Available below are remarks from Dr. John Duke Anthony, Founding President and CEO of the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, at the Middle East Policy Council’s 71st Capitol Hill Conference, January 16, 2013, on “U.S. Grand Strategy in the Middle East: Is there One?” Full video of the event as well as an unedited transcript are available at www.mepc.org.
Category Archives: US-Arab Relations
Middle East Policy Council Event: “U.S. Grand Strategy in the Middle East”
On January 16, 2013, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations Founding President & CEO Dr. John Duke Anthony will join Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr., Chairman of Projects International, former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and former President of the Middle East Policy Council (MEPC); Dr. William B. Quandt, Professor at the University of Virginia and former staff member on the National Security Council; and Dr. Marwan Muasher, V.P. for Studies at the Carnegie Endowment, former Foreign Minister & Deputy Prime Minister of Jordan, and former Ambassador of Jordan to the U.S.; at MEPC’s 71st Capitol Hill Conference on “U.S. Grand Strategy in the Middle East: Is There One?” The program, which will live-streamed by MEPC, will be moderated by Dr. Thomas R. Mattair, Executive Director of MEPC.
Middle East Policy Council 71st Capitol Hill Conference
“U.S. Grand Strategy in the Middle East: Is There One?”
January 16, 2013 — 9:30am – Noon
Rayburn House Office Building, Gold Room (2168)
RSVP Acceptances only: (202) 296-6767 or info@mepc.org
GCC Information for Reference
As the 33rd Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Ministerial and Heads of State Summit approaches on December 24-25, 2012 in Manama, Bahrain, the Arabia, the Gulf, and the GCC Blog presents for reference a listing of GCC-related posts from the past several months.
- “Regional Geo-Political Dynamics: The Arabian Peninsula (GCC Countries and Yemen)” at the 2012 Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference (December 13, 2012)
- Joint Communique from the U.S.-GCC Strategic Cooperation Forum (October 4, 2012)
- US and GCC Sign Framework Agreement for Trade and Economic Cooperation (October 2, 2012)
- Gulf Cooperation Council Trade Facts & Figures Infograph (August 30, 2012)
- “A Window onto the Gulf Cooperation Council” – Remarks by His Excellency Abdul Latif Bin Rashid Al Zayani (July 11, 2012)
- U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Report Identifies Security Challenges in the Persian Gulf (July 10, 2012)
- John Duke Anthony Speaks With KSA2 About the GCC (June 19, 2012)
- Remarks on GCC Economic Issues by Dr. Odeh Aburdene (June 15, 2012)
- The Future Significance of the Gulf Cooperation Council (June 7, 2012)
- The Gulf Cooperation Council at 31: Implications of Trends and Indications for GCC and US Interests (May 30, 2012)
- Strategic Dynamics of Iran-GCC Relations (May 11, 2012)
Malone Fellow Linda Pappas Funsch on Lebanon
Professor Linda Pappas Funsch (far right) and a student delegation from the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations visits the remains of the great forest of cedars of Lebanon, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
From June 21-July 3, 2012, the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, in partnership with the Lebanon Renaissance Foundation, organized and escorted ten students on a study visit to Lebanon. The delegation was led by National Council Malone Fellow and Model Arab League advisor Professor Linda Pappas Funsch, who lived in Beirut for three years in the 1970s while working for the Ford Foundation. Professor Funsch contributed several stories about this summer’s visit to the Frederick News-Post, which can be access through the link below.
Linda Pappas Funsch, “Lebanon,” The Frederick News-Post, 2012.
Professor Funsch previously contributed a series of stories to the Frederick News-Post on Oman drawn from her experiences participating in the National Council Malone Fellowship Oman Cultural Immersion Program.
Linda Pappas Funsch, “Oman Rediscovered,” The Frederick News-Post, 2006.
NCUSAR Model Arab League Student Leaders Prepare to Travel to Saudi Arabia
Later in December the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations will escort a delegation of student leaders from the Council’s Model Arab League program on a cultural immersion study visit to Saudi Arabia. The visit will provide the young American leaders a hands-on experience in the Arab world that few others their age have had.
“Energy: Policymaking Dynamics of Sources, Supply, and Security” at the 2012 Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference
H.E. Ambassador Mohamed Bin Abdulla Al-Rumaihi, Ms. Randa Fahmy Hudome, Mr. James LeJeune, Mr. John Hofmeister, and Mr. Frank Verrastro gave remarks on “Energy: Policymaking Dynamics of Sources, Supply, and Security” at the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations’ 21st Annual Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference. The conference, on the theme “Arab-U.S. Relations Amidst Transition within Constancy: Implications for American and Arab Interests and Policies,” was held October 25-26, 2012 at the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center in Washington, DC.
2011-12 Model Arab League Youth Leadership Development Program
2011-2012 marked the 29th year of the National Council’s flagship Arab-U.S. Student Leadership Development Program, the Model Arab League (MAL). The Models are similar in organization and format to the older and more widely recognized Model United Nations, with its 193 members. An important difference between the two is that the MAL focuses only on the 22 member countries that comprise the League of Arab States. Established in February 1945, and thereby pre-dating the founding of the United Nations, the Arab League is the world’s oldest regional political organization dedicated to, among other things, the diplomatic and peaceful settlement of disputes.
Student delegates from Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria, VA, with faculty advisor Mr. Michael Rauer, display their award certificates after the National High School Model Arab League.
The Models provide primarily American but also Arab and other international students’ opportunities to develop invaluable leadership skills. In few if any other ways do the student participants have a comparable chance to work with their fellows for common goals and shared interests. We know of no other opportunity that allows emerging leaders to learn firsthand what it is like to put themselves in the shoes of real-life Arab diplomats and other foreign affairs practitioners. In the process, the students come to realize unavoidably and inevitably how different these international relations realities are in comparison to what they previously thought and wrongly assumed to be true based on what they had read and “learned” or not read, “not learned” and therefore not known before.
Students vote on a resolution in the Political Affairs Council at the Atlanta High School Model.
Grappling with the international challenges of representing the needs, concerns, interests, and foreign policy objectives of a government other than their own, and especially that of an Arab country, has obvious merit in and of itself. In the process, students not only deepen their knowledge and understanding of the Arab world and its peoples. In addition, they develop and practice useful analytical, organizational, writing, editing, and public speaking skills. In so doing they strengthen their ability to engage in the art of reasoned argument and spirited debate. In the process, they have an unparalleled opportunity to hone and refine leadership attributes that for many are often unavailable or otherwise difficult to acquire in the course of reading a book, viewing films, videos or television, listening to a specialist, participating in academic classes, attending briefings, or accessing blogs and the Internet.
“Defense Cooperation Dynamics: Enhancing Regional Security” at the 2012 Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference
VADM Robert Harward, The Honorable Molly Williamson, Dr. Anthony Cordesman, Mr. David Des Roches, and Mr. Robert Sharp gave remarks on “Defense Cooperation Dynamics: Enhancing Regional Security” at the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations’ 21st Annual Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference. The conference, on the theme “Arab-U.S. Relations Amidst Transition within Constancy: Implications for American and Arab Interests and Policies,” was held October 25-26, 2012 at the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center in Washington, DC.
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