University behavioral economist and co-author of the new book More Than Good Intentions (with Jacob Appel) for a review of what recent research has shown about the effectiveness of microcredit and other financial services for the poor. Dr. Karlan will be joined by Christopher Dunford and Sean Foote for a dialogue on the state of the microfinance world today and what it might mean for the future of poverty alleviation. | 6/7/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanAdvancing Friendships and Partnerships in Southeast Asia | Since President Obama’s assumption of office, he and Secretary Clinton have signaled their interest in strengthening economic and political relations throughout Asia. The US has important interests in Southeast Asia, and the Administration has expanded U.S. ties with multilateral organizations in the region, particularly the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). ASEAN member states are important partners for U.S. diplomatic and security efforts in the region, America’s 4th largest export market. What role does the U.S. diplomatic corps have in expanding political and economic partnerships in this critical region? What policies can be advanced to strengthen US relations with individual countries and the relationship with the ASEAN community as a whole? Please join a panel of U.S. Ambassadors to the region as they address these questions. | 6/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanModern Cambodia | Approximately two million Cambodians were killed under the Khmer Rouge. The tyrannical leadership of Pol Pot and a decade of civil war took a severe toll on the nation’s population and wealth. In 1993, under the UN’s wing, Cambodia held successful democratic elections, with 90% of the electorate voting. Cambodia, it seemed, was ready to shed the past and move forward. Joel Brinkley won the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the 1979 fall of the Khmer Rouge regime at the New York Times. In 2008-2009, he returned to Cambodia to investigate the condition of this troubled nation. He found a political system crippled by corruption and dependence on aid, and a culture haunted by the genocide of the last generation. Mr. Brinkley will discuss his findings and what they mean for the future of Cambodia. | 5/26/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanAdapting America’s Policies: Change From the Ground Up | In 2007 Tim Harford established himself as the Undercover Economist, with a book of the same name. Now he’s back with a new book, Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure, suggesting that in a multi-polar and interconnected world, we cannot tackle challenges with ready-made solutions and expert opinions. Instead, we must adapt. Harford argues for the importance of adaptive trial and error in tackling issues such as climate change, poverty and financial crises, as well as in fostering innovation and creativity in our business and personal lives. | 5/25/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanRebalancing The Global Economy | While the advanced countries are still reeling from a near economic crash and a challenging economic depression, developing nations are seeing unprecedented economic growth that is reshaping the world. These growth rates present new challenges in governance, international coordination and environmental sustainability that are little understood. Nobel Laureate Michael Spence will ask what implications these challenges hold for advanced countries, and will look ahead to the post crises period to how the global economy will develop over the next fifty years. | 5/23/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanCurbing Consumption: Forging a New Economic Model | 2011 has brought with it many challenges to the global community, namely weather extremes pushing up record food prices, and political instability spiking oil prices. Until now our economy has been based on consumption and waste, where we lived beyond our means and the resources of the planet’s ecosystems. According to Paul Gilding we have come to the end of economic growth as we know it and now it is time for Economic Growth 2.0. Gilding paints a picture of the coming decades as ones filled with loss, suffering, conflict, geopolitical instability, food shortages and massive economic change. However, he believes all of this will bring out humanity’s best qualities; compassion, innovation and adaptability will carry us through these coming crises and make us a stronger and more advanced civilization. | 5/4/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanMugabe's Fight for Zimbabwe | After his controversial 2008 re-election campaign, Robert Mugabe began a brutal terror campaign against his people which would later become known simply as, “The Fear.” Peter Godwin will tell of his secret trip to Zimbabwe where foreign journalists had been banned, the battle waged by Mugabe to stay in power and the courage and resilience of the Zimbabwean people. | 4/28/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanAuditing California: An "Economist" Report | From the glitz of Hollywood to the energy and innovation of Silicon Valley, from the weather to the wine, California is envied around the globe. Yet despite the state’s immense advantages, its finances are in deep trouble. Andreas Kluth will explain how it got into its current fiscal mess-—and also how, by introducing the right reforms, it can get out of it again. | 4/27/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanNigeria on the Brink | With nearly 150 million people, close to 50 billion dollars in annual oil revenue and a central location on the continent, Nigeria has all the criteria to be a leader in Africa’s increasing economic growth. However, with a recent vacuum in government authority, escalating violence in the oil-producing delta and ethnic and religious tensions in the North, is the continent’s most populous country closer to failure than take-off? John Campbell, author of Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink, will explore Nigeria’s post-colonial history and offer an explanation of the events and conditions that have carried this complex, dynamic and troubled giant to the edge. Can Nigerians push back against corruption and use the nation’s oil wealth to stoke economic investment and growth, or will Nigeria continue to be a place of a wealthy minority and impoverished majority? | 4/25/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanVoices of the World Author Series: Peru | Author Daniel Alarcón joins the Council to discuss his novel Lost City Radio, which examines the effect that war and emigration have on families and communities. The title refers to a radio program that read the names of missing persons on the air in order to reunite families, which existed in Peru as well as other post-conflict states. Alarcón was recently listed on the "20 Under 40 Writers to Watch” list by The New Yorker, and is the associate editor of Etiqueta Negra, an award-winning monthly magazine published in his native Lima, Peru. Join the International Forum for this discussion, which is part of the Voices of the World author series. | 4/21/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanFrom Tribes to Citizens: The Evolution of Government | Virtually all human societies were once tribal. Why have some gone on to create stable liberal democracies, while others have failed to form legitimate and accountable institutions? Francis Fukuyama traced the origins of political history back to primates in search of the answer for his new book, which has been described as a “magnum opus.” Join him for his insights on the development of political order, the nature of government, and what it might mean for modern man. | 4/20/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanFreedom on the Net 2011: Growing Threats to the Internet and Digital Media | As the recent uprisings across the Middle East have shown, information technology facilitates political change, but for that very reason, authoritarian regimes are intensifying their controls over the internet. Freedom House is now issuing its report in levels of freedom on the internet around the world, which rates internet access, censorship, and user rights in 37 countries and assesses key trends in freedom of digital media. The presentation of report findings will be followed by a panel discussion with internet freedom experts. Brought to you by the Yahoo! Series on Business and Human Rights. | 4/18/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanPower Shift: The Future of US Influence | The nature of international power is evolving. From 16th century colonies to 20th century nuclear stockpiles, power has meant different things at different times in history. What constitutes power in the 21st century information age, and what will power look like in the future? With the rise of China and India, and the growing importance of non-state actors, how will the US continue to influence the global political and economic landscape? Joseph Nye will discuss how the US can utilize soft and smart power to resolve the most complex issues of today—and the future. | 3/31/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Transatlantic Agenda | Germany and the United States face enormous challenges in 2011, including the aftermath of the global financial crisis, regional conflicts, climate change, terrorism and nuclear nonproliferation. Tackling such complex problems requires reliable and strong partnerships. Ambassador Scharioth will discuss the shared values and interests between the US and Germany, and how we can build on them to solve global problems. | 3/8/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Way Out of Afghanistan | The Obama administration has embraced a broad counterinsurgency policy, pairing combat operations with a strategy of winning hearts and minds of the local civilian population. Will it work in Afghanistan? Bing West, a former Assistant Secretary of Defense and Marine, will assess the prospects for success in Afghanistan and discuss his provocative plan for a way out: putting Afghans in charge of their own war.Hosted by the World Affairs Council of Northern California in partnership with the Marine's Memorial Association. | 2/28/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWho is Osama bin Laden? | A 20-year veteran of the CIA and first chief of the Osama bin Laden unit, Michael Scheuer has a depth of knowledge about Osama bin Laden that goes far beyond “9/11 mastermind.” Scheuer argues that the United States has underestimated bin Laden’s bravery, strategic thinking and patience, playing into his master plan. Please join Michael Scheuer for an in-depth portrait of Osama bin Laden and his continuing significance and power. | 2/23/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanBulls, Bears and Watchdogs: The Media's Role in the Financial Crisis | As the financial crisis of 2008-2009 began to take shape, the business press took a beating from both sides of the political spectrum for leniency in their coverage of the financial giants. How could the press have missed the story of the century? Was the ideal of the fourth estate a failure? Veteran journalist Anya Schiffrin will discuss the role of the business press leading up to the crisis and how the press may have contributed to the crash itself. | 2/22/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanA World of Disasters – the Causes and Consequences of Humanitarian Crises | Each year the world sees between 30 and 50 major natural disasters that take countless lives and cause billions of dollars in damage, and many of these natural disasters spiral into humanitarian crises. NGOs and aid agencies are often the most visible face of the international community’s response to such crises, but are they best suited to respond to emergencies of such magnitude? Charles MacCormack, the president of Save the Children, will address these questions and suggest that while NGOs can be simple in motive, it is their dedication to narrow goals that allows them to address issues often over looked by governments or larger organizations. Though “success” is a relative term during periods of disaster and can be hard to measure, MacCormack argues that significant improvements can be seen in the survival rates when there is good communication between organizations as well as long-term recovery goals. In the wake of such natural disasters as the earthquake in Haiti and the floods in Pakistan, can NGOs help to mitigate the causes and consequences of future humanitarian crises? | 2/15/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanDictator 2.0 - The Dark Side of the Internet | After Twitter was used as an organizing tool in the protests following the disputed 2009 reelection of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran, the Internet was widely praised as a game-changer for democratic movements. But Evgeny Morozov argues that authoritarian regimes are as strong as ever, and use the Internet to their advantage by restricting speech, spying on dissidents, and publishing propaganda. Mr. Morozov will discuss how the spread of new media around the world should not necessarily be seen as a force for democracy, and how Western hopes for digital revolution could, in fact, backfire. | 2/10/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanLiving on a Hot Planet | Climate change is well underway, and although we should continue to work to stop its momentum, we should also prepare to live with it. Mark Hertsgaard traveled the world to learn more about the efforts of other countries to adapt to the new, hot future, and came to some surprising conclusions. Join him to discuss what we can expect over the next fifty years on earth, and how we can face the collective challenges brought about by climate change. | 2/9/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Power of New Media in China | In March 2010, Google shut down its China-based search engine, and moved all traffic to its uncensored Hong Kong website, further enflaming the battle of censorship between the world’s largest search engine and the world’s most populous country. New media in China takes a variety of forms, from websites and blogs, to forums and online bulletin boards; this new form of communication has become a vital and popular tool for the average Chinese internet user to distribute and collect information on political, social, religious and business issues. Meanwhile, the Chinese Government is striving to reach a delicate balance on the role of new media—encouraging internet growth to have a more networked economy while exercising controls over people's access to regulated information. Kevin Fong, a special advisor to GSR Ventures, and Duncan Clark, the Chairman of BDA China, will discuss the policies and practices of new media in China. In an increasingly connected world, can China sustain its robust economic growth, while stifling internet freedom at home? And how should business leaders and investors adapt to work in an environment of economic opportunities and state regulations? | 2/8/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Memory of Love, The Aftermath of War -- with Aminatta Forna | The International Museum of Women in partnership with the World Affairs Council presents a conversation with author and journalist Aminatta Forna. From human rights in Africa, to the importance of education for girls and boys, Forna will discuss her newest novel, The Memory of Love. Set in post-colonial Sierra Leone a few years after the civil war, The Memory of Love offers a view of modern Africa through the eyes of both insiders and outsiders who struggle to cope with the aftermath of a war waged against and among civilians. Forna’s novel depicts a deeply hopeful and universal story about love and human resilience. Raised in Sierra Leone as the daughter of a former Sierra Leonean cabinet minister and dissident, Forna’s writing has been dominated by the tortuous events of her country’s history. She is the author of a previous novel, Ancestor Stones, and a memoir, The Devil that Danced on the Water. In 2003, Forna helped build a primary school in her family's village of Rogbonko, where she is also working to establish a cashew plantation named Kholifa Estates after the fictional plantation in Ancestor Stones. | 1/26/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe UN Refugee Agency at 60 Years | The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), set up as a temporary organization to help resolve displacement issues after World War II, has turned 60 years old. As global displacement continues, UNHCR Regional Representative Vincent Cochetel will examine the role his organization plays, along with the international community, in protecting and assisting over 43 million forcibly displaced refugees and others in similar situations worldwide. The event coincides with the opening of photographer Zalmaï Ahad's exhibit on urban refugees. What with nearly half of the world’s refugees now living in urban areas, the exhibit is a reflection of the changing nature and complexity of displacement. | 1/24/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanMega-diplomacy: Solutions for a Borderless World | Has the world entered a new dark age? What are our chances for recovery? Parag Khanna joins us to discuss his unique view of the current state of global affairs and how a new, non-traditional coalition of business executives, philanthropists, technocrats and others can bring about a modern Renaissance. Mr. Khanna will discuss how this “mega-diplomacy” has the power to improve education, protect the environment, rebuild failed states, battle terrorism, and make the global economy more just. | 1/19/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanHaiti: One Year Later | On January 12, 2010 one of the worst natural disasters in recent history struck the island nation of Haiti. With an estimated 220,000 people killed and many more left stranded and homeless, the 7.0 earthquake brought this long-troubled country to center stage in the global arena. As nations and NGOs scrambled to deliver aid and supplies in the weeks following the disaster, they also made plans to rebuild Haiti and create a government of peace and stability. Looking back on what unfolded in 2010, three panelists will discuss how the international community and Haitian people responded to the devastating natural disaster. They will highlight how Haiti’s health infrastructure reacted to the initial dire conditions and recent Cholera outbreaks, what role NGOs and the international community can play in fostering long-term peace and recovery and how Haitian culture and political history makes this effort challengingly unique. Thomas Tighe, president of Direct Relief International, Claudine Michel, Professor of Black Studies at UC Santa Barbara and Rick Loomis, a Pulitzer-prize winning photojournalist for the LA Times, will offer their perspectives into how Haiti has fared in the 12 months since the earthquake. | 1/18/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanStrategic National Security Challenges Facing the United States | America’s former drug czar for five years, General Barry R. McCaffrey joins the Council to discuss the challenging international environment facing the United States and our allies – and the diplomatic, economic and military tools required to secure our future. General McCaffrey’s extensive experience integrates national security, business strategies, risk assessment and narco-terrorism with the troubled regions of the Middle East, Russia, Asia and Latin America. He continues to travel extensively to Iraq, Pakistan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan both testifying to Congress and briefing the White House National Security Council staff, the Pentagon, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and senior leaders in the Department of Health and Human Services. At his retirement from active duty, McCaffrey was the most highly decorated four-star general in the U.S. Army, having served four combat tours and having received three Purple Heart medals for wounds suffered in battle. He current serves as a security analyst for NBC News, an adjunct professor of international affairs at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and president of his own consulting firm. | 1/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Iranian Threat and the Washington Divide | Facing a new round of diplomatic negotiations in January and recent claims by Tehran that it can now mine its own uranium, the United States is weighing its options towards the Iranian government. Joe Cirincione, the president of Ploughshares Fund, a global security foundation, will explore the status and prospects of Iran’s nuclear program as well as the debate in Washington about how to deal with it. Will political engagement and economic sanctions prove fruitful, or should the US consider the possibility of military intervention? While no option is without risk, American leaders face increasing pressure to make a decision within the next two years. | 1/12/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanGuggenhime Speaker Series: A Conversation with James D. Wolfensohn | James D. Wolfensohn joins us to discuss his remarkable life story, reflect on his time at the World Bank and share his thoughts of the future of global poverty. During his ten years as President of the World Bank, James D. Wolfensohn traveled the globe, advancing the causes of education, basic health care, environment and stability. Born in Australia, Mr. Wolfensohn served as an officer in the Australian Air Force and was a member of the 1956 Australian Olympic Fencing Team before becoming a prominent investment banker. He served as President of the World Bank from 1995-2005, overseeing the Bank’s efforts to eradicate poverty with passion and personality. Mr. Wolfensohn is currently the head of Wolfensohn & Company, LLC, a private investment firm that provides strategic advice to governments and corporations doing business in emerging market economies. He also founded The Wolfensohn Center for Development at the Brookings Institution, which examines and evaluates development initiatives. He is the author of new autobiography titled A Global Life: My Journey among Rich and Poor, from Sydney to Wall Street to the World Bank. | 1/11/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanFifty Years Later: Human Rights and Social Reconstruction in Africa | As countries across the continent celebrate 50 years of independence, millions of Africans still face daily violence and human rights abuses. From Guinea to Kenya, Sudan to Zimbabwe, African nations continue to deal with despotic leaders’ attempts to stay in power. Although the American media occasionally provides a picture of violence in Africa, what does life on the ground really look like? Peter Orner and Annie Holmes, co-authors of Hope Deferred, and Patrick Vinck, the director of the Initiative for Vulnerable Populations Project at UC Berkeley's Human Rights Center, will describe two countries, Zimbabwe and the Central African Republic, with strikingly different histories but who are both dealing with crippling poverty and ongoing human rights abuses. They will also offer their thoughts and insights as to what steps the continent must take to move forward. Is it more important to a national psyche to try and convict a former warlord, or should more effort be put into recreating a peaceful society? Can economic growth seriously take hold in a place where corruption and violence is such a large disincentive? Is Africa ready for takeoff, or stalled at the gate? | 12/6/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanIF French Reception – An Evening with the Deputy Consul General of France | Parlez-vous français? Join us for an evening to hear the Deputy Consul General, Corinne Pereira, and meet and share your appreciation and love of France with others while sampling appetizers from a local French restaurant and sipping wine. Our reception is a terrific opportunity to engage in lively conversation with others interested in international affairs, learn more about the International Forum’s long-running French Dinner Group, as well as acquaint yourself with the IF, the Council, and opportunities to become involved. In addition, the event will be hosted in French – all levels of French speakers, and non-speakers are welcome. Tous ceux qui parlent le français sont bienvenus! | 12/1/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanPiracy and the Maritime Commons | From the waters off the Horn of Africa to the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea, there has been a surge in the activity of pirates in recent years. Causing alarm and forcing action by governments, how are diplomats and militaries cooperating and concentrating forces to counter this growing threat? Also, how are navies contending with the ever-changing tactics of pirates? And, what are the legal challenges in prosecuting pirates? Jeffrey Kline joins the Council to examine the issue of piracy and the maritime commons. Kline is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Operations Research department and Program Director for the National Security Institute’s Maritime Defense and Security Research Programs. He teaches Joint Campaign Analysis, Simulation and Analysis, Statistics and coordinates Maritime Security Education programs offered at NPS. In addition, he is an Adjunct Professor at the Naval War College teaching an analytical series titled Joint Analysis for the Warfare Commander. | 11/30/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWhy the West Rules For Now | As the first decade of the 21st century comes to an end, political and economic analysts attempt to dissect the last ten years in hopes of predicting the next twenty. But what does the recent rise of China and the East really mean for the aging democracies of the West? Taking a much longer view of history Ian Morris, Professor of Classics and History at Stanford University, looks back more than 12,000 years to the beginning of agriculture and the birth of large-scale organized societies in order to predict what the future holds. Drawing on the millennial ebb and flow of the East and West, Morris suggests that the West’s dominance is both recent and temporary. According to the social development patterns of the last few millennia, the West’s “rule” is scheduled to end early in the next century, but Morris proposes that in an increasingly global world, propelled by quantum leaps in computing power and bioscience, the old distinctions between East and West may seem outdated and unfit to answer our new questions. In a world where the dichotomy between “us and them” is becoming increasingly insufficient, what does the future hold for the West, and the rest? | 11/22/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanHaifa: A Model of Co-Existence in the Middle East | Haifa is a unique model for co-existence, with Jewish, Arab and Christian communities intermingling and residing side by side, in Israel's third largest city of over 250,000 people. The Council pleased to welcome the city’s mayor, Yona Yahav to discuss Haifa as a stronghold of coexistence in the Middle East. Yona Yahav, visiting San Francisco in honor of the San Francisco-Haifa sister city relationship, has served as Mayor of Haifa since 2003, and brings extensive experience in culture and government to the Haifa municipality. Previously a Member of the 14th Knesset, Mayor Yahav was awarded the Legion of Honor by the President of the French Parliament in 2008 for his contribution in strengthening relations with France and its institutes, and for his devoted leadership of Haifa’s diverse population during the Second War in Lebanon. | 11/19/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanIran, Israel and the United States: Challenges and Opportunities | In the post-Cold War world, American policymakers are increasingly turning to “discrete military operations (DMOs)” to resolve problems abroad. Such operations—assassination attempts on dictators, or drone strikes inside Pakistan, for example—are meant to minimize soldier and civilian deaths and limit collateral damage. How successful has the application of limited military force been in achieving American objectives? Micah Zenko will discuss the shortcomings of US military tactics, such as drone attacks and special operations raids, in addressing the challenges posed by today’s global conflicts, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. | 11/17/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWhy Limited Force Rarely Works | In the post-Cold War world, American policymakers are increasingly turning to “discrete military operations (DMOs)” to resolve problems abroad. Such operations—assassination attempts on dictators, or drone strikes inside Pakistan, for example—are meant to minimize soldier and civilian deaths and limit collateral damage. How successful has the application of limited military force been in achieving American objectives? Micah Zenko will discuss the shortcomings of US military tactics, such as drone attacks and special operations raids, in addressing the challenges posed by today’s global conflicts, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. | 11/16/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWho are the Kurds? | The world’s fourth-most populous nation spread across a chain of thousands of islands, Indonesia is a highly diverse collection of cultures, ethnicities and religions. In terms of faith, six of the world’s religions are formally recognized in Indonesia: Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Confucianism, Hinduism and Buddhism. But with approximately 85 percent of the population adherent to Islam, what is the relationship between the Muslim majority and significant Catholic minority? And, how are other religions and traditions tolerated in Indonesia? The World Affairs Council and Indonesian Consulate General of San Francisco are pleased to host a group of Indonesian religious experts, one Catholic and two Muslim scholars, to discuss Indonesia’s promotion of moderate Islam and tolerant interfaith coexistence. | 11/11/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanPromoting Moderate Islam & Interfaith Tolerance in Indonesia | The world’s fourth-most populous nation spread across a chain of thousands of islands, Indonesia is a highly diverse collection of cultures, ethnicities and religions. In terms of faith, six of the world’s religions are formally recognized in Indonesia: Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Confucianism, Hinduism and Buddhism. But with approximately 85 percent of the population adherent to Islam, what is the relationship between the Muslim majority and significant Catholic minority? And, how are other religions and traditions tolerated in Indonesia? The World Affairs Council and Indonesian Consulate General of San Francisco are pleased to host a group of Indonesian religious experts, one Catholic and two Muslim scholars, to discuss Indonesia’s promotion of moderate Islam and tolerant interfaith coexistence. | 11/9/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanFollowing America's Wars in the Muslim World | A rise in radicalism? Sectarian violence? Civil war? What are the local impacts of American military efforts in the Middle East? Taking us from Iraq to Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon and finally to Afghanistan, journalist Nir Rosen has visited the alleys, deserts, refugee camps, mosques and battlefields in predominantly Muslim nations to show how the US military has influenced the region and how it has been influenced by its new theater of operations. | 11/4/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanTrans-Siberian Stories | Siberia takes up one-twelfth of the land on earth and spans eight time zones. This storied region is sparsely inhabited and rarely seen. Ian Frazier, author of Great Plains and On the Rez, traveled throughout Siberia on numerous trips over 10 years, collecting stories for his new book Travels in Siberia. He will discuss his experiences traveling through the vast expanse of Siberia in a post-Cold War landscape. | 10/28/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanA Hundred Years of American Wars | In 1991 the United States trounced the Iraqi army in battle, only to stumble blindly into postwar turmoil; 12 years later, Americans found themselves in the same situation. How could the world’s strongest power fight two wars against the same opponent in just over a decade, win lighting victories both times, and yet still be woefully unprepared for the aftermath? Gideon Rose, the Editor of Foreign Affairs and author of How Wars End: Why We Always Fight the Last Battle, will explore how American leaders, throughout the 20th century, have repeatedly ignored the need for careful postwar planning. Time and again, American presidents and generals have focused more on beating up the enemy than on creating a stable postwar environment. Rose will illustrate how and why each war ended as it did, identifying the choices of key figures involved and showing how those choices were constrained by domestic politics and ideology. Despite efforts to learn from past errors, our leaders continue to miscalculate and prolong conflicts or invite unwelcome results. Can the next generation of leaders learn from the mistakes of past presidents, or is the US destined to another repeat of history? | 10/27/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanLocal Conflicts as a Global Challenge | The face of war has changed markedly over the past half century. Conflicts are typically within a single country rather than between different nation states. They may last decades rather than a handful of years. And casualties are disproportionately civilian rather than military. This new face of war is evident in Afghanistan, Sudan, and the Congo. The International Rescue Committee is often among the first humanitarian relief and development agencies to respond in the aftermath or even during such conflicts. George Rupp joins the Council and Global Philanthropy Forum to discuss the challenges of implementing programs to assist uprooted individuals and communities in such settings. As the IRC’s chief executive officer, Dr. Rupp oversees the agency’s relief and rehabilitation operations in 42 countries and its refugee resettlement and assistance programs throughout the United States. In addition, he leads the IRC’s advocacy efforts in Washington, Geneva, Brussels and other capital | 10/26/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanFilm Screening Discussion: Presumed Guilty (Presunto Culpable) | Lawyers-turned-filmmakers Roberto Hernandez and Layda Negrete set out to exonerate a man sentenced in Mexico to 20 years in prison for homicide with no physical evidence. In the process of making the film, they put the Mexican criminal justice system on trial. Join us to view the film the Wall Street Journal called a nightmarish journey into Mexico legal system lifted from the pages of Franz Kafka. A 90-minute screening of Presumed Guilty was followed by a discussion with the filmmakers, who shared their experiences filming inside the Mexican prison and judicial systems, and their plans to release the film commercially in Mexico. The film is in Spanish with English subtitles. | 10/26/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanAmerican Diplomacy: Assessing Negotiating Behavior | As U.S. diplomats face an increasingly complex international environment, it is ever more important that the United States review its own negotiating skills with the goal of enhancing its capacities to deal with 21st century challenges. Ambassador Richard H. Solomon will discuss the constraints within which US diplomats operate, and the policy and practical changes necessary to increase the effectiveness of America diplomats. In his new book, American Negotiating Behavior: Wheeler-Dealers, Legal Eagles, Bullies and Preachers, Ambassador Solomon assesses the multiple influences—cultural, institutional, historical and political—that shape how American presidents and diplomats approach negotiations with foreign counterparts, and highlights the behavioral patterns that transcend the actions of individual negotiators and administrations. | 10/25/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Clean2010 Midterms: The Future of the Obama Presidency | As the November 2010 midterm elections draw closer, most political observers oscillate almost daily between a Republican revolt and a come from behind win for the Democrats. The big question is whether, in a replay of 1994, the Republicans will ride a wave of popular unease and resentment to take control of the House. David Corn, the Washington Bureau Chief at Mother Jones, will discuss the real issues beyond this dramatic horse race, offering insight into what impact the midterm election will have on the White House’s foreign and domestic policies, and if the GOP has what it takes to win the House. Is the White House ready for compromise? Can the GOP learn to work with the other side of the aisle? | 10/22/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanAmerican Foreign Policy and Power After 9-11 | Ten years after the 9/11 attacks, they remain a pivotal event in the formation of modern American foreign policy. Scott Malcomson served in two unique vantage points over this transition–first as the New York Times Foreign Affairs Op-Ed Editor in 2001-2002, when he contributed to the debate surrounding the initiation of the war in Iraq, and later as Senior Advisor to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello, who was killed in Iraq by Al-Qaeda in 2003. Malcomson shares his experiences in a new book titled Generation's End: A Personal Memoir of American Power after 9/11.Join him and Stanford professor Dr. Francis Fukuyama (The End of History, America at the Crossroads) for a discussion of how American power was shaped and misshaped in reaction to 9/11. | 10/21/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Story of the World Deadliest Gun – the AK-47 | It is one of the most widely recognizable weapons in the world, carried by more than 50 national armies and an array of police, intelligence and security agencies. The Kalashnikov, branded the AK-47, is durable, cheap to make, easy to conceal and deadly. But where did it get its start, and how did it make its way across the globe? Author and New York Times correspondent CJ Chivers will discuss the history of the world’s most infamous firearm. Pulling from interviews with and the personal accounts of insurgents, terrorists and child soldiers, Chivers will explore the history of the Kalashnikov and its role in the evolution of modern warfare. Along the way he will document the experience and folly of war, and challenge both the enduring Soviet propaganda surrounding the AK-47 and many of its myths. | 10/20/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanBrazil – The Story of a Country Transformed | The rise of China and India have captured headline after headline, now Brazil is well on its way to take its place on the global stage. Today, the South American nation is not only the world’s eighth largest economy with a vibrant democracy, it is also on the road to achieving energy independence and will host the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. However, recent prosperity and opportunities have not always been part of the country’s long and complex history. What led to this transformation and how has the recent economic boom changed politics, society and culture in Brazil? As Brazil goes to the polls this month to elect a new president, Larry Rohter, longtime bureau chief of The New York Times and Newsweek in Rio de Janeiro, will examine what contributed to this enormous change and to explore the future of this country—and what it will mean for the United States. | 10/13/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanSecuring Afghanistan | After decades of conflict, the Afghan people crave peace and stability. Several approaches for achieving stability are under consideration, including reconciliation and de facto ethnic partition. Ambassador Gharekhan, former Indian Ambassador to the United Nations, will discuss his hopes to implement a diplomatic surge, with the aim of creating a strong, neutral and secure Afghanistan. | 10/12/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanTariq Ramadan in Conversation with Abbas Milani | Tariq Ramadan is very much a public figure, named one of Time magazine most important innovators of the twenty-first century. He is among the leading Islamic thinkers in the West, with a large following around the world. But he has also been a lightning rod for controversy. Indeed, in 2004, Ramadan was prevented from entering the U.S. by the Bush administration and despite two appeals, supported by organizations like the American Academy of Religion and the ACLU, he was barred from the country until spring of 2010, when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton finally lifted the ban. Tariq Ramadan is Professor of Islamic Studies on the Faculty of Theology at Oxford University, Senior Research Fellow at St. Antony’s College (Oxford), Doshisha University (Kyoto, Japan) and the President of the European Muslim Network (EMN) think tank in Brussels. He is the author of Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation, In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons From the Life of Muhammad, Western Muslims and the Future of Islam, and Islam, the West, and Challenges of Modernity. | 10/7/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanFreedom from Fear, Freedom from Want: What’s next for the human rights movement? | Next year, Amnesty International—the world’s largest grassroots human rights organization—will recognize a 50-year legacy of advocating for the release of tens of thousands of “prisoners of conscience,” ending torture and execution, exposing human rights crises and generating public pressure to stop government and corporate abuse. Since 1961, the organization has evolved to meet the most pressing human rights violations of our time. The World Affairs Council will host the Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, Larry Cox, to discuss the next chapter for this global force of 2.8 million worldwide members: addressing poverty as a human rights issue. | 10/6/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanIs Africa the Next China? | From Egypt to South Africa, Kenya to Senegal, Africa’s economies are on the move. With a population that will double in the next five years and a range of untapped markets, is Africa the next China? The continent’s increased economic momentum is widely recognized, but less is known about its sources and staying power; and while the rate of return on foreign investment is higher than in any other developing region, so are the number of potential pitfalls. The San Francisco Based Director of McKinsey Global Institute, James Manyika, will present the results of a new report, Lions on the Move: The Progress and Potential of African Economies, and discuss the causes of Africa’s recent growth acceleration, the economic outlook for the years ahead and the emerging opportunities for business. Will the short term hurdles of corruption and violence deter future investors, or is this a place that global executives and shareholders cannot afford to ignore? | 9/30/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanHedge Funds: Heroes or Villains? | Sebastian Mallaby, author of More Money than God and director of the Council on Foreign Relations Center for Geoeconomic Studies, will explore how hedge funds got their start and what role they’ve played during the economic ebb and flow of the last 50 years. Hedge funds have survived in spite of various financial crises, remaining remarkably stable through the stock market collapse of the early 1970s, the bond market downturn of the 1990s and the dot-com crash in 2000. As the cornerstones of the American economy—from Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers to AIG and Citigroup—have faced bankruptcy and bailouts, the hedge fund industry has survived the test of 2008 far better than its rivals. Sebastian Mallaby will offer explanations as to why the future of finance lies in the history of hedge funds. | 9/22/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanExamining the Missteps of Wartime Foreign Policy | While the wars in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq were not total losses, rash hopes, intelligence failures and grandiose designs certainly lead to blunders and avoidable failures. As President Obama turns his attention increasingly towards the war in Afghanistan, how can his administration avoid some of the same counterproductive patterns that have plagued US foreign policy decisions in times of war? A professor of foreign policy at Georgetown University, Derek Leebaert argues that the cause of many of America’s foreign policy mistakes lies in “magical thinking” – the idea that the US can manage the world through well-intentioned force. From the belief that we can accomplish anything out of sheer righteousness to the conviction that American-style management will fix any global problem to overconfidence in miracle technology, whether drones over Pakistan or helicopters in Vietnam, Leebaert believes that unless our leaders confront these notions we are destined to repeat the strategic mistakes of the past. | 9/16/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Good Soldiers | When President Bush announced a new military strategy for Iraq in July 2007 dubbed “the surge,” it immediately drew both supporters and critics. Yet few are as intimately familiar with the surge as journalist David Finkel, who spent eight months embedded with the 2-16 infantry battalion deployed on the outskirts of Baghdad as part of this new strategy. Finkel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Washington Post, will discuss his book, The Good Soldiers, which provides his account of the war as experienced on the ground. He details the successes, struggles and psychological traumas of soldiers on the front lines, while underscoring the cognitive dissonance between the violent reality taking place on the ground and the abstract policy debates back in Washington. | 9/9/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanU.S. Energy Security in the 21st Century | The Department of the Navy, led by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, has in the past year made bold moves to change the way energy is used in its operational Navy and Marine forces, maintaining that our country dependency on fossil fuels constitutes a clear strategic and tactical vulnerability. Since announcing in October 2009 new energy targets that will dramatically increase the amount of alternative energy used in the Department by 2020, the Navy has flown a fighter jet, the Green Hornet, on a grain-based biofuel, awarded significant solar energy contracts throughout the Southwest, and signed agreements with the Department of Agriculture to pool their collective knowledge of renewable energy. These measures promise to be only the beginning of a decade-long campaign to reform the Navy energy infrastructure.Ray Mabus is the 75th United States Secretary of the Navy. As Secretary, he leads America Navy and Marine Corps and is responsible for conducting all the affairs of the Department of the Navy, including recruiting, organizing, supplying, equipping, training, and mobilizing. Prior to becoming Secretary of the Navy, Mabus served as Governor of Mississippi and Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. He was a Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy aboard the cruiser USS Little Rock.Hosted by the World Affairs Council of Northern California in partnership with the Marine Memorial Association. | 8/19/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanAmerica Path to Permanent War | With nearly 380,000 soldiers in over 700 bases currently deployed around the world, and a national defense manufacturing sector employing thousands of Americans at home, has the US become dependent on a never ending war? Andrew Bacevich, professor of history and international relations at Boston University, will discuss the origins of the American military complex and question whether the nation should continue to maintain a permanent armed presence around the world. Bacevich is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and has been a fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He authored The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism, among other books, and his op-eds have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. | 8/12/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanRemarks by Admiral Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations, US Navy | Admiral Roughead is a 1973 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and is the first naval officer to command both classes of Aegis ships, Destroyer and Cruiser, and is one of only two officers in history to command both US Naval fleets in the Pacific and Atlantic, where he was responsible for ensuring Navy forces were trained, ready, equipped and prepared to operate around the world, where and when needed. He also commanded Cruiser Destroyer Group 2, the George Washington Battle Group; and US 2nd Fleet/NATO Striking Fleet Atlantic and Naval Forces North Fleet East. Ashore, he has served as Commandant, United States Naval Academy, the Department of the Navy Chief of Legislative Affairs, and as Deputy Commander of the US Pacific Command. Among the Admiral many awards include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, and various unit and service awards. Now serving as one of the US Navy highest ranking officials, Admiral Roughead joins the Council to discuss the US Navy global influence and the emerging security environment. | 8/5/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Obama Administration’s Fight Against Global AIDS | According to UNAIDS, 33.4 million people are living with HIV worldwide, and approximately 2.7 million new infections occurred in 2008. For every two people who start treatment, five more are infected. Undoubtedly, this global epidemic requires a comprehensive, multisectoral approach that expands access to prevention, care, and treatment.America is leading the fight against global HIV/AIDS through the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) – the largest commitment by any nation to combat a single disease internationally in history. The human impact of America’s investments in partner nations’ efforts is profound. Through PEPFAR, the United States has directly supported life-saving antiretroviral treatment for over 2.4 million people, and care for more than 11 million people with care and support programs, including more than 4 million orphans and vulnerable children. PEPFAR’s efforts around prevention of mother-to-child transmission programs have allowed nearly 340,000 babies of HIV-positive mothers to be born HIV-free. PEPFAR is the cornerstone and largest component of the President’s Global Health Initiative, which supports partner countries in improving health outcomes through strengthened health systems. Responsible for overseeing US-sponsored programs to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic worldwide, Ambassador Eric Goosby joins the Council to discuss the Obama Administration’s commitment to the fight against global AIDS. Ambassador Goosby has over 25 years of experience with HIV/AIDS, ranging from his early years treating patients at San Francisco General Hospital when AIDS first emerged, to engagement at the highest level of policy leadership. | 7/28/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanOpportunities, Challenges and the Future of the Mexico-US Relationship | The grandson of refugees in Mexico, Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan is a career diplomat. He was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Inter-American Affairs and was posted in 1993 to the Mexican Embassy in the United States where he first served as Chief of Staff to the Ambassador, and then as head of the counternarcotics office. In 2000 he became Chief of Policy Planning at the Foreign Ministry and was appointed by the President as Mexican Consul General to New York City in 2003. He took a leave of absence from the Foreign Service in 2006 to join the presidential campaign of Felipe Calderón as Foreign Policy Advisor and International Spokesperson, and became Coordinator for Foreign Affairs in the transition team. In November 2006 he received the rank of Ambassador, and in February 2007 was appointed Mexican Ambassador to the United States. | 7/22/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanReset – Iran, Turkey and Americas Future | What can the United States do to help realize its dream of a peaceful, democratic Middle East? Would a re-shaping of traditional alliances in the region offer the solution? In his new book, Stephen Kinzer argues that two up-and-coming Middle Eastern powers, Iran and Turkey, will be America’s logical partners in the twenty-first century. He also recommends the United States reshape its relations with two traditional Middle East allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia, if it stands any chance in breaking the Middle-East stalemate. Labeled by The Washington Post “among the best in popular foreign policy storytelling,” Kinzer offers the Council his alternative ideas on America’s role in the Middle East and attempts to move this vital policy issue beyond the alternatives of the last fifty years. | 7/18/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanState Capitalism and the Global Economy | In The End of the Free Market, Ian Bremmer details the growing phenomenon of state capitalism, a system in which governments drive local economies through ownership of market-dominant companies and large pools of excess capital, using them for political gain. This trend threatens America’s competitive edge and the conduct of free markets everywhere. Bremmer follows the rise of state-owned firms in China, Russia, the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, Iran, Venezuela and elsewhere. He demonstrates the growing challenge that state capitalism will pose for the entire global economy. Are we on the brink of a new kind of Cold War, one that pits competing economic systems in a battle for dominance? Can free market countries compete with state capitalist powerhouses over relations with countries that have elements of both systems—like Brazil, India and Mexico? Does state capitalism have staying power? | 6/30/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanInside the Obama White House | Jonathan Alter, a Newsweek columnist and contributing correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC, joins the Council to discuss his new book, The Promise: President Obama, Year One. Providing an inside account of President Obama and his administration in action, Alter will assess Obama’s foreign policy performance so far—from sending over 60,000 more troops to Afghanistan, to the Copenhagen climate accord, to nuclear nonproliferation, to US-Israeli relations, to closing the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, to combating terrorism at home and abroad. Among many revelations, Alter discloses that Obama reproached Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for encouraging insubordination, and pursued major healthcare reform in 2009 over the objections of his Vice President, Chief of Staff, and all of his other senior advisors. Alter will also discuss President Obama’s domestic initiatives, including the stimulus package, the bank and auto industry bailouts, regulation of the financial industry, and healthcare reform. | 6/16/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanBuilding Institutions for an Asian Economic Community | Asia has been successful in expanding its domestic economies, integrating them, and linking them to the global economy. Market-led integration backed by national efforts and regional cooperation has greatly benefited the region and helped it to sustain high growth. But why, despite a dense network of arrangements and institutions, does Asia remain “institution-lite”—marked by few formal or explicit commitments from member countries in terms of agenda for cooperation? Two distinguished economists will present on the Asian Development Bank’s new flagship study “Institutions for Asian Regionalism: Enhancing Cooperation and Integration in Asia and the Pacific.” Eichengreen and Madhur will lay out a framework to strengthen the region’s institutional architecture to achieve the goal of an Asian Economic Community. | 6/15/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanSomalia—Harnessing Religious Tensions for Peaceful Purposes | Without a central government for almost two decades, Somalia is often referred to as a failed state. In recent years, it has endured an incursion by troops from neighboring Ethiopia, a thriving black market in ammunition and arms sales and the rise of piracy on its shores; all this while trying to end nearly two decades of civil war. No matter its many troubles, Somalia has survived and there are still some isolated pockets of stability. Reverend William Swing will discuss four groups of Muslims, all affiliated with the United Religions Initiative, who have come together to build on these elements of civil society in Somalia. The Rt. Rev. William Swing served as the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California from 1980-2006. He founded the United Religions Initiative (URI) in 2000 with the goals of promoting enduring, daily interfaith cooperation and ending religiously motivated violence. Today the URI is working in 75 countries, including 23 or the world hot spots of religiously-motivated conflict. URI work touches the lives of more than 2.5 million people each year. | 6/15/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanRemarks by The Honorable Lael Brainard, Under Secretary for International Affairs, Department of the Treasury | The Global Philanthropy Forum and the World Affairs Council are honored to host the Department of the Treasury’s Under Secretary for International Affairs, The Honorable Lael Brainard. Recently confirmed by the Senate, she is entrusted with advancing the Obama Administration’s agenda to foster growth, create economic opportunities for Americans and address transnational economic challenges, including development, climate change, food security and financial inclusion.Before joining the Treasury Department, Under Secretary Brainard most recently served as Vice President and Founding Director of the Global Economy and Development Program at The Brookings Institution. Her prior government service includes tenure as the Deputy National Economic Adviser and Deputy Assistant to the President on International Economics during the Clinton Administration, addressing challenges such as the Asian financial crisis and China’s access to the World Trade Organization. | 6/7/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWar on Sacred Grounds | Drawing on the studies of religion and politics, Ron Hassner will offer insight into the often-violent dynamics that come into play at the places where religion and politics collide. He contends that sacred sites are particularly prone to conflict because they provide valuable resources for both religious and political actors yet cannot be divided. And due to their spiritual and cultural importance, holy places can therefore create the potential for military, theological, or political clashes, not only between competing religious groups but also between religious groups and secular actors. In his new book, War on Sacred Grounds, Ron Hassner investigates the causes and properties of conflicts over sites that are both venerated and contested, and proposes potential means for managing these disputes. He will discuss the failures to reach a settlement at Temple Mount/Haram el-Sharif that led to the clashes of 2000, and the competing claims of Hindus and Muslims at Ayodhya, which resulted in the destruction of the mosque there in 1992. He will also address more successful compromises in Jerusalem in 1967 and Mecca in 1979. | 5/27/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWomen, Islam and Reform in the Middle East | Across the Middle East, a grassroots reform movement is stirring as women increasingly demand their rights. Isobel Coleman will discuss how, in a time of rising religiosity, many of these activists today are working within an Islamic framework to bring about sustainable change, rather than trying to fight against the pervasive influence of Islam. In her new book, Paradise Beneath Her Feet, she highlights the lives of courageous women in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq who are fighting for economic and social change. Coleman argues that their success is crucial for progress and stability in the Islamic world, and that a growing movement of Islamic feminism could be one of the strongest forces for moderating extremism. | 5/18/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanBarack Obama and the Big Banks | Simon Johnson argues that the fundamental causes of our financial crisis are still with us and that a second financial shock is inevitable. He makes the case that until recently President Obama has been more aligned with bankers than consumers and that there has been a complete breakdown of consumer protection regarding mortgages and other financial products. He joins the Council to argue that the six largest banks comprise a powerful and dangerous oligarchy, and that the regulatory agencies in charge of policing financial institutions have been co-opted by the banks and now act in their interests. Breaking up the big banks, he asserts, is essential for any meaningful financial reform. Simon Johnson, a former chief economist at the IMF and now co-author of 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown, is one of the most authoritative voices on world economics. | 5/13/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanAcademic Globalization: How International Universities Are Reshaping the World | Every year, nearly three million international students study outside of their home countries, a 40 percent increase since 1999. Newly created or expanded universities in China, India and Saudi Arabia are now competing with European and North American academic institutions for faculty, students, and research preeminence. Meanwhile, satellite campuses of Western universities are springing up from Abu Dhabi and Singapore to South Africa. How is international competition for the brightest minds transforming the world of higher education? While some university and government officials see the rise of worldwide academic competition as a threat, Ben Wildavsky argues that the increased international mobility of students and cross-border expansion of higher education is creating a new global meritocracy, one in which the spread of knowledge benefits everyone--both educationally and economically. | 5/12/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanCountries in Crisis: Halting the Slide Toward Failure | For decades, the balance of power between strong nations was the dominant issue in international security. But today, it is fragile nations that are seen by many as posing a potentially greater threat. Weak infrastructure, internal conflict, and lack of economic development provide fertile ground for trafficking, piracy, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, disease pandemics, regional tensions, and even genocide. As a result there is a growing movement in the international community to find comprehensive ways to promote stronger nations, and, more effective ways to deal with those that are already on the brink of failure. Award-winning journalists Kira Kay and Jason Maloney, co-founders of the Bureau for International Reporting, recently explored the successes and failures of international interventions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, East Timor, Bosnia, and Haiti. In collaboration with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, their series of reports aired on PBS NewsHour in 2009. Jon Sawyer, the Pulitzer Center founding director, will offer introductory remarks about its continuing print and broadcast coverage of fragile states from around the world. discuss how the power of ideas is shaping the future of Iran. | 5/3/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Power of Ideas: The Battle for the Hearts and Minds of Iran | The power of ideas is the power to question and to change. Knowing this, repressive regimes, ideologues and fanatics worldwide use every means at their disposal—including intimidation, imprisonment and death—to silence ideas and control what people know and think. Join us for a close-up look at how one organization—Scholars at Risk—is working to defend the power of ideas on one of most prominent contemporary intellectual battlegrounds: the Islamic Republic of Iran. One of the world’s oldest continuous civilizations and once the center of global science and learning, Iran today is marked by internal tensions and external confrontations. What Iran’s future will look like is hotly contested, with the regime’s supporters battling Iranian academics, writers, artists, activists and dissident politicians and clerics for the hearts and minds of the Iranian people. Three distinguished Iranian intellectuals, each of whom has suffered threats for questioning the regime, will discuss how the power of ideas is shaping the future of Iran. | 4/28/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Beijing Consensus: How China’s Authoritarian Model will Dominate the 21st Century | China presents a major challenge to the United States. China is not just a strategic partner, or a holder of US debt, or a potential military threat. It is all these and more, according to Stefan Halper, a leading expert in international relations. In his new book, The Beijing Consensus, Halper presents the many sides of the China-US relationship and proposes a framework for how the US can effectively counter China’s authoritarian model. He argues that instead of playing by America’s rules, as did the Soviet Union, China has redefined the rules of the game on its own terms. China doles out money to dictators—with no strings attached. China buys resources from Africa and South America—without forcing transparency or reform. In short, China is showing the world how to achieve economic growth while maintaining an illiberal government, presenting the world’s despots with a viable alternative to the so-called Washington Consensus. Halper joins the Council to discuss China’s foreign policy in all its complexity and how the United States and its allies might counter it. | 4/27/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanInside the Negotiations: The Prospect for International Action on Climate Change Post-Copenhagen | As many have expressed disappointment with the main output, what were the strengths and weaknesses of the process leading to the Copenhagen Accord? Also, what is the likelihood for international action on climate change following this latest round of negotiations? Trevor Houser has served as Senior Advisor to US Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern through the climate change negotiations in the Danish capital last December. Now a partner at RHG, a New York-based economic research firm, and visiting fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, DC, Houser will discuss the outcome of the Copenhagen summit and the prospect for international cooperation on climate change in the years ahead. | 4/26/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanPeace and Security: Whose Peace, and Whose Security? | Peace and security are international public goods, but have traditionally been the preserve of state actors. This is changing. An increasingly vocal global civil society is emerging, as new challenges and conflicts test conventional, state-based approaches to preventing and resolving war. Civil society actors now play multiple roles in maintaining peace and security – early warning, identifying neglected conflicts, formulating policy responses, mobilizing public opinion, even directly assisting peace talks. Philanthropy has proven indispensable to civil society’s influence and its ability to pursue a global public good. Louise Arbour will examine public interest diplomacy, and the crucial roles of civil society and philanthropy in maintaining peace and security. Before being named President CEO of the International Crisis Group, she served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as the Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda. | 4/15/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Plundered Planet – Why the Exploitation of Natural Resources Affects Us All | Natural resources have the potential either to transform the poorest countries or to tear them apart, while the carbon emissions and agricultural follies of the wealthier world could further impoverish them. The impact of unchecked profiteering and the exploitation of natural resources by various actors has only helped to exacerbate a range of problems--including global warming, food shortages, and violent conflict. Building upon his renowned work on developing countries and teaching the poorest populations to confront the global mismanagement of nature, Paul Collier offers realistic and sustainable solutions to help poor countries rich in natural assets to better manage those resources, proposes policy changes that would raise the world food supply, and offers a clear-headed approach to climate change. The former director of research for the World Bank and current Director of Oxford’s Center for the Study of African Economies, Collier is perhaps best known as the award-winning author of The Bottom Billion, a highly-acclaimed work that The Economist wrote was set to become a classic, and the Financial Times praised it as rich in both analysis and recommendations. | 4/4/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanTaming the Gods – The Relationship Between Religion Democracy | What is the compatibility of liberal democracy and organized religion? From Western Europe’s varied responses to a growing Muslim population to evangelical Christianity’s influence on American politics, Ian Buruma examines the tensions between religion and politics, while looking at what is needed to hold democratic societies together. Comparing the United States and Europe, he investigates why so many Americans see religion as a help to democracy. Turning to China and Japan, Buruma disputes the notion that only monotheistic religions pose problems for secular politics. And, he explains why the separation of religion and politics for European Islam is not only possible, but necessary. | 3/25/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Future of the Arctic | For thousands of years, the Arctic has remained at the margins of global affairs. But the region has now found its way to the center of the issues that will challenge and define our world in the twenty-first century: energy security and the struggle for natural resources, climate change and its consequences, the return of great power competition, and the remaking of global trade patterns. Geopolitics expert Charles Emmerson discusses the forces which have shaped the Arctic history and introduces the players in politics, business, science and society who are struggling to mold its future. Emmerson has been a Global Leadership Fellow and Associate Director of the World Economic Forum, heading the Forum’s Global Risk Network. | 3/23/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanCalifornia and the World | Tom Campbell is a Republican candidate for the US Senate. Mr. Campbell served as a US Congressman for five terms representing districts in the Silicon Valley. He was also a California State Senator, and the Director of Finance for the State of California. In Congress, Mr. Campbell served on the Judiciary Committee, the Joint Economic Committee, the Banking and Housing Committee, and the International Relations Committee. He has also served since 2004 on the Council of Economic Advisors to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Mr. Campbell joins the Council to outline his vision of US foreign policy priorities and what international issues he would focus on if elected to the US Senate. | 3/18/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanBeyond the Beer: Rediscovering Irish-American Culture and Heritage | Many Americans, including those who are not Irish Americans, enjoy the culture, food and beer of the Irish. In addition, St. Patrick is the country’s most popular historical figure. However, many have heard of St. Patrick, but what did he actually do? Few know what St. Patrick is famous for and how he influenced Irish history and culture. Our special guest speakers—author and professor Daniel Melia of UC Berkeley, and local artists Melanie O’Reilly and Sean O’Nuallain—join us to discuss Irish-American culture and heritage. The event will feature a discussion of the historical Irish immigration to the US and the cultural legacy it left behind in the United States. | 3/16/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanRemarks by H.E. Sergey Kislyak, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United States | His Excellency Sergey I. Kislyak became ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United States in September 2008, having previously served as Russia’s deputy minister of foreign affairs since 2003. Prior to serving in this senior foreign policy position in Moscow, Ambassador Kislyak served as ambassador to Belgium and simultaneously as Russia’s permanent representative to NATO in Brussels. He has also held various postings in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including director of the Department of Security Affairs and Disarmament, director and deputy director of the Department of International Scientific and Technical Cooperation, and deputy director of the Department of International Organizations. In addition, he served in the United States before as first secretary and counselor at the Embassy of the Soviet Union in Washington and second secretary at the USSR’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. | 2/25/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanUS-Cuba Relations in the Twenty-First Century | Beginning with the transfer of power from Fidel to Raúl Castro in 2006, there are signs that Cuba has found new footing on the world stage. The last few years have seen an expansion of Cuba’s financial and political ties with the European Union and Latin America. And with changes in both the Cuban and US leaderships, anticipation for a breakthrough in dialogue between the two nations is growing. Julia Sweig, a leading expert on Cuba and Latin America and author of Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, will discuss the small island nation’s unique position in world affairs over the past fifty years and what may be in store for the looming post-Fidel era. | 2/23/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEurope vs. the US: Which Has the Better Development Model for the 21st Century? | A quiet revolution has been occurring in post-World War II Europe. A world power has emerged across the Atlantic that is re-crafting the rules for how a modern society should provide economic security, environmental sustainability, and global stability. During this time of economic crisis and global warming, how do the United States and members of the European Union really compare in terms of sustainable economic growth and trade, political engagement, social policy, and the deployment of renewable energy technologies? With a similar standard of living, universal health care and comprehensive social systems, and smaller ecological “footprint”, what lessons can the US learn from the European model? In his new book Europe Promise: Why the European Way is the Best Hope in an Insecure Age, Steven Hill explains Europe new vision, shatters myths, and shows how Europe leadership manifests in several major areas: economic strength, with Europe now the world wealthiest trading bloc, producing nearly a third of the world’s economy, almost as large as the U.S. and China combined; arguably the best health care and other social supports for families and individuals; widespread use of renewable energy technologies and conservation; and regional networks of trade, foreign aid, and investment that link one-third of the world to the European Union’s 27 member states and nearly a half billion citizens. | 2/18/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanBehind the Curtain – A Look into North Korean Culture | While considerable attention has been focused on following the actions of DPRK officials in Pyongyang, how well do we understand the mindset and culture of North Korea’s ordinary citizens? B.R. Myers argues that we know more of North Korea’s clandestine nuclear program than of the motivation behind it. We know more about Kim Jong Il’s potential successors than about the unique worldview that North Korean citizens share. Drawing from decades of research on the country’s ideology and propaganda, Myers offers a new understanding of North Korean culture; using multimedia to tell the story of modern-day life in this closed society through its art, unique historic perspective, literature, film, and iconography. A specialist on North Korea, he is a contributing editor to The Atlantic Monthly and a frequent contributor to both NPR and The New York Times, as well as author of The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves - And Why It Matters. | 2/11/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanFrom Peak Oil To Peak Water: The Impending World Water Crisis | Access to clean drinking water is vital to every society and a major factor in furthering public health, economic development and social stability, however, climate change, industrialization and urbanization threaten its supply and safety. In many areas of the world, diminishing access to safe water is creating a public health crisis and escalating tensions between countries and amongst ethnic groups. Join the Council for a discussion with Dr. Peter Gleick on how international water resource management and the lack of access to clean water and sanitation impact social, financial and environmental stability. How is water’s ability to meet public health and humanity’s most fundamental needs being challenged? Where are climate change and urbanization most dramatically impacting water resources? Can an international water policy that effectively addresses these issues be developed? What solutions could be implemented now or in the near future? How likely are wars over water in the future? Dr. Gleick will address these questions and explain how current changes in water supply are impacting development and the future sustainability of many societies. | 2/3/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanPreventing Another Haitian Crisis: Preparedness and Mitigation as Aid | Since January 12th, our televisions and computers have been flooded with pictures of horrific destruction and human suffering wrought by the earthquake in Haiti. What makes the images all the more heart-wrenching is the knowledge that most of the devastation could have been prevented by modern building codes and disaster preparedness techniques. The World Affairs Council of Northern California in cooperation with The Pacific Council’s Equitable Globalization Member Committee welcome Dr. Brian Tucker, President and Founder of GeoHazards International. With decades of work in the field, Dr. Tucker is an expert on incorporating better building practices into disaster risk management programs and international development efforts. He describes how his organization is attempting to prevent earthquakes and tsunamis from having disastrous effects in developing countries, and will outline some of the possible steps needed in Haiti to ensure that the next earthquake that strikes does not cause the havoc we are witnessing now. The discussion offers insights into the challenge of instituting disaster preparedness programs in the developing world – how political, social, technical and economic barriers can be overcome to protect people in the world’s most vulnerable regions from the devastating effects of natural disasters. | 2/2/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanTravel in the Age of Obama: Ten Tips for Travel in 2010 | The World Affairs Council in cooperation with Hostelling International USA, Golden Gate Council, is pleased to present an evening with Don George: Three decades as a professional world-wanderer have taught me that the planet is a glorious and fragile picture-puzzle of precious, unique and irreplaceable pieces. It has also led me to believe fervently that all of us who love to travel -- who, in a profound sense, live to travel -- are the guardians of that puzzle, for it is we who hold its pieces in our hands, and who celebrate and sanctify its existence in our lives. A new year, with a new administration in Washington, presents extraordinary opportunities and challenges for the American traveler. As 2010 unfolds, I’d like to share ten lessons I’ve learned in 30 years of travel to 70-plus countries: tips that can help us realize our potential as citizen stewards and everyday ambassadors to build bridges of understanding and connection around the globe. | 1/27/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanRethinking the World’s Worth | In order to solve the current economic crisis, what aspects of our economic model do we need to rethink? Echoing Oscar Wilde’s observation that “people know the price of everything and the value of nothing,” Raj Patel argues that our faith in prices as a way of valuing the world is misplaced. Patel looks at the hidden ecological and social costs of common items that we currently take for granted, such as the hamburger which can be priced as high as $200. While we need to rethink our economic model, the larger failure behind the food, climate, and economic crises is the result of our political system. Dr. Patel has previously worked for the World Bank and the WTO, and currently serves as a Fellow at the Institute for Food and Development Policy, also known as Food First. | 1/26/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanCritical Factors Shaping the Future of Sudan | With war continuing in the west and a fragile peace in the south, decades of fighting have left Sudan to cope with the effects of conflict, displacement, and insecurity. Respect for human rights remains a complex and challenging issue throughout the country. It has also led its longtime leader, President Omar al-Bashir, to become the first sitting head of state to be charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, resulting in the International Criminal Court issuing a warrant for his arrest. A panel of Sudan experts joins the Council to examine the alleged human rights abuses committed by al-Bashir’s regime and the challenges in improving Sudan’s human rights situation. Also, what is the US policy toward Sudan and what new initiatives have the Obama administration implemented? The program will also explore the growing tensions ahead of the April 2010 national elections and the Southern Sudan referendum scheduled for January 2011. | 1/24/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanUS-China Relations: Present and Future | With China’s growing role in the global arena, a new phase of China-US relations has taken center stage. During his recent visit, President Obama declared a success in establishing better diplomatic ties and pledged to treat China as a trusted global partner in future endeavors. Meanwhile, people in China have shown great interest in not just the President’s rise to the White House, but also in how furthering dialogue with the US will be an asset to both nations. Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong joins the Council to discuss the significance of strong US-China bilateral relations, as well as to offer the Chinese perspective on its growing role in the world. | 1/19/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Republic of Kosovo: Achievements and Challenges After Two Years of Independence | The world’s youngest country, the Republic of Kosovo, declared its independence in February 2008. Currently sixty-four countries have recognized Kosovo as a sovereign state, while it has also been admitted to both the IMF and World Bank. Kosovo’s independence has resulted in significant development for the country in all spheres and has proven to be a factor of stability for the region. Many of its international allies and partners, including the US, NATO, and EU remain committed to ensuring the stability of Kosovo. After almost two years of self-rule, the World Affairs Council and Commonwealth Club are honored to host the independent Republic first President to discuss the present and future for this new nation. | 1/11/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanLessons from South Korea Economic Policy during the Global Financial Crisis | South Korea is recovering from the global financial crisis and ensuing recession much more quickly than most other countries. Byongwon Bahk, former senior economic advisor to Korean President Lee Myung-bak, will detail how Korea has been relatively successful in dealing with these acute problems, but he will argue that South Korea must implement major structural reforms if it is to sustain long-term growth. He will also explain why South Korea must draw lessons from the successes of its globally competitive manufacturing sector and apply them to weaker sectors such as financial services and agriculture. During the past decade, Mr. Bahk was in charge of the management of Korean macro-economic policy at the Ministry of Finance and Economy, reaching the level of vice minister, as well as served as a presidential advisor in Korea’s Blue House. Currently, Mr. Bahk is the Korean Studies Program Koret Fellow at Stanford University. | 1/11/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe New Global Judicial System | While the use of private contractors predates the Bush Administration, the privatization of American foreign policy has risen to unprecedented levels in recent years, becoming one of the most important trends in government and global politics. From the international activities involving homeland security to USAID and the State Department, what is the true extent of outsourcing of US government’s activities, and what has been its impact on American foreign policy? Are public-private partnerships here to stay? And if done right, can these partnerships significantly extend the reach and effectiveness of U.S. efforts abroad? International relations scholar Allison Stanger tells the story of how contractors became an integral part of American foreign policy, and why a new approach using private actors may be essential. | 12/8/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Outsourcing of American Power and Foreign Policy | While the use of private contractors predates the Bush Administration, the privatization of American foreign policy has risen to unprecedented levels in recent years, becoming one of the most important trends in government and global politics. From the international activities involving homeland security to USAID and the State Department, what is the true extent of outsourcing of US government’s activities, and what has been its impact on American foreign policy? Are public-private partnerships here to stay? And if done right, can these partnerships significantly extend the reach and effectiveness of U.S. efforts abroad? International relations scholar Allison Stanger tells the story of how contractors became an integral part of American foreign policy, and why a new approach using private actors may be essential. | 12/7/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanInside the Copenhagen Climate Negotiations | From December 7-18, delegations from 192 countries will gather in Copenhagen for the highly anticipated negotiations that aim to establish a new global treaty on climate change. The meeting has the potential to create a unifying starting point in the fight to reduce emissions worldwide. But many taking part already anticipate failure: lack of political will and disagreements between developed and developing nations over emissions reduction and financing could halt progress toward a new, legally binding treaty. Experts Kammen and Levine join the Council to share their insights on the upcoming Copenhagen negotiations. What is likely to be achieved? What commitments can be expected from such superpowers as the US and China? new Laboratory on International Law and Regulation. | 12/2/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Future of Energy: Insights from the 2009 World Energy Outlook | Drawing on the results of the new World Energy Outlook 2009, Ambassador Jones joins the Council to provide a comprehensive update of energy demand and supply projections and their implications for energy security and the environment. This latest analysis from the International Energy Agency (IEA) takes into account the dramatic economic downturn that has now hit all parts of the world as well as revised expectations about energy prices, which have ridden a veritable roller-coaster over the past year. Ambassador Jones outlines the results of an in-depth assessment of the prospects for global gas markets, including the emergence of shale gas as a potentially low-cost source of supply in North America. He also presents a post-2012 scenario, which the IEA prepared as input to the UN climate negotiations, which details a pathway for the energy sector to achieve a transition to a low-carbon world. Ambassador Jones is joined by energy expert David Victor, Professor at UC San Diego School of International Relations and Pacific Studies and Director of the School’s new Laboratory on International Law and Regulation. | 11/23/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanNegotiating with Iran | As the US weighs a change of approach toward the Iranian government after thirty years of confrontation, Middle East expert John Limbert joins the Council to share his assessment of how to engage Iran. Drawing on four case studies highlighting past successes and failures, Limbert challenges both Americans and Iranians to end decades of mutually hostile mythmaking and create a platform for cultural and historical understanding. He argues that Iran will not change its behavior immediately and stop all of its misdeeds in the areas of Middle East peace, human rights and nuclear development. Yet by entering into serious negotiations, the US may discover areas of common interest that lurk behind walls of hostility and distrust. Limbert has served in numerous foreign service positions and holds the State Department highest award—the Distinguished Service Award—and the Award for Valor, which he received after fourteen months as a hostage during the Iran hostage crisis. | 11/16/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanObama, Torture Us: Confronting the War on Terror and What It Left Behind | For the past two decades, author and award-winning journalist Mark Danner has reported from Latin America, Haiti, the Balkans, and the Middle East. Moving from mass murder on election day in Port-au-Prince, to massacre by mortar bomb on the streets of Sarajevo to suicide bombing in the suburban neighborhoods of Baghdad, his reporting has not only explored the real consequences of American engagement with the world, but also the relationship between political violence, war, and power. One of America’s leading foreign correspondents, Danner joins the Council to discuss the work behind his reportage, and to examine the considerations of a wide range of policymakers in Washington, Langley, and various world capitals, and the effects their decisions, and their mistakes, have made on people at home and abroad. | 11/12/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanImproving Healthcare in Africa: The Non-Profit Approach | Improving healthcare in Africa is a daunting task. Recent statistics issued by the World Health Organization show that Africa holds 11 percent of the world’s population but bears 90 percent of the burden for neglected tropical diseases, which include malaria and yellow fever. In addition, most of the world’s 33 million infected with HIV reside in sub-Saharan Africa. Many are aware of the problems facing Africa, but how deep is the understanding of possible solutions? Join leaders from four prestigious non-profit organizations that are working on the ground to improve healthcare in Africa for a discussion on what’s working and what isn’t from the standpoint of medicine, leadership, and sustainability. What has gotten better and what has gotten worse? How is success measured? Are non-profits better suited to provide healthcare in Africa than government or private for-profit organizations? Join the Council as we move beyond healthcare policy toward pragmatic implementation and finding solutions that work. | 11/10/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanTackling Climate Change Our Growing Food Insecurity | Over the past decade, renowned environmentalist Lester Brown has called for a worldwide mobilization to stabilize climate change, including a strategy for cutting carbon emissions 80 percent by 2020. With a look at recent geopolitics, Brown believes that food may be the issue that finally convinces the world to take the steps necessary to achieve this goal. He argues that we are entering a new food era, one marked by higher food prices, growing numbers of hungry people, and an intensifying competition for land and water resources. The issue of food security has become highly complex with every major environmental trend making humanity more vulnerable to food shortages: from climate change and population pressure to eroding soils and water scarcity. Brown joins the Council to share the newest edition of his strategy to address food insecurity, stabilize climate change and avoid environmental collapse: Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization. | 11/9/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanA History of the World through Islamic Eyes | People in the West generally share a common narrative of world history that runs from the Nile Valley and Mesopotamia, through Greece and Rome, to the rise of the secular state and the triumph of democracy. However, this story largely omits an entire civilization; one that until recently saw itself at the center of world history and whose citizens have shared an entirely different narrative of world history for a thousand years. Rich in science, poetry, politics, and religion, what can we learn from this parallel historic perspective which begins in Mesopotamia and the Persian highlands, moves through the Prophet Mohammed’s life and the struggles among his immediate successors, a succession of great Muslim empires, and into modern age dominated by Western powers and cultures? Tamim Ansary joins the Council to discuss why two great civilizations grew up almost totally oblivious to each other, and how the Islamic world was affected by its slow recognition that Europe had somehow rewritten history. | 11/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEducating the World's Poorest Children | Have you wondered what kind of organization you would get if you mixed the business savvy of a corporation with the passion and heart of a non-profit? Come spend an evening with John Wood, founder and executive chairman of Room to Read, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping children across the developing world break the cycle of poverty through the power of education. At age 35, John Wood left his high-paying job as Microsoft Director of Business Development in China to create Room to Read. What started as a personal goal of delivering 3,000 books by yak to a remote Nepali village in 1999 has become an award-winning NGO providing educational resources to over 3 million children and establishing over 7,000 libraries in impoverished regions of Asia and Africa. Described as an organization that combines the heart of Mother Theresa with the scalability of Starbucks, Wood joins the Council to share how he was able to develop Room to Read into one of the fastest-growing non-profits in history and how his unique business and non-profit approach guide his vision of educating some the world’s poorest children. | 11/4/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanOur Role in Combating Climate Change | Members of civil society do not have a seat at the upcoming climate treaty negotiations in Copenhagen, yet the issue of climate change affects us all. Looking at the causes and potential cures for global warming, Robert Musil sees hope in the role of the individual. He argues that it is efforts of a growing grassroots movement of engaged citizens that will ultimately decide the course of the climate challenge. Through personal choices and political engagement, he explores how we can cut carbon emissions and produce unprecedented change across sectors. Musil was the Executive Director and CEO of Nobel Peace Prize–winning organization Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) and helped launch PSR’s environmental program in the early 1990s. | 11/3/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWorking with the United Nations | With the Obama Administration in the White House, what are the new goals and objectives of US multilateral diplomacy at the United Nations? While President Obama has reaffirmed America’s commitment to the UN, how is the United States working multilaterally on “hot issues” such as food security, development, climate change, and humanitarian issues? Assistant Secretary Esther Brimmer joins the Council to discuss the Obama administration’s approach to revitalizing multilateral diplomacy, and how it can achieve our foreign policy goals, as well as our priorities in international organizations. Dr. Esther Brimmer was nominated by President Obama to the position of Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations on March 2009. In her role as Assistant Secretary, she leads the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, which strives to advance U.S. interests through international organizations in areas including human rights, peacekeeping, food security, humanitarian relief, and climate change. | 10/29/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanMy Prison, My Home – One Woman Story of Captivity Life in Iran | Iranian-American scholar Haleh Esfandiari’s arrest and subsequent incarceration in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison in 2007 became an international incident that sparked protests from some of the world’s most influential public figures—including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Madeleine Albright. What started as a regular visit to her elderly mother, ended with Dr. Esfandiari as the victim of the far-fetched belief on the part of Iran Intelligence Ministry that she was part of an American conspiracy for “regime change” in Iran. Through her ordeal, she came face-to-face with the state of affairs between Iran and the United States—and witnessed first-hand how fear and paranoia could create a government that would take her captive. Dr. Esfandiari joins the Council to share her personal story and extensive knowledge of Iran to paint a picture of this country today and how it came to be. | 10/28/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Palestinian-Israeli Peace: Substance over Process | His Excellency Maen Areikat, Chief Representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization Mission to the United States, joins the Council to discuss the recent developments in the Middle East peace process and to take a look forward at the opportunities and challenges for a Palestinian state. President Obama has demonstrated a renewed commitment and urgency to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and much has been happening. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being pressured to stop settlement construction in the West Bank with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas refusing to negotiate until this commitment is realized. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad recently released an outline to create a Palestinian state by 2011 through internal institution building. Meanwhile, tensions between Hamas and Fatah still remain. Reconciliation talks have floundered and new elections are scheduled for 2010. Mr. Areikat previously took part in Palestinian-Israeli negotiations at Beit Hanoun/Erez in Gaza and Taba, Egypt, in 1996, in Jerusalem in 1997, and was an official member of the Palestinian delegation at the Wye River negotiations in 1998. He recently returned from Bethlehem where Fatah held its first party conference in 20 years and elected a mostly new leadership committee. | 10/27/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanAre Outcomes to National Security Challenges Predictable? | Bruce Bueno de Mesquita is an expert of game theory—the idea that people compete and that they always do what they think is in their own best interest. Bueno de Mesquita uses game theory and its insights into human behavior to predict events and his forecasts have a 90 percent accuracy rate. He boldly predicts that President Obama is unlikely to quash the terrorist influence in Pakistan, that Iran will not develop nuclear weapons, and that global warming will prove immune to government prescriptions. In his new book, The Predictioneer’s Game, Bueno de Mesquita uses his mathematical model to predict outcomes in business, national security, and people’s day-to-day lives based on the self-interest of decision makers. He joins the Council to detail his system of calculation that allows him to predict the outcomes of North Korean disarmament talks, the Middle East peace process, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Iran-Iraq relations following American troop withdrawals, and many other vexing national security challenges. Since the early 1980s, CIA officials have hired Bueno de Mesquita to perform more than a thousand predictions and a study by the CIA, now declassified, found that his predictions “hit the bull’s-eye” twice as often as its own analysts did. | 10/26/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanChimerica: The Imminent Economic Integration of China and the US | In the wake of the global financial crisis, the unique relationship between China and the US has become the fulcrum of the world economy. As our largest creditor, China’s lending to the US has buoyed American companies and even allowed them to reinvent themselves, selling to Chinese consumers. Author and economic trend analyst Zachary Karabell argues that our two economies have become so interconnected that they’ve become one system: Chimerica. Karabell traces the initial forging of Chimerica that began after the suppression of the protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989 to the present. With a look at current affairs and the changing global economy, he urges that we accept China as the predominant economic partner of the future, or find ourselves left behind. | 10/21/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWho Speaks for Islam? What A Billion Muslims Really Think | Despite widespread media coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, global terrorism and events in the Middle East, little is truly known about what a majority of the world Muslims really think and feel. What do Muslims have to say about violence and terrorist attacks? What do they have to say about democracy, women, and relations with the West? What are their values, goals, and religious beliefs? To help put to rest misunderstandings and present the often-silenced voice of the Muslim world, Dalia Mogahed joins the Council to discuss Gallup largest study of Muslim populations. Based on six years of research and more than 50,000 interviews representing 1.3 billion Muslims who reside in more than 35 nations, this poll is the largest, most comprehensive study which challenges conventional wisdom and sheds greater light on what motivates Muslims worldwide. Mogahed has recently been appointed to President Obama Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. | 10/21/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanSecuring America Energy Future | What is petroleum’s role in our economy, and what will be the benefits of further developing domestic resources? How have assessments of our country’s domestic petroleum resources been affected by public opinion and the debate in Congress? What role will alternative and renewable sources play in the future, and what will be the environmental impact of technological advancements in energy production? Rayola Dougher, American Petroleum Institute’s senior economic advisor joins the Council to discuss industry perspectives and the benefits that responsible policy in the energy sector can provide Northern California and the world | 10/15/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanTurning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide | The International Museum of Women in partnership with the World Affairs Council presents a conversation with Nicholas Kristof on his latest work, Half the Sky. A two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Kristof has written widely on global health, poverty and gender issues in the developing world, with particular attention in recent years to issues in Darfur, Sudan. This discussion will focus on the imperative for global action on the empowerment of women, exploring the connections between economic progress and unleashing women potential. Half the Sky is described as a call to arms against our era most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women in the developing world.” | 10/14/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Resource Curse – Oil’s Impact on the Countries People That Produce It | From Iraq and Saudi Arabia to Equatorial Guinea and Ecuador, what has been the impact of oil on the countries that produce it? To what extent has petroleum production helped or hurt nations develop not just economically, but also politically and socially? And, how have campaigns like that of Hugo Chávez’s to redistribute oil wealth in Venezuela created new economic and political crises? With a focus on the rebels, royalty, environmentalists, indigenous activists, dictators and CEOs associated with the petroleum industry, Peter Maass examines the world that oil has created. A contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine, Maass has reported from the Balkans, Middle East, Asia, South America and Africa for The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The Washington Post, and Slate. | 10/8/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanFive to Rule Them All? The UN Security Council | From the Berlin Airlift to the Iraq War, the UN Security Council has stood at the heart of post-war global politics. Sometimes seen as part public theater, part smoke-filled backroom, the Security Council has enjoyed notable successes and suffered ignominious failures, but it has always provided a space for the five permanent powers to sit down together. Despite its many failures and shortcomings, the Security Council has still served an invaluable purpose above all: to prevent conflict between the Great Powers. A former senior editor at Foreign Policy, Professor David Bosco joins the Council to examine the role of the Security Council, diverging interests of its five permanent members, and to discuss why this is the one place where we should be working to resolve the world major problems of peace and security. | 10/7/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanRemarks by His Excellency Bernardo Alvarez Herrera, Ambassador of Venezuela to the United States | After the coup in Honduras, the US and Colombian governments’ provisional defense cooperation agreement, and President Obama’s address at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, what is the current state of US-Venezuela relations? How has the region changed in recent years, and what will be the impact of new realities and dynamics on the relationship the Obama administration develops with Latin America? Venezuela’s Ambassador to the United States, His Excellency Bernardo Alvarez Herrera joins the Council to discuss bilateral relations between these two states, as well as to present a regional viewpoint of the role of the United States in Latin America. Before serving as Venezuela’s top diplomat in Washington, Ambassador Alvarez held various public positions such as Vice Minister of Hydrocarbons at the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Deputy to the National Congress, Vice Chairman of the Armed Forces Committee and Chairman of the Energy and Mines Committee, and Chief of the Research and Development Division at the Venezuelan Institute of Foreign Trade. In the international arena he has held positions as Representative of Venezuela and Member of the Executive Committee to the U.S. Energy Council, Principal Coordinator for Venezuela in the Cooperation Agreement on Energy with the United States, and Head of the Venezuelan Delegation to the Ministerial Conferences of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Ambassador Alvarez has also taught at the Universidad Central de Venezuela and Superior School of the Venezuelan Air Force, as well as Academic Advisor at the Institute of Higher Studies on National Defense. | 10/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Future of Democracy in China | What are the prospects for democratic reform in China? Some experts believe that thirty years of successful economic reforms, bringing unprecedented prosperity and giving rise to a new middle class, will inevitably lead to a political opening for democracy to gain traction. Others argue that this very success has made the ruling Communist Party’s hold on power stronger than ever. Still, there are others who claim that growing social and economic tensions and instability may lead to China’s fragmentation or even collapse. Join this distinguished panel of experts for a discussion of China’s remarkable transformation and political future. | 10/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanFaith and Politics: Platforms for Dialogue | Kjell Magne Bondevik is the former Prime Minister of Norway, a position he held twice from 1997-2000 and from 2001-2005. Following his life in politics, Mr. Bondevik became president of The Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights. In early 2006, then United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed him as the new Special Humanitarian Envoy for the Horn of Africa, an area that includes the troubled regions of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia. As an ordained minister and president of The Oslo Center, Mr. Bondevik is deeply involved in promoting international human rights and interfaith dialogue. He argues that instead of aggravating conflicts, religions—by focusing on common values—can join forces and make constructive contributions to conflict resolution. Mr. Bondevik joins the Council to discuss his organization’s work in bringing together influential politicians, religious leaders and academics into a much needed dialogue on religion, tolerance, diversity, women’s rights and democracy. He will discuss his recent partnership with the former President of Iran, Mohammad Khatami, and how the two have been working together to increase understanding, reduce tensions, counter stereotypes, and promote peaceful dialogue between the Islamic world and the West. | 9/30/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEthiopia: Voices of the World Author Series | Abraham Verghese is Professor and Senior Associate Chair for the Theory and Practice of Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Born to Indian parents in Ethiopia, he grew up near Addis Ababa where he began his medical training. Today he is a practicing physician turned award-winning writer. His first book was named Best Book of the Year by Time magazine and was later made into a movie. His latest work, Cutting for Stone, is the story of Marion and Shiva Stone—twin brothers orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and their father’s disappearance. The twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution yet it is their passion for the same woman that will tear them apart and force Marion to flee his homeland. When the past catches up, Marion must entrust his life to the two men he thought he trusted least: the surgeon father who abandoned him and the brother who betrayed him. The story is as much about the coming of age of Marion as it is that of Ethiopia, a geography and tumultuous political landscape familiar to Verghese. | 9/29/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanReducing the World Nuclear Arsenal | As the United States takes the lead on international efforts toward a world free of nuclear weapons, Charles Ferguson, Director of the Council on Foreign Relations-sponsored Independent Task Force, and Task Force member Scott Sagan will discuss key recommendations on ways to reduce the world’s nuclear arsenal. The Task Force, co-chaired by former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry and former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft, states that while “the geopolitical conditions that would permit the global elimination of nuclear weapons do not currently exist,” steps can be taken now to diminish the danger of nuclear proliferation and nuclear use. The report also evaluates the best way to contain the threat of proliferation posed by Iran, North Korea and other potential nuclear threats. | 9/28/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanFragile States: How the Private Sector Can Fix Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq | Experience shows that physical reconstruction alone is not sufficient for the sustained, long-term politi cal and socio-economic development of societies emerging from conflict. Attention must be paid to the institutions that underlie function ing economic and political systems. John Sullivan, Executive Director of the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), joins the Council to offer new perspectives on the critical juncture between democratic governance, market institutions, and a functioning private sector. Traditionally, in dealing with post-conflict reform and peace-building issues, reformers have focused on security operations and humanitarian assistance as a key to moving countries out of conflict. Although important in their own right, such efforts must be complemented by institutional reforms, such as good governance, anti-corruption, the rule of law, and the strengthening of civil society. Citing examples of CIPE’s work in fragile states such as Pakistan and in post-conflict states such as Afghanistan and Iraq, Dr. Sullivan will address the role of private enterprise in promoting a strong, well-functioning society and the particular challenges faced in these vastly different environments. | 9/24/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanCambodian Democracy and Human Rights Under Siege | Opposition leader, pro-democracy campaigner, social worker, and women’s rights advocate Mu Sochua joins the Council to discuss her efforts to oppose sex trafficking, domestic violence, land grabs and corruption in Cambodia. A member of the opposition party in the Cambodian parliament, Ms. Sochua recently attempted to sue Prime Minister Hun Sen for defamation but the court dismissed her suit and instead upheld the prime minister’s counter-defamation lawsuit in August. Sochua was fined and had her parliamentary immunity stripped in a court case that attracted the attention of the UN High Commission on Human Rights. She and other human rights groups argue that the Cambodian government is using the courts to silence political opponents, journalists and human rights activists. Mu Sochua originally served as a member of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s cabinet but left the position after witnessing government corruption and is now a senior member of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party. A former minister of women’s affairs, in 2005 she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to stop the trafficking of women in the Cambodian and Thai sex trade. | 9/17/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanPortrait of Pakistan: From the Streets of Islamabad to the North-West Frontier Province | The World Affairs Council is pleased to co-sponsor a Marines’ Memorial event with journalist Nicholas Schmidle to discuss the most recent and turbulent period of Pakistan’s history. In February 2006 Schmidle traveled to Pakistan hoping to learn more about the place dubbed “the most dangerous country in the world.” After spending two years covering Pakistan and being deported twice by the Pakistani authorities for his reporting, his observations provide a contemporary history of this country at a time when President Pervez Musharraf’s power was waning and the Taliban’s was growing, and when Americans began to realize that Pakistan’s fate is inextricably linked with our own. A fellow at the New America Foundation, Schmidle writes for The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, and Smithsonian, and received the Kurt Schork Award for freelance journalism in 2008. | 9/15/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanLeading the Charge | General Anthony Zinni is a retired four-star general in the United States Marine Corps who served from 1997 to 2000 as Commander of US Central Command. In 2002, he was selected as special envoy for the United States to Israel and the Palestinian Authority. General Zinni joins the Marines’ Memorial Association and the World Affairs Council to examine the trends that have reshaped our world and the ways in which visionary leaders and organizations can effectively respond. In his new book, Leading the Charge,, General Zinni argues that the old systems, organizations, and ways of operating no longer work in our dynamic, complex and increasingly unstable new environment. Out of this chaos and confusion, a new and different leader must emerge. Tomorrow’s successful leaders—in all fields, including the military, academia, politics, and business—must know how to create, operate, and thrive in very fluid, flattened, and integrated structures that are remarkably different from the traditional organizations we are used to seeing. | 8/18/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanAffecting Change Through Online Giving | The global financial crisis has put those living in poverty in an even more precarious position and left many of the institutions that would normally come to their aid unable to help. What is the best way for each of us to reach out to those most in need? Many point to small acts of philanthropy, such as micro-lending and grant-making. Innovative organizations that facilitate such person-to-person giving are thriving in the current economic climate, demonstrating that small, seemingly insignificant actions can lead to meaningful change. Flannery and Taylor—pioneers of online giving markets—will discuss their two models and how we can help individuals pull themselves out of the cycle of poverty both at home and world-wide. | 8/13/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanAre Investors Always Rational and Markets Always Right? - The Story Behind Rational Market Theory | With its roots in the early 20th century, how has rational market theory survived as its very foundation is challenged by the financial crisis now gripping the global markets? What role did the belief that the stock market is both random and perfectly rational play in the current crisis and how did it influence new ideas about corporate governance? How did it help to spawn new financial instruments such as index funds, credit default swaps, and collateralized debt obligations? TIME magazine’s Justin Fox joins the Council to tell the story behind the premise that financial markets are rational, reliable and capable of regulating themselves. He also introduces the economists who have challenged the new rational market orthodoxy, among them Robert Shiller, Joseph Stiglitz, and the current top economic adviser in the Obama White House, Lawrence Summers. | 8/12/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Forces Behind Famine | For more than thirty years, humankind has known how to grow enough food to end chronic hunger worldwide. Yet more than 9 million people die each year of hunger, malnutrition, and related diseases—most of them in Africa and most of them children. Roger Thurow joins the Council for a look at the geopolitics that allow some countries to prosper while others starve. Looking at Africa, he examines how subsidies and food aid are going awry, and how many well-intentioned strategies contribute to keeping the poor hungry and unable to feed themselves. Thurow has been a foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal for twenty years and has reported from more than sixty countries. | 8/11/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanRussia's New Energy Diplomacy | Russia’s enormous energy resources have generated a large profit as well as a bargaining chip in its relationship with Europe. Europe gets roughly 40 percent of its natural gas and over one-third of its oil from Russia. Journalist, author and longtime Russia-watcher Steve LeVine joins the Council to discuss Russia’s energy policies and how Europe and the West plan to respond to their reliance on Russian energy. How did the Russia-Ukraine natural gas disputes in 2005-2006 and 2009 impact European security and cohesion? How do the fluctuating energy prices affect the Russian economy and stability? Is Russia using its position as energy supplier as a way to send political messages and extract concessions from its allies and opponents? | 8/6/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe New Poland in a New Europe | A leading political figure in Polish, European and transatlantic affairs, Radoslaw Sikorski’s involvement with politics began with the Solidarity social movement of the early 1980s. Following the events of 1981, he sought political refuge in Great Britain, and later went on to work as a journalist covering the wars in Afghanistan and Angola. After the demise of communism, Minister Sikorski returned to Poland in 1992 to help build a new democratic and free state. Still in his twenties, he served as the nation’s Deputy Minister of National Defense and was closely involved with Poland’s accession to NATO. Subsequent to serving in both of Poland’s legislative bodies and numerous senior posts in the government, he assumed the Office of Foreign Minister in 2007. Join us for an evening with Minister Sikorski as he discusses Poland’s new place in Europe and the international community. | 8/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEconomic Implications of Climate Change Policy | In November 2007, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change declared with more than 90 percent certainty that greenhouse gas emissions from human activity are responsible for a significant portion of the increase in the Earth’s average temperature since the mid 20th century. As a result, the debate over climate change has largely subsided; however, a new debate has emerged. What is the best climate change policy moving forward? More importantly, what is the most efficient and cost-effective policy? How will the cap and trade bill currently debated in Congress affect climate change policy? Join the Council and a panel of economic and policy experts for a discussion on the economic costs and barriers to implementing a successful climate change policy. What are the foreseeable costs to individuals, businesses and government? The panel will also compare climate change policies across developing and developed economies—specifically, taking a comparative look at China and California. | 7/27/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanFrom Bullets to Ballots: Violent Muslim Movements in Transition | In recent years a number of Muslim movements have started transitioning from taking up arms to partaking in politics. David Phillips joins the Council for an analysis of non-state Muslim organizations abandoning violence at different stages and pursuing their goals through a political process. Some have successfully made the transition while others are in mid-stream. Some have tried but backtracked, splintered, or simply abandoned the political process and reverted back to violence. Phillips considers six case studies: Hezbollah, Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood, Kurdistan Workers Party, Free Aceh Movement, and the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front. Phillips will discuss the origin, ideology, structure and leadership of each organization and assess each group’s commitment to elections and its acceptance of the responsibility that comes with governance. Looking at past mistakes by the US government, particularly following 9/11, Phillips offers a strategic global template aimed at transforming groups from violence to politics, from bullets to ballots. | 7/23/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanRussia and Europe in the Obama Era | Having received a warm welcome from European counterparts during his recent visits to the continent, President Obama appears to be rebuilding America’s ties with its traditional allies. How will this new thrust of diplomatic engagement affect the dynamics of US-European relations? How are perceptions of the US changing within Europe? Could Obama’s trip to Moscow signal a new beginning for ties with Russia? Anne Applebaum joins the Council to discuss the development of America’s relationship with Russia and Europe under the Obama administration. Applebaum is a journalist, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and expert on Central and Eastern European affairs. | 7/22/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanChina Safari: Beijing’s Growing Role Investment in Africa | With no colonial past, China has been bringing investment and needed infrastructure to the continent at a rapid rate. However, are Chinese investors and their projects yielding mutually beneficial results that stand to change Africa’s position on the global stage? Or, will China follow in the footsteps of earlier colonial powers? Award-winning photojournalist, Paolo Woods joins the Council to show his photos which document the story behind China’s business ventures in Africa. Traveling from Beijing to Khartoum, Algiers to Brazzaville, Woods’ work provides a visual account of the involvement of the individual Chinese working in Africa, as well as helps us to understand the impact that they potentially stand to make on geopolitics. | 7/21/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanRemarks by The Honorable Vicente Fox, Former President of Mexico | When elected to the presidency of Mexico in 2000, Vicente Fox broke the reign that the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party had held on the State for seven decades. Described as a charismatic reformer, President Fox is credited with playing a vital role in Mexico’s democratization and strengthening the country’s economy. During his tenure, he succeeded in controlling inflation and interest rates, and in achieving the lowest unemployment rate in all of Latin America. Join us for an evening with President Fox as he discusses the challenges faced by Mexico and the greater hemisphere. | 7/16/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanMarines’ Memorial Association George P. Shultz Lecture Series with General David Petraeus | The World Affairs Council is pleased to co-sponsor the Marines’ Memorial Association George P. Shultz Lecture Series event with General David Petraeus. Responsible for US military operations across the Middle East, as well as in Afghanistan and Central Asia, General Petraeus serves as the 10th and current Commander of US Central Command. He previously served as the Commanding General of the Multi-National Force in Iraq, where his name became linked with the Bush administration’s “surge” strategy that was widely credited with helping reduce violence in Iraq. While overseeing all coalition forces in Iraq, he was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential leaders of the year and one of four runners-up for Time Person of the Year, as well as by Esquire magazine as one of the 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century. | 7/9/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanPakistan: A Nation in Turmoil? | It is a time of great difficulty and change in Pakistan. The country is dealing with an insurgency that is putting significant pressure on the military, police, government, and citizens. Terrorist threats and attacks are on the increase. People are being displaced in significant numbers. The country faces profound economic challenges. As Pakistan military steps up an offensive against the Taliban, what is the true state of affairs within Pakistan? In tribal regions, how does the development of civil society, the judicial system, and local governance differ from the rest of the country? And, how has recent fighting in the Northwest Frontier Province and the tribal belt near the Afghan border impacted the region’s inhabitants? Dr. Jon Summers, an Asia Foundation expert based in Islamabad until last month, and in Kabul, prior to that, joins the Council to discuss the current situation in Pakistan. | 7/8/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanPioneers of Change in the Middle East | Since his boyhood in Libya, Neil MacFarquhar has developed a counterintuitive sense that the Middle East, despite all the bloodshed in its recent history, is a place of warmth, humanity, and generous eccentricity. In total, he has spent more than 25 years in the region, including five years based in Cairo as the Bureau Chief for lt;igt;The New York Timeslt;/igt;, preceded by seven years as a correspondent for The Associated Press during which he lived in Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Cyprus. Seeing the violent news from the region creating a large gap between the outside image and the internal reality, MacFarquhar joins the Council to share the stories of a men and women across the Middle East who are pioneering political and social change from the most unexpected places. | 6/29/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanUS-Egyptian Relations and Recent Developments in the Middle East | Following President Obama’s historic speech in Cairo and as events are unfolding in Iran and throughout the Middle East, the Council is pleased and honored to host His Excellency Sameh Shoukry, Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the United States. A career diplomat, Ambassador Shoukry has previously served as Egypt Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, as well as in Egyptian embassies in London, Buenos Aires and the Permanent Mission of Egypt in New York. A specialist in disarmament and non-proliferation issues, he has formally held senior posts in the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has served as Secretary for Information and Follow-Up for President Hosni Mubarak. Ambassador Shoukry joins the Council to discuss US-Egyptian relations and recent developments in the Middle East. | 6/24/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanCan Women Rescue the Global Economy? | Bank bailouts, fiscal stimulus and bankruptcy counseling. Amidst the solutions proposed to fix the current global economic crisis, why do so few of the pundits and policymakers discuss the role of women? Join the World Affairs Council in conversation with Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President and CEO of Women’s World Banking, and Monica Morse, Board Member of Astia, as they discuss the global impact of women on economic development—from microfinance to leaders of multimillion dollar companies. The speakers will explore the work of their organizations, which respectively recruit, train and support women running both small ventures as well as high growth, high capital outfits. They will discuss how investing in women as a business strategy creates a sound social and financial approach to alleviating the current crisis and preventing others. | 6/18/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Politics of Food: Changing the Way the World Eats | Michael Pollan believes that “real food”—the kind of food your great-grandmother would recognize as food—is being undermined across the globe by science on one side and the food industry on the other. As the modern Western or “American” diet has been linked to an epidemic of chronic diseases, from obesity and type 2 diabetes, what can governments and their citizens do to put the focus back on the health of the soil, plants, and animals that make up the food chain? Pollan joins the Council to explore what the industrialization of food and agriculture has meant for the world’s health and happiness, how it has shaped cultures, and looks at the growing movement to renovate the food system. | 6/16/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe World Obama Confronts -- with David Sanger | The Obama administration has been in office for roughly 20 weeks and has inherited myriad problems. In foreign affairs, how have they done so far? Have there been any serious errors? What is the Obama doctrine? What are the most critical international challenges that await the new president? Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Sanger joins the Council for an analysis of the most sensitive national security issues facing President Obama and will provide an assessment of how well the new administration has fared. Sanger is the author of the most recent book, The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power, in which he argues that the huge costs of distraction and lost opportunities in the last years of the Bush presidency have put the United States in a vulnerable position and that as a result the new Obama administration has an unusually large number of critical foreign policy issues to deal with. | 6/11/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanOil Scarcity and the End of Globalization | Jeff Rubin forecasts that despite the current recessionary dip, oil prices will once again soar once the economy recovers. With the disappearance of the world’s oil reserves, the amount of food and other goods we get from abroad will be curtailed and long distance travel will be rare. Globalization as we know it will reverse. Alongside these predictions, Rubin prescribes priorities for the Obama administration and other leaders: from imposing carbon tariffs and investing in mass transit to forging green alliances between labor and management that will be good for both business and the climate. Rubin is a Canadian economist and energy expert, and among the first to predict the dramatic oil price increases back in 2000. | 6/9/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanPower and Responsibility: A Call for the New President to Rethink US Foreign Policy | Are our current international institutions effectively equipped to address today’s most pressing global security challenges, ranging from climate change and nuclear proliferation to civil strife and terrorism? How can President Obama and key allies revitalize international cooperation and rejuvenate international institutions not only to protect their own citizens, but also to cooperate across borders to safeguard common resources and tackle common threats? Stephen Stedman joins the Council to present ideas for the new US administration and other global powers to promote what they cannot produce apart—peace and stability. A leading expert on civil wars and conflict management, Stedman was formerly the research director of the United Nations High- Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change from 2003-2004, and Assistant Secretary General and Special Advisor to the Secretary General of the United Nations, in 2005. | 6/8/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWas the Iraq War Inevitable? | Charles Duelfer was one of the most senior intelligence officers with on-the-ground experience to have worked in Iraq before, during, and after the Gulf War. While serving as the leader of the CIA’s Iraq Survey Group, his 2004 report is widely renowned as the most authoritative account on the relationship of the Saddam regime to weapons of mass destruction, as well as how the world was led to believe that Iraq possessed WMDs. But until now, Duelfer has never publicly shared his expertise on just how the US-Iraq relationship spiraled into a second war, and the lessons that can be applied to the challenges ahead in Iran and North Korea. | 6/2/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWar of Necessity, War of Choice | When should the United States go to war? It is arguably the most important foreign policy question facing any president. The Council is pleased to welcome Richard Haass for an examination of the US policy decisions that led to the two Iraq wars. Haass, who served as senior Middle East advisor on the National Security Council staff for the first President Bush and director of policy planning in the State Department for the second, is in a unique position to discuss the 1991 and 2003 conflicts. At first glance, these conflicts appear similar. Both involved a President George Bush and the United States in conflicts with Saddam Hussein and Kuwait. But there, Haass argues, the resemblance ends. The first Iraq war, following Saddam’s invasion of neighboring Kuwait, was a war of necessity. By contrast, the second Iraq war, launched in 2003, was a war of choice, one that Haass asserts was unwarranted. Join Richard Haass for an inside account of both wars and a discussion of lessons for today’s foreign policy challenges. | 5/20/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanIraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East: Challenges and Opportunities | Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad’s record in one of the most turbulent periods in US foreign policy has earned him broad respect throughout the world. Serving as the 26th United States Ambassador to the United Nations, he dealt with global issues during one of the most challenging periods in our history, including the recent Russia-Georgia conflict and the Mumbai terror attacks. The highest-ranking Muslim to serve in the US government, he has been the US Ambassador to both Afghanistan and Iraq, where he played a significant role in facilitating both countries’ constitutions, elections and formation of government. With first-hand knowledge and experience from these diplomatic positions, Ambassador Khalilzad provides an insider perspective on Afghanistan and Pakistan as the United States becomes more engaged in this region, as well as what must be done to reach peace in the entire Middle East. | 5/12/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanReligion at War | Reza Aslan joins the Council for an in-depth discussion on the ideology that fuels al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and like-minded militants throughout the Muslim world. With a look at the United States’ approach to the War on Terror, he examines the polarizing rhetoric that has further entangled politics with religion. From Israel to Iraq and from the Netherlands to New York, Aslan argues that religion is a stronger force today than it has been in a century. He asserts that the only way to win an ideological war is to refuse to fight one: we must strip away the current ideological conflict of its religious connotations and address the actual grievances that fuel the Jihadist movement. Reza Aslan is the award-winning author of lt;igt;No god but Godlt;/igt; and lt;igt;How to Win a Cosmic Warlt;/igt;, and a Middle East Analyst for CBS News. | 5/11/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Future for Sudan through Sudanese Eyes | Valentino Achak Deng fled his native Sudan in the late 1980’s during civil war, when his village was destroyed by the murahaleen— the same type of militia which currently terrorize Darfur. After nine years in Ethiopian and Kenyan refugee camps, where he worked for the UNHCR as a social advocate and reproductive health educator, he resettled in Atlanta. Since then, Deng has toured the country speaking about Sudan, his experience as a refugee, and his collaboration with author Dave Eggers on lt;igt;What Is the Whatlt;/igt;, the novelized version of Deng’s life story. A leader in the Sudanese Diaspora, he has also worked relentlessly to expose the realities of what is happening in Sudan, its effect on the people, and how we can rebuild Sudanese communities. | 4/27/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanR2P: Ending Mass Atrocity Crimes Once and For All | From the killing fields of Cambodia to the ongoing nightmare in Darfur, why has the world traditionally stood by as governments fail to protect their own people from genocide, ethnic cleansing, or other crimes against humanity? Gareth Evans explains why mass atrocities continue to go unchecked and how the emergence of new international norms, such as the Responsibility to Protect, can guard citizens from falling victim to mass crimes. A former Australian Foreign Minister and leading international advocate in conflict prevention and resolution, Evans co-chaired the international commission that initiated the Responsibility to Protect idea in 2001. | 4/13/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWorldAffairs 2009: State Failures: A Fragile Pakistan and Afghanistan | The economic, military and political challenges for the new administration and for each of us as citizens are enormous. Explore the discussions and debates from the 2009 Annual Conference that reveal the key global issues to be addressed at this historical moment. | 4/7/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWorldAffairs 2009: Responding to Humanitarian Emergencies: Zimbabwe, Sudan, Congo, Gaza | The economic, military and political challenges for the new administration and for each of us as citizens are enormous. Explore the discussions and debates from the 2009 Annual Conference that reveal the key global issues to be addressed at this historical moment. | 4/7/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWorldAffairs 2009: The Middle East Regional Crises: Israel-Palestine, and Iran | The economic, military and political challenges for the new administration and for each of us as citizens are enormous. Explore the discussions and debates from the 2009 Annual Conference that reveal the key global issues to be addressed at this historical moment. | 4/7/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWorldAffairs 2009: New Tapestry of Economic Players: US, Emerging Economies, China, India, and Sovereign Wealth Funds | The economic, military and political challenges for the new administration and for each of us as citizens are enormous. Explore the discussions and debates from the 2009 Annual Conference that reveal the key global issues to be addressed at this historical moment. | 4/7/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWorldAffairs 2009: Russia, Europe, NATO and the Near Abroad | The economic, military and political challenges for the new administration and for each of us as citizens are enormous. Explore the discussions and debates from the 2009 Annual Conference that reveal the key global issues to be addressed at this historical moment. | 4/7/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWorldAffairs 2009: Addressing Global Poverty: Economic Development, Health, Hunger and Education | The economic, military and political challenges for the new administration and for each of us as citizens are enormous. Explore the discussions and debates from the 2009 Annual Conference that reveal the key global issues to be addressed at this historical moment. | 4/7/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWorldAffairs 2009: The Impact of a Global Recession: Globalization, Trade and Protectionism | The economic, military and political challenges for the new administration and for each of us as citizens are enormous. Explore the discussions and debates from the 2009 Annual Conference that reveal the key global issues to be addressed at this historical moment. | 4/7/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanWorldAffairs 2009: Developing Clean and Efficient Alternative Energy Strategies | The economic, military and political challenges for the new administration and for each of us as citizens are enormous. Explore the discussions and debates from the 2009 Annual Conference that reveal the key global issues to be addressed at this historical moment. | 4/7/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanBreeding Bin Ladens | While much of American foreign policy is focused on fighting extremists in the Middle East and South Asia, many American leaders have lost sight of a growing threat closer to home: the growing ambivalence of Europe’s Muslims. Until the United States and Europe adopt new strategies to attract the hearts and minds of moderate Muslims living in the West, Shore argues, Europe will increasingly become the incubation ground for breeding new Bin Ladens. Shore asserts that “No one is born a terrorist; terrorists are bred” and that therefore it is imperative to understand the thoughts and feelings of Europe’s younger Muslims, most of whom would never commit violence, but some of whom could be tempted to sympathize with terrorist acts. He gives voice to people of deep faith who speak of the conflict between their desire to integrate into their adopted societies and the repulsion they feel toward some of what the West represents. | 3/19/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Power of Political Foresight in Global Economics | Civil wars, acts of terror, large scale economic failure, seizures of private industries—the world can be a very dangerous place for investors. And because of the growing importance of emerging and frontier markets in recent years, too many companies and financiers have learned the hard truth that in the international economy and these tough financial times, politics often matters as much as economic fundamentals. From the impact of great power rivalries, terrorist groups, government takeover of private property, and weak leaders, how can global firms, money managers and economic policy makers effectively analyze and manage political instability in a volatile global marketplace? A leading figure in political risk management, Ian Bremmer joins the Council to discuss the wide range of potential political risks that global firms face and will shed light on how investors can effectively analyze, evaluate, and predict them. | 3/13/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanTibet and the Future of China-India Relations | As China and India continue their ascent as emerging powers, how does the Tibet issue affect the relationship between these two economic giants? On the 50th anniversary of Tibetan Uprising Day, join Tenzin Tethong for a look at what Tibet means for China-India relations. Tibetan Uprising Day commemorates the 1959 Tibetan demonstrations against the People’s Republic of China presence in Tibet. This uprising was followed by a crackdown on Tibetan independence movements, and the flight of the 14th Dalai Lama and thousands of Tibetans into exile in India. The Dalai Lama and Tibetan government-in-exile continue to reside in India today; however, their presence has been a source of friction and distrust between China and India. Tethong will discuss the complex geo-political relationship between China and India and how the recent resurgence of protests surrounding the Tibet issue has affected these emerging powers. The program will be followed by a wine reception. | 3/10/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanFrance Approach to Current International Challenges -- with French Ambassador Pierre Vimont | From the accomplishments of the French Presidency of the European Union in responding to the recent turmoil in financial markets and the Georgian crisis to France’s leadership in attempting to resolve the current crisis in the Middle East, the Council is honored to host Ambassador Pierre Vimont to discuss the active and influential role that the French Republic is playing on the European continent and across the globe. Ambassador Vimont has had a distinguished career in France’s Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. Prior to his present appointment as Ambassador by President Nicolas Sarkozy, he has also served as the chief of staff to the minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as the Ambassador and permanent representative of France to the European Union. Advanced registration | 3/9/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanOur Power to Help the Poor | According to Peter Singer, the ordinary American has an obligation to the world’s poor. He suggests that for the first time in history we, as individuals, are in a position to end extreme poverty. Yet with the death of more than 10 million children each year from avoidable, poverty-related causes, Singer argues that our current minimal response is ethically indefensible. Through thought experiments and examples, Singer examines our concept of giving and personal responsibility to the poor. He offers practical ways to tackle global poverty through philanthropy, local activism and political awareness. A philosopher and ethicist, Singer was named one of “The Most Influential People in the World” by TIME magazine and is the author and editor of over forty books. | 3/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanThe Godfather Doctrine: Understanding American Foreign Policy | The three leading schools of American foreign policy today: the left-of-center liberal institutionalist, the Bush-era neocon, and the realist, are likened to the major characters of the infamous film, The Godfather. Hulsman and Mitchell offer a cogent analysis of foreign policy using the themes of the film as parable. Given the present changes in the world’s power structure, the movie is a startling and useful metaphor for the strategic problems of our times, and an assessment of cold-war American power in decline. | 3/4/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanFixing Global Finance | Described by former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers as the world preeminent financial journalist, Martin Wolf joins the World Affairs Council to explain what has happened to the global financial order and what can be done to avoid the shocks of global finance. Martin Wolf was one of the first to warn and write about the problems in the financial markets, in large part predicting the current financial turmoil. Offering a prescription for fixing global finance, Martin Wolf will discuss the links between the microeconomics of finance and the macroeconomics of the balance of payments, demonstrating how the subprime lending crisis in the United States fits into a pattern that includes the economic shocks of 1997, 1998, and early 1999 in Latin America, Russia, and Asia. Martin Wolf is the associate editor and chief economics commentator for the Financial Times and a professor of economics at the University of Nottingham, England. He is the author of several books, most recently Fixing Global Finance, and was named to Foreign Policy and Prospect magazinesapos; Top 100 Public Intellectuals list. | 2/18/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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214 |
CleanTurning Pain to Power -- with Eve Ensler and Denis Mukwege | Join Jane Wales, President CEO of the World Affairs Council and Global Philanthropy Forum, for a powerful conversation with two dynamic agents of change: Denis Mukwege, founder of the Panzi Hospital in Eastern Congo and winner of the 2008 UN Human Rights Prize, and Eve Ensler, founder of V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls. Dr. Mukwege and Ms. Ensler will discuss Dr. Mukwege’s work with survivors of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a country rich in natural resources but weighed down by years of war and its attendant abuses. Since 1996, sexual violence against women and girls in Eastern DRC has been used as a weapon of war to torture, humiliate and destroy not only women and girls, but entire families and communities. Hundreds of thousands of women and girls have been raped due to conflict in the region. The V-Day movement and UNICEF (in partnership with UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict) are engaged in a global campaign to bring much needed attention to the needs of Congolese women and girls. The campaign is called “Stop Raping Our Greatest Resource: Power to the Women and Girls of DRC.” On the ground, women survivors are coming together and breaking the silence. Dr. Mukwege and Ms. Ensler will speak about violence against women, the efforts underway to end it, and their work toward supporting a new wave of women leaders in the region. Please join us as we learn what it takes to economically and socially empower women and girls so that they can become leaders in rebuilding their country. | 2/17/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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215 |
CleanFacing up to Guantánamo | Having denounced the Guantánamo Bay detention camp as a “sad chapter in American history,” President Obama has vowed to restore our nation’s moral stature by closing the controversial facility. As the world awaits definitive action, the Council welcomes Laurel Fletcher and Eric Stover, co-authors of Guantánamo and its Aftermath, an in-depth study of former detainees. In a conversation led by Elizabeth Farnsworth, Fletcher and Stover discuss the implications of their study’s findings, explore what measures are currently being taken by the US government and human rights organizations on Guantánamo, and propose recommendations for the Obama administration. | 2/11/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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216 |
CleanSharing Values Across Generations - Madeleine Albright and Daughters | We honor former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and her daughters, Alice, Anne and Katie, in conversation with Jane Wales, President and CEO of the World Affairs Council of Northern California and the Global Philanthropy Forum. All four Albright women devote their lives to bettering our world. Together, we will explore how the ideals of community and service are shared across generations. | 2/7/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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217 |
CleanThe Aftermath of Mumbai | After the startling attacks on Mumbai the world is focused with even greater apprehension on the relationship between India and Pakistan. Rafiq Dossani, Neil Joeck and Daniel Sneider join the Council to examine India and Pakistan’s responses to the November terrorist strikes. Will the two nations continue to confront each other through diplomacy or will mutual distrust escalate to armed conflict? What potential does the US have as peacemaker? What are the implications of what is predicted to be an increasing number of terrorist attacks on India as an emerging power? | 2/2/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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218 |
CleanOutlook for US-EU Relations Under the Obama Administration -- with EU Ambassador John Bruton | With a new administration in the White House, what will political change in Washington mean for transatlantic relations between Europe and the United States? From the turmoil in closely-linked financial markets to greater engagement with international institutions to combating terrorism and climate change, how can governments on both sides of the Atlantic turn a series of separate problems into a chain of interlinked opportunities? The Honorable John Bruton, former Irish Prime Minister and current EU Ambassador to the United States, joins the Council to discuss the future of EU-US relations and the prospect for a more outward-looking and engaged transatlantic partnership. | 1/30/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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219 |
CleanThe Conflicts of Climate Change | For many, the effects of climate change can appear far off—either geographically distant or isolated to the future. Stephan Faris joins the Council to reveal how climate change is at the root of many of the world’s current and impending crises. Reporting from Darfur to Napa Valley, Faris’ work linking the warming of our planet to local and global conflicts has been widely published and recently cited by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. | 1/27/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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220 |
CleanThe CIA and the Culture of Failure | The 9/11 attacks and the war in Iraq sprang in no small part from massive intelligence failures, that much is well understood. How the CIA got to a point where it could fail so catastrophically is not. John Diamond begins by looking at US intelligence during the dozen years from the end of the Cold War to the invasion of Iraq in early 2003 as a defining period in CIA history. Diamond argues that while the CIA had a role in the successful outcome of the Cold War, it also became a source of ridicule for missing the collapse of the Soviet Union. And so with its main mission at an end, the Agency faced staff and budget reductions and a decline in morale as it struggled to prove its relevance and redefine its role. It was during this period, when the CIA was at its weakest, that the Agency made critical misjudgments about Iraq and missed the emergence of its gravest challenge: al Qaeda. Join the Council for an analysis of the CIA past activities and to take a look at where the CIA will be heading under Barack Obama new CIA Director-designate Leon Panetta. | 1/12/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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221 |
CleanThe Obama Administration: Dealing with the Global Economic Challenge | As President-elect Barack Obama prepares to take office, how will turmoil in the international financial markets impact the formulation of his economic and foreign policy agendas? Adam Posen joins the Council to shed light on the economic challenges and international implications facing the new Obama presidency. A widely cited expert on monetary policy from the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, D.C., Posen has been a consultant to the Departments of State and Treasury, the European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund on a variety of economic and foreign policy issues. | 1/7/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 221 Episodes |
Customer Reviews
Diverse Timely Expert Talks On Important Word Issues
This World Affairs Council provides a much needed forum for topics to be discussed and speakers to be questioned on their views. The diversity of topics and the number of speakers are amazing and enlightening. The discussion and topics are above the typical and faux left-right arguments, and if they stray, there are always really intelligent questions at the end. Typically, the speakers are discussing topics in which they have years of experience and expertise. The information I learn here always provides great discussion later with family, friends and colleagues. Great work, great forum WAC!
Flashes of brilliance amidst utter stupidity...
09/04/08....listen to the Kurt Volker multi-panel discussion. Absolutely atrocious. The introductory speaker/moderator of the forum can scarcely speak, let alone PRONOUNCE words properly...Zb..Zbig....Zbig....Zbignew....Mother of God man, did you learn the King's English through "Hooked on Phonics?" I'm thoroughly embarassed for you.
Great listening
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