Category Archives: Podcast

The Obama Administration: Views from the Region – 2009 Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference

“THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: VIEWS FROM THE ARAB WORLD”

Chair: Ms. Barbara G.B. Ferguson − Washington Bureau Chief, Arab News; Co-Chair, International Correspondents Committee, The National Press Club, Washington, D.C.; author, “Country Reports” on Bahrain, Morocco and Kazakhstan for the Washington Times; embedded war correspondent during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in Kuwait in 1990-1991 and in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.

Speakers:

Mr. Ibrahim Helal − Deputy Managing Editor, Al Jazeera Satellite Television, English; former Deputy Managing Director, News and Programs; former Middle East and North Africa Project Director, BBC World Service Trust, responsible for the training and development of Arab media organizations; Editor-in-Chief, Al-Jazeera Arabic Channel (2001-2004); former Head of News, Abu Dhabi TV (2000-2001).

Mr. Hisham Melhem − Washington Bureau Chief, Al-Arabiya, the Dubai-UAE based satellite channel; former host of Al-Arabiya’s “Across the Ocean”, a weekly current affairs program on U.S.-Arab relations; Correspondent, Annahar, the leading Lebanese daily.

Ms. Nadia Bilbassy-Charters – Chief Correspondent, Middle East Broadcasting Center, Washington, D.C., covering the White House and the State Department; formerly Al-Arabiya Television Diplomatic Correspondent; former Bureau Chief for Middle East Broadcasting Center based in Nairobi, Kenya covering conflicts across the African continent; formerly with both Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS) and Agence France Press (AFP).

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Keynote Addresses – 2009 Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference

KEYNOTE ADDRESSES

Introductions: Dr. John Duke Anthony – Founding President and CEO, National Council  on U.S.-Arab Relations.

Speakers:

H.E. Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo − Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the United States; appointed to Bahrain’s Majlis ash-Shura [National Advisory] Council by His Majesty the King Shaikh Hamad Bin Salman Al-Khalifa where, prior to her appointment as Ambassador she served on the Committee for Finance and Economic Affairs; and former Secretary General of the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society.

Dr. Abdulrahman H. Al-Saeed Advisor to The Royal Court of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Director, Office of Special Projects for HRH King ‘Abdallah Bin ‘Abdalaziz Al Sa’ud, Custodian of the Two Holy Places and King of Saudi Arabia.

H.E. Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo AUDIO (.mp3)

Dr. Abdulrahman H. Al-Saeed AUDIO (.mp3)

H.E. Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo TRANSCRIPT (.pdf)

Development and Education – 2009 Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference

“DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION”

Chair: Ms. Harriet FulbrightPresident of the J. William and Harriet Fulbright Center, a non-profit organization which serves to continue Ms. Fulbright’s life’s work in global education and to advance the work of her husband, former longtime U.S. Senate   Foreign Relations Committee Chairman and National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations National Advisory Board Chairman Senator J. William Fulbright.

Speakers:

The Hon. Theodore H. Kattouf − President and Chief Executive Officer, AMIDEAST – America-Mideast Education and Training Services; former United States Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (1998-2001) and Ambassador to Syria (2001-2003); career Foreign Service Officer serving as Deputy Chief of Mission in Damascus, Syria and Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Juan R.I. Cole − Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History, University of Michigan; author of, among other works, Engaging the Muslim World, Napoleon’s Egypt: Invading the Middle East, and Sacred Space and Holy War: The Politics, Culture and History of Shi`ite Islam; blog author, “Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion;” President, Global Americana Institute.

Dr. Mody Al-Khalaf − Director of Cultural and Social Affairs, Saudi Cultural and Educational Mission, Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington DC;former Professor of Linguistics, Princess Nora University, Prince Sultan University and The Arab Open University, Riyadh; Editor-in-Chief, Al-Mubtaath, a monthly magazine launched in 1978 by the Saudi Cultural Mission covering a range of topics of interest to Saudi students in the United States.

Commentator:

Dr. Abdulrahman H. Al-Saeed Advisor to The Royal Court of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Director, Office of Special Projects for HRH King ‘Abdallah Bin ‘Abdalaziz Al Sa’ud, Custodian of the Two Holy Places and King of Saudi Arabia.

VIDEO

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DR. MODY AL-KHALAF PRESENTATION SLIDES (.pdf)

Defense Cooperation -– Enhancing Regional Security – 2009 Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference

“DEFENSE COOPERATION – ENHANCING REGIONAL SECURITY”

Chair: Mr. Christopher Blanchard − United States Congress, Congressional Research Service (CRS), Middle East Policy Analyst, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division;   author and co-author of, among other works, numerous CRS studies for the Congress, including reports on the Gulf Security Dialogue and related U.S. arms sales, U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and regional perspectives on the Iraq conflict.

Speakers:

General Joseph P. Hoar (USMC, Ret.) − former Commander, U.S. Central Command, with responsibility for planning and operations for 27 countries in the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, and the Horn of Africa. Upon retirement from his long military career, General Hoar formed J.P. Hoar & Associates, a consulting firm engaged in business development in the Middle East and Africa.

Mr. Richard J. Millies − Vice President, International Strategy and Business Development, BAE Systems; former Deputy Director, Defense Security Cooperation Agency, U.S. Department of Defense; and former Director of Policy, Office of the Under Secretary of the Air Force for International Affairs.

Commentator:

H.E. Mohammed Bin Abdullah Bin Mutib Al Rumaihi − Foreign Minister’s Assistant for Follow Up Affairs, State of Qatar; Qatar’s Ambassador to France and non-resident Ambassador to Belgium, the Swiss Federation, Luxembourg, and the European Union (2002-2003); Head of the Government Committee for Delineating Maritime Borders and   the Working Team of the U.N. Security Council (2006-2007); headed the organizing committees of international conferences such as F77, China 2005, New and Restored Democracies 2006, Gulf Summit 2007, Financing Development Summit 2008, Arab Summit 2009, and the Arab and Latin America Summit 2009; former Major General, Qatari Armed Forces.

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TRANSCRIPT (.pdf)

Arab-U.S. Relations: A View From Egypt – 2009 Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference

“ARAB-U.S. RELATIONS: A VIEW FROM EGYPT”

Speaker: Mr. Amr Ahmed Ramadan – Deputy Chief of Mission and Minister Plenipotentiary, Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt; former Trade Negotiator at the Permanent Mission of Geneva (1999-2004); former Director of three divisions at the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs – the International Economic Relations Division, the United Nations Division, and the Arab Levant Division.

VIDEO

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U.S.-Arab Relations: A View from the United States Congress – 2009 Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference

“U.S.-ARAB RELATIONS: A VIEW FROM THE U.S. CONGRESS”

Chair: Rear Admiral Harold J. Bernsen, (USN, Ret.) − Chairman, Board of Directors, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations; President, Board of Trustees of Physicians for Peace; Director, American-Bahraini Friendship Society; former Commander, U.S. Middle East Force; and Director Emeritus, National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce.

Speaker: Congressman Keith Ellison – Member, United States House of Representatives, representing the Fifth District of Minnesota; Member, Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFLP); sits on the House Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittees on “Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit” and “Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology”; and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittees on “International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight,” and “Middle East and South Asia.”

VIDEO

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Geo-Political Dynamics (IV): Syria and Lebanon – 2009 Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference

“GEO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS (IV): SYRIA AND LEBANON”

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.

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Geo-Political Dynamics (III): Iraq’s Return to Sovereignty – 2009 Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference

“GEO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS (III): IRAQ’S RETURN TO SOVEREIGNTY”

Geo-Political Dynamics (III): Iraq’s Return to Sovereignty – 2009 Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference from NCUSAR on Vimeo.

Chair: Dr. John Duke Anthony – Founding President and CEO, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations.

Speakers:

H.E. Samir Sumaida’ie − Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq to the United States; Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations (2004-2006); former Minister of Interior;  former member of Governing Council in Iraq – Chairman, Governing Council   Media Committee; and Member, Governing Council Security, Finance, and Foreign Relations Committees.

Dr. Rochelle Davis − Assistant Professor of Arab Culture and Society (Anthropology), Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University.  Author of, among other works, “Cultural Sensitivity in Military Occupation: The U.S. Military in Iraq,” in Anthropology and Global Counterinsurgency, forthcoming from University of Chicago Press.

Dr. Joseph C. Moynihan − Vice President, Northrop Grumman Electronics Systems with specific responsibility to lead the Electronic Systems Sector’s business development efforts in the Northeast Region of the United States; former Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems Chief Executive for the Arab World and Africa from regional offices located in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE); former, Executive Assistant to the Chairman, Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, Abu Dhabi, UAE; and Member, Board of Directors, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations.

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