Category Archives: Qatar

National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations Fellow Nawaf Al-Thani Visits the Virginia Military Institute

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Last month, National Council Distinguished International Defense Affairs Fellow Sheikh Nawaf Al-Thani visited the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia (VMI), with a delegation of Council leaders. During the visit, Sheikh Nawaf spoke to academy cadets about dynamics of small state security, and he met with VMI faculty, cadets, and leadership. Joining Sheikh Nawaf in the Council delegation were Council Founding President and CEO Dr. John Duke Anthony, who has a long association with VMI; Board Member Colonel (Ret.) Abbas Dahouk, a former Senior U.S. Department of Defense official serving in the GCC region; together with Council Executive Vice President Patrick Mancino.

(Left) National Council Distinguished International Defense Affairs Fellow Sheikh Nawaf Al-Thani with Virginia Military Institute Superintendent Retired Major General Cedric Wins. (Right) Sheikh Nawaf Al-Thani speaks to VMI cadets about small state security dynamics.

Sheikh Nawaf is the former Senior Defense Official and Defense Attaché of Qatar to the United States, Mexico, and Canada in the rank of Brigadier General as well as the former Official Spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Defense. In recognition of his service, he has received numerous distinguished commendations and citations from the Qatar Armed Forces along with several NATO militaries and multinational organizations. Sheikh Nawaf joined the National Council as a Fellow last fall and was a featured speaker at the Council’s 31st Annual Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference.

(Left to Right) National Council Founding President and CEO Dr. John Duke Anthony, Distinguished International Defense Affairs Fellow Sheikh Nawaf Al-Thani, and Board Member Abbas Dahouk meet with Virginia Military Institute leadership in Lexington, Virginia.

Dr. Anthony is a 1962 graduate of VMI where he received his Bachelor’s Degree in History. He attended on a four-year, all-expenses State Cadetship Award after the completion of his U.S. Army active duty military service. At VMI, Dr. Anthony was elected president of his class all four years in addition to serving as president of the Corps of Cadets’ governing bodies during his First Class (Senior) Year. In 2012, he served as Dean’s Visiting Chair in International Studies and Political Science, where he taught VMI’s first-ever course on “Politics of the Arabian Peninsula.”

National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations Fellow Nawaf Al-Thani Visits West Point

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In early February, National Council Distinguished International Defense Affairs Fellow Sheikh Nawaf Al-Thani visited the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York (USMA at West Point), with a delegation of Council leaders. During the visit, Sheikh Nawaf met with academy cadets, faculty, and leaders and also spoke to a class of cadets. Joining Sheikh Nawaf in the Council delegation were Board Member Colonel (Ret.) Abbas Dahouk, a former West Point foreign language instructor and a former Senior U.S. Department of Defense official serving in the GCC region; Senior International Affairs Fellow Colonel (Ret.) David Des Roches, a member of the USMA West Point Class of 1986 and currently a Professor at the U.S. National Defense University; together with Council Executive Vice President Patrick Mancino.

While visiting the United States Military Academy at West Point, National Council Distinguished International Defense Affairs Fellow Sheikh Nawaf Al-Thani met with academy leaders including the Dean of the Academic Board Brigadier General Shane Reeves.

Sheikh Nawaf is the former Senior Defense Official and Defense Attaché of Qatar to the United States, Mexico, and Canada in the rank of Brigadier General as well as the former Official Spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Defense. In recognition of his service, he has received numerous distinguished commendations and citations from the Qatar Armed Forces along with several NATO militaries and multinational organizations. Sheikh Nawaf joined the National Council as a Fellow last fall and was a featured speaker at the Council’s 31st Annual Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference.

(Left) National Council Distinguished International Defense Affairs Fellow Sheikh Nawaf Al-Thani and the Council’s delegation met with select West Point cadets, including a cadet from Qatar. (Right) Sheikh Nawaf Al-Thani addresses a class of West Point cadets.

Qatar’s Deputy Chief of Mission in Washington to Address Youth Leadership Development Program

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Dr. Hamad Al Muftah to Speak at Annual National University Model Arab League Forum

 

Students in the Youth Leadership Development Program / Model Arab League role-play as diplomats representing different Arab countries. As they analyze and address issues from a perspective different than their own, they dramatically improve their ability to think critically and empathetically.

Washington, D.C., U.S.A.: During the final weekend in March, the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations (“National Council” / “Council”) will host the Deputy Chief of Mission from the Embassy of the State of Qatar. Dr. Hamad Al Muftah will address the Council’s forthcoming 38th Annual National Youth Leadership Development / Model Arab League Conference. He will make remarks to the Council’s student-led forum virtually as it convenes online at the National-level for the first time. The Embassy of the State of Qatar is the exclusive sponsor of the 2021 National Youth Leadership Development / Model Arab League Conference.

Background and Context

Each school year, the National Council convenes as many as 25 different Youth Leadership Development Program / Model Arab League conferences. The forums are held in more than 20 cities throughout the United States, reaching a large and diverse collection of future American and Arab leaders.

Since its establishment 38 years ago, the National Council’s Youth Leadership Development Program has produced over 50,000 alumni. Many of the former participants now serve as elected and appointed leaders, prominent diplomats, national security analysts, commanders in the United States and other countries’ armed forces, international media correspondents, international business executives, and a broad range of other roles and positions where they work to sustain and deepen the Arab-U.S. relationship.

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Carolinas Committee on U.S.-Arab Relations Spring 2020 “NEWSLINES”

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The Carolinas Committee on U.S.-Arab Relations (CCUSAR), with Dr. Joe P. Dunn serving as Director, is an initiative of the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations. Dr. Dunn is an alumni of the Malone Fellowship in Arab and Islamic Studies Program, the coordinator of the Southeast Model Arab League, and the faculty advisor heading the Converse College Model Arab League program.

CCUSAR recently published its Spring 2020 “NEWSLINES” newsletter, available for download through the link below.

DOWNLOAD “CCUSAR NEWSLINES (Spring 2020)” [PDF]

Arabia to Asia: The Myths of an American “Pivot” and Whether or Not There’s a U.S. Strategy Toward the GCC Region

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That the foreign policies of various governments often appear to be confusing or contradictory is because they frequently are. During Barack Obama’s presidency, such inconsistency has seemed to characterize aspects of America’s relations with the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The ambiguity and uncertainty that accompanies it is among the things that Obama has sought to dispel and clarify in the course successively of his March 2014 visit to Saudi Arabia, his May 2015 summit at Camp David with senior leaders of all six GCC countries, and his mid-April 2016 attendance at a similar meeting with leaders of the same countries. As this essay seeks to demonstrate, what he has had to contend with – and what others of late have had to contend with regarding aspects of his administration — in terms of background, context, and perspective has not been easy of resolution, amelioration, or even abatement.

Assumptions, Ambitions, and Abilities

Dating from before and since these high-level GCC-U.S. meetings, Washington has taken steps to strengthen and extend America’s overall position and influence in the GCC region. A principal means for doing so has been through the GCC-U.S. Strategic Dialogue.[1] But one example among several was when former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, along with Secretary of State John Kerry, came with approvals for billions of dollars in sales of U.S.-manufactured defense and security structures, systems, technology, and arms to GCC countries, together with long-term munitions and maintenance contracts.

President Barack Obama attends a U.S.-GCC summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in April 2016. Photo: Saudi Press Agency.

President Barack Obama attends a U.S.-GCC summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in April 2016. Photo: Saudi Press Agency.

Yet, simultaneously, signals from Washington and the mainstream U.S. media before and since Obama’s meetings with his GCC counterparts have not always been as clear as the signalers thought would or should be the case. That said, what specialists have had no doubt about for some time is that the Obama administration is recalibrating the strategic focus of its international priorities in hopes of being able to accomplish two objectives at the same time. One objective has been, and continues to be, a steadfast resolve to remain committed to the security, stability, and prospects for prosperity in the GCC region. The other has been and remains a parallel determination to emphasize the Asia-Pacific regions.

Affecting the need for such a recalibration have been major U.S. budget reductions and their impact on strategic concepts, forces, and operational dynamics. At issue and under examination in this regard, according to the Secretary of Defense in advance of the most recent Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), are, and for the foreseeable future will continue to be, America’s assumptions, ambitions, and abilities.

Understandably, the GCC region’s reaction to these trends and indications was and continues to be mixed.

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Stars of the National Council’s Model Arab League Head to Qatar

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National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations Founding President and CEO, and U.S.-GCC Corporate Cooperation Committee Founder, Board Member, and Secretary Dr. John Duke Anthony, presently in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to attend the annual GCC summit, spent the past ten days in Doha, Qatar. He did so as leader of a delegation participating in a cultural study visit sponsored by Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The National Council’s Model Arab League delegation takes in a sunset along the corniche in Doha.

The visit was a reward for a delegation of five American faculty advisers and ten U.S. university and armed forces institutions students. The participants were Outstanding Award Winners in the National Council’s Model Arab League Program (MAL), which began in the early 1980s and presently has 38,000 alumni.

The Models are conducted for some 2,500 university and secondary school participants 20 times a year at a nearly equal number of U.S. universities. The Council has also helped to establish Model Arab League Programs conducted yearly in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, with Bahrain and Oman in the process of establishing their first-ever programs this year and Qatar’s Gulf Studies Program (see below) intending to organize the first-ever MAL devoted exclusively to the six GCC member countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

During their time in Qatar, the delegation members visited and had briefings at the Qatar Foundation, the Museum of Islamic Art, the National Human Rights Committee, Al Jazeera, Katara Cultural Village, the Qatar National Museum, and various branch campuses of blue-ribbon American universities. They also spent an evening with a Qatari family at their farm and sailed on an Arab dhow – a traditional “sundowner” experience, with Doha’s glittering skyline of modernist buildings as the backdrop for photography.

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