Session on Geo-Political Dynamics: Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq with Dr. Paul Salem, Mr. Bassel Charles Korkor, Mr. Elias Samo, Mr. Charles C. Chidiac, Dr. Judith Yaphe, and Dr. Michael Hudson from the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations’ 24th Annual Arab-US Policymakers’ Conference, “U.S.-Arab Relations at a Crossroads: What Paths Forward?,” on October 14, 2015, in Washington, DC.
Imad Harb – The Consolidation of a New Arab Political Order
From the National Council’s Arabia, the Gulf, and the GCC Blog
The National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations’ 23rd Annual Arab U.S.-Policymakers Conference included a session on “Geo-Political Dynamics: Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, & Iran” that featured Dr. John Iskander, H.E. Ambassador Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Dr. Judith Yaphe, Dr. Najib Ghadbian, Dr. Imad Harb, and Dr. Trita Parsi.
An audio and video recording of the session as well as a link to the transcript are available below. Videos of the entire 2014 conference are available on YouTube and podcasts of the conference are available through iTunes and FeedBurner.
August 20, 2014
Offices of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, Washington, DC
Participating Specialists:
Ambassador Samir Sumaida’ie, Former Ambassador of Iraq to the United States (2006-2011) and Former Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations (2004-2006)
Professor David Des Roches, Senior Military Fellow, Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University, and Malone Fellow in Arab and Islamic Studies to Syria
Dr. Imad Harb, Distinguished International Affairs Fellow, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations
Dr. Thomas Mattair, Executive Director, Middle East Policy Council
Mr. Matthew A. Reynolds, North America Representative, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
Mr. Joshua Yaphe, Arabian Peninsula Analyst, U.S. Department of State Bureau of Intelligence and Research
Moderator:
Dr. John Duke Anthony, Founding President & CEO, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations
Imad Harb – The Dynamics of Future Saudi Arabian-Iranian Relations in Context
From the National Council’s Arabia, the Gulf, and the GCC Blog
GEO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS: SYRIA, LEBANON, IRAQ, AND IRAN
Chair:
Dr. John Iskander – Chair, Near East and North Africa Area Studies, Foreign Service Institute, U.S. Department of State.
Speakers:
Dr. Trita Parsi – Founder and President, National Iranian American Council; author A Single Roll of the Dice – Obama’s Diplomacy with Iran and Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States.
Dr. Judith Yaphe – Distinguished Research Fellow for the Middle East, Institute for National Strategic Studies; Adjunct Professor in the Elliott School, George Washington University; former senior analyst in the office of Near Eastern and South Asian Analysis, Directorate of Intelligence, CIA.
Dr. Bassam Haddad – Director, Middle East Studies Program and Assistant Professor, Department of Public and International Affairs, George Mason University; Co-Founder/Editor, Jadaliyya Ezine; Visiting Professor, Georgetown University; author, Business Networks in Syria: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Resilience.
Dr. David Lesch – Professor of Middle East History, Trinity University; author, The Fall of the House of Assad, The Arab – Israeli Conflict: A History, and The New Lion of Damascus: Bashar al-Asad and Modern Syria.
Dr. Michael C. Hudson – Director, Middle East Institute and Professor of Political Science at National University of Singapore; former Director of the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Professor of International Relations, and Seif Ghobash Professor of Arab Studies, Georgetown University.
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 several years in the 1970s while working for the Ford Foundation. Professor Funsch contributed several stories about the visit to the Frederick News-Post.
Linda Pappas Funsch, “Lebanon,” The Frederick News-Post, December 2, 2012.
From June 21-July 3, 2012, the National Council, in partnership with the Lebanon Renaissance Foundation, organized and escorted ten students on a study visit to Lebanon. The delegation was made up primarily of alumni from the Council’s Model Arab League Student Leadership Development Program. Through the study visit the students gained direct personal experience in Lebanese culture, society, and economics, and came away with a more deeply informed knowledge of Lebanon’s strategic aims and requirements as they pertain to Lebanese-U.S. relations and Lebanon’s role in regional and world affairs.
“Lebanon” by Linda Pappas Funsch, The Frederick News-Post, December 2, 2012.
Arts & Sciences students chosen for international honors, John Carroll University News, May 8, 2012
“GEO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS (IV): SYRIA AND LEBANON”
Geo-Political Dynamics (IV): Syria and Lebanon – 2009 Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference from NCUSAR on Vimeo.
Chair: Ms. Martha Kessler − Former intelligence officer, Central Intelligence Agency working on the Middle East and South Asia; multiple positions throughout the Directorate of Intelligence, serving three tours on the National Intelligence Council; consultant to multiple United States government agencies on the Near East and South Asia; and author of, among other works, Syria: Fragile Mosaic of Power.
Speakers:
H.E. Dr. Imad Moustapha − Ambassador of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United States; former Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology, University of Damascus; former consultant to international and regional organizations on science and technology policy in the Middle East.
Dr. Laurie E. King − Former Managing Editor, Journal of Palestine Studies; Adjunct Professor, Arab Studies Program, Georgetown University; and former Professor, Lebanese-American University.
Dr. Graeme Bannerman − International Elections Observer for Lebanon (once) and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (three times); Founder, Bannerman Associates, a political consultancy firm specializing in Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, and other Middle Eastern countries; and former Staff Director, U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Committee’s Professional Staff Member for Middle East and South Asia Affairs.
“GEO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS (I): LEBANON AND SYRIA”
Chair: The Honorable Edward W. Gnehm, Jr. – Kuwait Professor of Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Affairs, Elliot School of International Affairs, The George Washington University; former United States Ambassador to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; former United States Ambassador to Australia; former director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Personnel for the Department of State; 36-year career in the United States Foreign Service.
Speakers: H.E. Dr. Imad Moustapha − Ambassador of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United States
Dr. Bassam Haddad −Director, Middle East Studies Program and Assistant Professor, Department of Public and International Affairs, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia
Dr. Daoud Khairallah, Esq. −Adjunct Professor of International Law at Georgetown University Law Center and the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C.
The Honorable Edward W. Gnehm, Jr. AUDIO (.mp3)
H.E. Dr. Imad Moustapha AUDIO (.mp3)
Dr. Bassam Haddad AUDIO (.mp3)
GEO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS (I): LEBANON AND SYRIA
Chair:
Dr. Michael C. Hudson, Saif Ghobash Professor of Arab Studies, and Director, Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.; and author, inter alia, of The Precarious Republic: Political Modernization in Lebanon, The World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators, Arab Politics: The Search for Legitimacy, The Palestinians: New Directions, andMiddle East Dilemma: The Politics and Economics of Arab Integration
Speakers:
H.E. Dr. Imad Moustapha, Ambassador of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United States
Dr. Daoud Khairallah, Esq., Adjunct Professor of International Law at Georgetown University Law Center, and the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C.
Ms. Martha Kessler, Senior Advisor to the National Intelligence Directorate, United States Government; and author, Syria: Fragile Mosaic of Power
John Duke Anthony – Lebanon’s Ameen Rihani (1876-1940) and the U.S.-Arab Relationship (.pdf file)
VIDEO