POLICYMAKING OPPORTUNITIES AND LESSONS LEARNED FROM REGIONAL GEO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS: THE ARABIAN PENINSULA (GCC COUNTRIES AND YEMEN)
Chair:
Dr. John Duke Anthony
Speakers:
Dr. Abdel Aziz Abu Hamad Aluwaisheg – Assistant Secretary General for Negotiations and Strategic Dialogue, Gulf Cooperation Council.
Dr. Abdulkhaleq Abdulla – Professor of Political Science, United Arab Emirates University (Abu Dhabi); lead author, 2008 Arab Knowledge Report.
Dr. Abdullah K. Al-Shayji – Chairman, Department of Political Science, Kuwait University; author, Kuwait’s Ceaseless Quest for Survival in a Hostile Environment.
POLICY CHALLENGES PERTAINING TO REGIONAL GEO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS: THE PALESTINIAN FUTURE
Chair:
Ms. Alison Weir – President, Council for the National Interest; Executive Director, If Americans Knew.
Speakers:
Dr. Sara Roy – Senior Research Scholar, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University; Board Member, American Near East Refugee Agency (ANERA) and the Center for American Jewish Studies, Baylor University; author,The Gaza Strip: Political Economy of De-development and Hamas and Civil Society in Gaza: Engaging the Islamist Social Sector.
Dr. Tamara Sonn – Wm. R. Kenan Distinguished Professor of Humanities, College of William and Mary; author, Interpreting Islam: Bandali Jawzi’s Islamic Intellectual History, Religions through Law: Judaism and Islam, Islam: A Brief History, and The Religion Toolkit: A Complete Guide to Religious Studies.
Mr. Jeff Steinberg – Editor, Executive Intelligence Review.
Mr. Mark Perry – Author, Conceived in Liberty, The Last Days of the CIA, and Talking to Terrorists: Why America Must Engage its Enemies.
ARAB-U.S. RELATIONS: A VIEW FROM THE LEAGUE OF ARAB STATES
Speaker:
H.E. Ambassador Dr. Mohammed Alhussaini Alsharif – Chief Representative of the League of Arab States to the United States; former Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Canada and Turkey; former Head of the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Houston.
POLICYMAKING CONCERNS RELATED TO REGIONAL GEO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS: ARAB NORTH AFRICA
Chair:
Mr. Christopher Blanchard – Middle East Policy Analyst, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.
Speakers:
H.E. Ambassador Ali Aujali – Ambassador of Libya to the United States.
Professor Paul Sullivan
Ms. Alexis Arieff – Analyst on Africa and the Maghreb, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.
Mr. Karim Haggag – Visiting Professor, Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University; former Director, Egyptian Press and Information Office in Washington, DC.
Dr. David Ottaway – Senior Scholar, Woodrow Wilson Center; former Washington Post foreign correspondent in the Middle East, Africa, and Southern Europe; author, The King’s Messenger: Prince Bandar bin Sultan and America’s Tangled Relationship with Saudi Arabia.
Commentator:
Dr. Néjib Ayachi – Founder and President, Maghreb Center.
POLICYMAKING CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING REGIONAL GEO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS: IRAQ AND SYRIA
Chair:
Dr. John L. Iskander – Chair, Near East and North Africa Area Studies, Foreign Service Institute, U.S. Department of State.
Speakers:
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.
Ms. Mona Yacoubian – Senior Advisor, Middle East and Project Director, Pathways to Progress, Stimson Center; former Special Advisor and Senior Program Officer on the Middle East, U.S. Institute of Peace; former North Africa analyst, U.S. Department of State.
Dr. Judith Yaphe – Distinguished Research Fellow for the Middle East, Institute for National Strategic Studies; former senior analyst in the office of Near Eastern and South Asian Analysis, Directorate of Intelligence, CIA.
Dr. Abdullah Alshammari – Advisor, Middle East – Riyadh Represantative, ORSAM.
Commentators:
Professor Paul Sullivan – Professor of Economics, Eisenhower School, National Defense University; Adjunct Professor, Security Studies, Georgetown University; Columnist, Turkiye Gazetesi, Istanbul, Turkey.
Ambassador (Ret.) Theodore Kattouf – President and CEO, AMIDEAST; former U.S Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and Syria.
HRH Prince Turki Al Faisal – Chairman, King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; former Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United Kingdom and to the United States of America; former Director General, General Intelligence Directorate, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The Honorable Molly Williamson – Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations;Adjunct Scholar, Middle East Institute; former Senior Foreign Policy Adviser to the Secretary of Energy (2005-2008); former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for the Middle East, South Asia, Oceania and Africa (1999-2004); former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia (1993-1995).
Opening Remarks:
VADM Robert Harward – Deputy Commander, U.S. Central Command; former Commander, Combined Joint Interagency Task Force 435 in Afghanistan; former Deputy Commander, U.S. Joint Forces Command; and former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff representative to the National Counterterrorism Center.
Speakers:
Dr. Anthony Cordesman – Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy, Center for Strategic and International Studies; consultant to the U.S. State Department, Defense Department, and intelligence community; former Director of Intelligence Assessment, Office of the Secretary of Defense.
Mr. David Des Roches – Professor, Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University; National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations Malone Fellow in Arab and Islamic Studies.
Mr. Robert Sharp – Assistant Professor, Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University.
Ambassador (Ret.) Chas Freeman – Chairman of the Board, Projects International, Inc., a Washington, D.C.−based development firm specializing in international joint ventures, acquisitions, and other business operations for its American and foreign clients; former President, Middle East Policy Council; former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (1993-94), earning the Department of Defense’s highest public service awards for his roles in designing a NATO-centered post-Cold War security system and in reestablishing defense and military relations with China; former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia (during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm); Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs during the U.S. mediation of Namibian independence from South Africa and Cuban troop withdrawal from Angola; and author, America’s Misadventures in the Middle East as well as The Diplomat’s Dictionary (Revised Edition) and Arts of Power: Statecraft and Diplomacy.
Ambassador Barbara Bodine, Lecturer and Director, Scholars in the Nation’s Service Initiative, Princeton University; and former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen
Dr. Charles Schmitz, Associate Professor of Geography, Towson University; President, American Institute for Yemeni Studies; and former Fulbright and American Institute for Yemen Studies Fellow in Yemen
Mr. Robert Sharp, Associate Professor, Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, U.S. Department of Defense/National Defense University
Moderator:
Dr. John Duke Anthony, Founding President & CEO, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations; former Fulbright Fellow in the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen; and official observer for four of Yemen’s presidential and parliamentary elections
Dr. John Duke Anthony spoke to KSA2 (Saudi Arabian, English-language TV) on June 14, 2012 about the 31st anniversary and growing international importance of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The GCC is comprised of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Dr. Anthony is the only American to have been invited to each of the GCC’s Ministerial and Heads of State Summits since the GCC’s inception in 1981.
May 24, 2012
Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center, Washington, DC
Participating specialists:
Dr. Odeh Aburdene, President, OAI Advisors; and Senior Advisor, Capital Trust S.A.
Ms. Randa Fahmy Hudome, President, Fahmy Hudome International; and Member of the Board of Directors, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations.
Mr. Andrew Rabens, Special Advisor for Youth Engagement, Office of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Bureau of Near East Affairs, U.S. Department of State Department.
Mr. Robert Sharp, Associate Professor, Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, U.S. Department of Defense/National Defense University.
Ms. Molly Williamson, former Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S.
Departments of Commerce and Defense, former Acting Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of State, former Senior Foreign Policy Advisor at the U.S. Department of Energy, and Distinguished Scholar-In-Residence, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations.
Mr. Joshua Yaphe, Arabian Peninsula analyst, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, U.S. Department of State.
Moderator:
Dr. John Duke Anthony, Founding President and CEO, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations; and Member, U.S. Department of State Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy and its subcommittees on Sanctions and Trade and Investment.
HRH Prince Turki Al-Faisal Al Sa’ud – Chairman, King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; former Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United Kingdom and to the United States of America; former Director General, General Intelligence Directorate, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
World Affairs Council – Washington, DC intern Grace Jeong interviewed Dr. John Duke Anthony, Founding President and CEO of the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, at the 2011 Summer Institute on International Affairs for Educators.
2011 Gockel International Symposium “Charting a New Course for Egypt”
September 22, 2011
Missouri Southern State University, Joplin, MO
National Council President & CEO Dr. John Duke Anthony joined Dr. Mark Long, Director of Middle East Studies and Associate Professor at Baylor University, as the featured speakers at Missouri Southern State University’s 2011 Gockel International Symposium in September. The symposium focused on “Charting a New Course for Egypt.” Audio and video from the September 22 morning discussion with Dr. Anthony (“The Changing Nature of America’s Interests in Egypt: Implications for U.S. Policies”) and from the September 22 evening discussion with both Dr. Long (“If We Turn Our Backs”) and Dr. Anthony (“Egypt in Regional and World Affairs: Dynamics of Convergence and Divergence”) is available from the Council through iTunes and other podcast services as well here.
National Council Founding President and CEO Dr. John Duke Anthony spoke to the World Affairs Council-Washington, DC Summer Institute on International Affairs on “The Arab Spring and the Dynamics of American Interests: Implications for U.S. Policies” on June 27, 2011. The World Affairs Council-Washington, DC’s 2011 Summer Institute was focused on “The New Middle East? Power Shifts and Global Implications.” Dr. Anthony was introduced by Ms. Heidi Shoup, Executive Director of the World Affairs Council-Washington, DC. Video and a podcast of Dr. Anthony’s presentation are available below as well as through iTunes.