Peace picks, November 11-15

The Federal government is closed Monday for Veterans Day but the rest of the week has lots of peace and war events.  The Middle East Institute Conference (last item) is not to be missed:

 1.  How to Turn Russia Against Assad

Tuesday, November 12th, 2013
6:00pm

Rome Building, Room 806
1619 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20037

Samuel Charap
Senior Fellow for Russia and Eurasia, IISS

Jeremy Shapiro
Visiting Fellow in the Foreign Policy Program, Brookings Institution

Chair: Dana Allin
Editor of Survival and Senior Fellow for US Foreign Policy and Transatlantic Affairs, IISS

A light reception will follow

No RSVP Required
For More Information, Contact SAISEES@jhu.edu or events-washington@iiss.org

Samuel Charap is the Senior Fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies based in the IISS–US in Washington, DC. Prior to joining the Institute, Samuel was a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow at the US Department of State, serving as Senior Advisor to the Acting Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security and on the Secretary’s Policy Planning Staff.
Jeremy Shapiro is a visiting fellow in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. Prior to re-joining Brookings, he was a member of the U.S. State Department’s policy planning staff, where he advised the secretary of state on U.S. policy in North Africa and the Levant. He was also the senior advisor to Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Gordon, providing strategic guidance on a wide variety of U.S.-European foreign policy issues.

2. Risk and Resilience: Sudan’s Livelihoods Challenge

November 13, 2013 // 9:00am — 11:00am

Woodrow Wilson Center, 5th Floor

RSVP

Farming and livestock production are the mainstay of rural livelihoods in Sudan. Livestock has assumed even greater importance with a fall in oil revenues since the secession of South Sudan and establishment of a new international border. At the same time, pastoralists face unprecedented challenges. Conflict has shifted livestock markets, blocked migration routes, increased transaction costs, and increased ethnic friction. Just in the last three months, inter-tribal conflict linked with land disputes has displaced 144,000 people in eastern Darfur.

This seminar presents key findings from recent studies and monitoring in Sudan by Tufts University’s Feinstein International Center. Tufts’ ongoing monitoring of migration in Kordofan and Darfur indicates that while pastoralists continue to manage their herds according to environmental and economic principles, they face challenges linked with conflict on multiple fronts and the repetition of outdated and unsound policies. While the humanitarian debate increasingly acknowledges the dynamics of these pastoralist societies, a review of three years of emergency livestock projects indicates that responses that properly integrate them remain a far off goal.

It is critical, the panelists argue, to take a big picture perspective on Darfur’s protracted conflict, to understand the dynamics at play in the local economy, and identify opportunities where trade agreements can provide a bridge between different ethnic groups that are otherwise hostile to one another.

 

3. Egypt’s Challenges and Opportunities: Remarks by Egyptian Ambassador H.E. Mohamed M. Tawfik

U.S. Institute of Peace, 2301 Constitution Ave NW, Washington, DC

Wednesday, November 13, 2013 – 9:30am-11am

The United States Institute of Peace will host H.E. Mr. Mohamed M. Tawfik, Egyptian Ambassador to the United States, for public remarks and discussion. The Ambassador will discuss Egypt-U.S. relations, Egypt’s transition, the status of the constitutional roadmap, formation of a new government, and potential for reconciliation amid polarization and escalating violence.

Scenes of millions of Egyptians in Tahrir Square calling for change, freedom and social justice are forever part of the historical narrative of the Arab region. The events of July 3, 2013 further mobilized the population, this time calling for the restoration of legitimacy and a return to the ballot box. As the constitutional roadmap unfolds, economic instability increases, decisions on aid are finalized, and citizens’ fears of escalating violence deepen; the path to democracy in Egypt remains open to multiple challenges and opportunities.

To discuss these matters and more, please join us for what promises to be an interesting and lively event from 9:30am to 11:00am on November 13, 2013 at USIP Headquarters in Washington D.C.

Jim MarshallOpening Remarks and Moderator
President, U.S. Institute of Peace

H.E. Mr. Mohamed M. TawfikKeynote Remarks 
Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the USA

Agenda:

Moderated discussion to follow keynote remarks.

RSVP Now

 

4. The Syrian Conflict: A Regional Dilemma
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
12:00 – 1:30 PM

SETA | Washington, D.C.

Panelists:

Ambassador Frederic C. Hof, Senior Fellow, Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, Atlantic Council

Aram Nerguizian, Senior Fellow, Burke Chair in Strategy, CSIS

Erol Cebeci, Executive Director, SETA DC

Moderator:

Kadir Ustun, Research Director, SETA DC

The Syrian conflict continues to pose one of the most formidable challenges to the United States, Turkey, regional powers and the broader international community. With its staggering death toll, worsening humanitarian crisis, sectarian violence, and spillover effects, the prospect for a united Syria that can avoid internal divisions or disintegration remains uncertain.

As the conflict drags on with no end in sight, the international community is engaged in an effort to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons and a bid to revive stalled talks between the regime and opposition factions in Geneva. So far, the renewed push for a “Geneva 2” conference has yielded no significant results. In the absence of a viable political road map, the Middle East is likely to remain unstable as the Syrian “quagmire” drags on.

Please join us for a panel discussion on the regional implications of the Syrian conflict and the options and challenges facing the international community.

REGISTER NOW

Bios

Frederic C. Hof is a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. On March 28, 2012 President Obama conferred on Hof the rank of ambassador in connection with his new duties as special advisor for transition in Syria. Hof was previously the special coordinator for regional affairs in the US Department of State’s Office of the Special Envoy for Middle East Peace, where he advised Special Envoy George Mitchell on the full range of Arab-Israeli peace issues falling under his purview and focusing on Syria-Israel and Israel-Lebanon matters. He joined the State Department in 2009 after serving as president and CEO of AALC, limited company, an international business consulting and project finance firm formerly known as Armitage Associates LC. Hof has written extensively on Arab-Israeli issues. He is the author of Galilee Divided: The Israel-Lebanon Frontier, 1916-1984 (Westview Press, 1985); Line of Battle, Border of Peace? The Line of June 4, 1967 (Middle East Insight, 1999); andBeyond the Boundary: Lebanon, Israel and the Challenge of Change (Middle East Insight, 2000). 

Aram Nerguizian is a senior fellow with the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at CSIS, where he conducts research on strategic and military dynamics in the Middle East and North Africa. During his time at CSIS, Nerguizian has focused on specialized themes such as U.S. and Iranian strategic competition in the Levant, Syrian instability and regional competition, Hezbollah, the Lebanese Armed Forces, security sector reform, and challenges to civil-military relations and force development in post-conflict and divided societies. He is frequently consulted by governments and the private sector, appears regularly on CNN, BBC News, Al-Jazeera, CBS News, VOA and PBS, and has been quoted in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time Magazine, Foreign Policy, the Financial Times, the Associated Press, and other news outlets on security issues in the Middle East. Nerguizian has authored or coauthored a number of books and reports on the Middle East and regional security issues.

Erol Cebeci is the Executive Director of the SETA Foundation at Washington, DC. Mr. Cebeci has completed his undergraduate studies at Istanbul University and received an M.S. degree from Penn State University, both in Business Administration. He attended a Ph.D. program first in Managerial Economics then in Ecological Economics at Rensselaer Institute of Technology (RPI). He taught several undergraduate courses on Economics and Public Finance as an Adjunct Professor at RPI. He established and run private companies in business consulting and international trade. He has served two terms as a member of Turkish Parliament. He also served as a member of NATO Parliamentary Assembly, first member and then as the Chairman of the Turkish Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. While in politics, he has mainly worked on human rights issues, security and defense issues, foreign policy, and European politics.

Kadir Ustun is the Research Director at the SETA Foundation at Washington, D.C. He also serves as an Assistant Editor of Insight Turkey, an academic journal published by the SETA Foundation. Mr. Ustun holds a PhD in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies from Columbia University and a Master’s degree in History from Bilkent University. Mr. Ustun has taught courses on history, politics, culture, and art in the Islamic World as well as Western political thought at Columbia University and George Mason University. His research interests include civil-military relations, social and military modernization in the Middle East, US-Turkey relations, and Turkish foreign policy. Mr. Ustun has contributed to various SETA reports and his writings have appeared in various publications such as Insight Turkey, Al Jazeera English, Hurriyet Daily News, and Cairo Review of Global Affairs among others. He is also co-editor of an edited volume – History, Politics and Foreign Policy in Turkey – published by the SETA Foundation.

5. THE KURDISH CRESCENT: New Trends in Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran

Thursday, November 14, 2013

12:00 PM to 2:00 PM

Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Kurdish-populated regions are a geopolitical keystone connecting the many parts of the Near East that dominate today’s headlines, from Syria to Iraq to Turkey and Iran.

To discuss the Kurdish factor in the region’s most pressing challenges, The Washington Institute is pleased to host a Policy Forum luncheon with Michael Knights and David Pollock, who will provide fresh on-the-ground views gathered during their recent visits to the region.

Michael Knights, a Lafer Fellow with the Institute, has worked extensively in Iraq as an advisor to local governments, security forces, and foreign investors. He has just returned from two weeks traveling throughout the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Kirkuk.

David Pollock is the Kaufman Fellow at the Institute, focusing on the political dynamics of Middle Eastern countries. He served previously in several State Department policy advisory positions, including four years as regional expert on the secretary of state’s Policy Planning Staff. He has traveled widely in the region, including recent visits to Azerbaijan and Iraqi Kurdistan.

This event will be held in the Stern Library and Conference Room at The Washington Institute, 1828 L Street NW, Suite 1050, Washington, DC, 20036. It will also be broadcast live on our website.

To request an invitation to this limited-capacity event, please use our
ONLINE EVENT REGISTRATION FORM
or call 202-452-0677

6. Underestimated: Our Not So Peaceful Nuclear Future

Thursday, November 14, 2013 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM

The Institute of World Politics
1521 16th Street NW
Washington, DC 20036

Henry D. Sokolski

Executive Director, Nonproliferation Policy Education Center

Please RSVP to kbridges@iwp.edu.

Three schools of thought shape our current nuclear policies: Arms control professionals, nuclear “hawks,” and academic realists. Mr. Sokolski’s presentation will examine what each of these schools think, assess how adequate their analyses are, and suggest what yet needs to be considered if we are avoid future nuclear proliferation and use. 

Henry D. Sokolski is Executive Director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center (NPEC) in Arlington, VA, and an Adjunct Professor at the Insti­tute of World Politics in Washington, DC. He previ­ously served as a military legislative aide and special assistant for nuclear energy affairs in the U.S. Senate, as Deputy for Nonproliferation Policy in the Cheney Pentagon, and as a member of the CIA’s Senior Advi­sory Group. Mr. Sokolski also was appointed by Con­gress to serve on the Deutch WMD (weapons of mass destruction) Commission and the Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism. He has authored and edited numerous books on prolif­eration, including Nuclear Weapons Security Crises: What Does History Teach? (Strategic Stud­ies Institute, 2013) and Best of Intentions: America’s Campaign Against Strategic Weapons Proliferation (Praeger 2001).

 

7. Remembering the Great War in Syria and Lebanon: Everything, Including the Plague

Thursday, November 14, 2013
6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
CCAS Boardroom, ICC 241

All graduate students, faculty members, and independent scholars are invited to attend.This event is a workshop. The format of this event is centered around audience participation; attendees are expected to have read the paper in order to be able to engage in discussion. Papers will be circulated ahead of time to those who have RSVPed. Please RSVP by email to ccasevents@georgetown.edu to receive a copy of the paper.

 

8. MANAGING TRANSITION, CONTAINING CONFLICT: THE MIDDLE EAST IN 2014

Friday, November 15
9:00am–5:15pm

Capital Hilton Hotel

The Middle East Institute will host its 67th Annual Conference, “Managing Transition, Containing Conflict: The Middle East in 2014,” on Friday, November 15 from 9am to 5:30pm at the Capital Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C.

This free event will bring together prominent experts and foreign policy practitioners to delve into the many vexing questions and challenges that have come to the fore in the almost three years of unprecedented change for the Middle East, and look ahead to what to expect in the coming year.  We hope you can join us as we seek to engage a cross-section of views through high-level debate, analysis, and dialogue, and in so doing, contribute to greater understanding of the region.

Check back here regularly for more information about the event and our panelists, and click here to register.

Conference Agenda

8:00am – Registration Opens

8:45am – Introduction
Amb. Wendy Chamberlin, President of The Middle East Institute

 9:00-10:30am – Assessing the Transitions: Egypt and Tunisia

Moderator: Paul Salem, The Middle East Institute
Khalil al Anani, The Middle East Institute
Larry Diamond, Stanford University
Noureddine Jebnoun, Georgetown University
Rabab El Mahdi, American University of Cairo

 10:30-10:45am – Coffee Break

 10:45am-12:15pm – Sectarianism and the Balkanization of the Levant

Moderator: Kim Ghattas, BBC
F. Gregory Gause, University of Vermont & Brookings Doha
Mohsen Milani,  University of South Florida
Paul Salem, The Middle East Institute
Mona Yacoubian, Stimson Center

12:30-2:00pm – Keynote Luncheon: “Breaking the Impasse”
A joint peace initiative of Palestinian and Israeli business and civic leaders
Munib R. Masri, PADICO Holding
Yossi Vardi, High-tech investor and entrepreneur
Miroslav Dusek, World Economic Forum
Moderator: Amb. Daniel Kurtzer, The Middle East Institute

2:00-3:30pm – In Search of Coherence: US Policy in the Arab World
Moderator: Michael Hudson, National University of Singapore
Aaron David Miller, The Woodrow Wilson Center
Frederic C. Hof, Rafik Hariri Center at the Atlantic Council
Roula KhalafFinancial Times
Steven Simon, International Institute for Strategic Studies

3:30-3:45pm – Coffee Break

3:45-5:15pm – Beyond the Street: Arab Youth in Post-Uprising Politics
Moderator: Brian Katulis, Center for American Progress
Lina Khatib, Carnegie Middle East Center
Ahmad Maher, April 6 Movement
Mabrouka Mbarek, Tunisian Constituent Assembly Member
Ayat Mneina, Libyan Youth Movement

Registration for the conference is FREE (Luncheon tickets purchased separately).  Sign up here.

 

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