World Affairs Council 2009 Year In Review

2009 has been an amazing year at the World Affairs Council. Here’s a collection of highlights from just a few of our engaging speakers, including Nicholas Kristof, Michael Pollan, and Madeleine Albright.

 

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Medal of Freedom Awards Ceremony Tomorrow

President Obama will present the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom to 16 recipients tomorrow, Wednesday, August 12. Three of this year’s awardees were speakers at the World Affairs Council and the Global Philanthropy Forum in 2008: former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Muhammad Yunus.

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Pipeline Politics

The construction of the Nabucco pipeline, slated for completion in 2012, is part of the effort to reduce European dependence on Russian gas amid concerns and fears that Russia, the supplier of between 30 and 40% of Europe’s natural gas, will use its economic leverage for political gains. However, recent developments in Turkmenistan, China, Iran, [...]

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Poland and the Changing Geopolitics of Europe

Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski joined the Council Wednesday night for our fourth Guggenhime Speaker Event of 2009 to address his nation’s role in the changing geopolitics of Europe and abroad. Minister Sikorski described Poland’s transition from the events of 1989 to a modern democratic nation, a member of NATO and of the European Union. [...]

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Jane Wales named one of the NPT Power & Influence Top 50

Jane Wales, World Affairs Council President and CEO, is honored as one the NonProfit Times Power & Influence Top 50 in their 12th annual celebration of the sector’s top leaders. See the full article on the NonProfit Times website or download the pdf.

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The Challenges Facing Pakistan

Having returned from Islamabad only a month ago, Asia Foundation expert Jon Summers shared some of his knowledge and insights into the current situation in Pakistan with Council members last night. He laid out myriad challenges facing Pakistan, from governance and counterinsurgency to the economy and education, and he suggested potential strategies to deal with [...]

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Anecdotes on Life in the Middle East

Monday evening at the World Affairs Council,  Neil MacFarquhar, UN Bureau Chief to The New York Times, offered his unique perspective on life in the Middle East. With a collection of anecdotes collected over 25 years of both personal and professional experience in the region, MacFarquhar brought the diversity and character of the people to [...]

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His Excellency Sameh Shoukry at the Council

His Excellency Sameh Shoukry, Egyptian Ambassador to the United States, joined the Council last week to discuss US-Egyptian relations and current issues in the Middle East. In his speech, and lengthy question and answer portion of the event, he covered issues from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iran’s nuclear program to trade, economic aid, and political [...]

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Obama’s Inheritance: The Opportunity Costs of the Iraq War

David Sanger, Chief Washington Correspondent for The New York Times, drew a large and attentive audience to our auditorium last night for his lecture, “The World Obama Confronts.” Although accounts of the Iraq War often focus on its direct costs, Sanger, in his lecture and recently published first book, The Inheritance, explores the depth of [...]

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The End of Globalization?

How many ports across how many countries does a piece of “fresh” salmon pass through before it lands on our dinner table? What is the cost of steel imports, not in terms of Chinese labor but in terms of the energy costs required for transport from China?
Jeff Rubin, former chief economist at CIBC, joined us [...]

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Rethinking US Foreign Policy

President Obama’s speech in Cairo today clearly outlines a shift in US foreign policy toward the Middle East – a shift about which many are hopeful, and others wary.  Last week, Stephen Stedman, Senior Fellow of the Center for International Security & Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford University, joined us to discuss the opportunity that President [...]

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Council Speaker May Play Critical Role in Afghan Government

Helene Cooper of The New York Times just reported that former Ambassador to Iraq, Afghanistan and the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, may assume a position near the top of  Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government. The news of this proposal comes on the heels of Ambassador Khalilzad’s appearance at the World Affairs Council in San Francisco [...]

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