National Interest Foundation

"Yemen: A Brutal War, US Involvement, & Options"
2019-04-11 12:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | NIF, 1800 K st. Suite 1124, Washington, DC, 20006, United States
Discussion With Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson:
VIP EVENT
The Yemen war has entered its fifth year with no end in sight, a staggering human toll, and no convincing results to speak of. Over 100,000 Yemeni children have been killed by Saudi-led bombings, hunger and lack of basic medical care. Terrorist groups such as AlQaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and ISIS have reemerged stronger in alliance with the Saudi-led coalition.
Why is the United States involved in this war, and what are the long-term repercussions of this war that created the largest humanitarian crisis? What should the U.S. do to avert greater instability in the region and at what cost? Join us for a discussion with colonel Wilkerson, a seasoned military and political expert who will offer a realistic and balanced explanation of the conflict.
Featured Speaker:
Lawrence Wilkerson is a Former Chief of Staff for Secretary of State Colin Powell’s. He also served as Associate Director of the State Department’s Policy Planning staff under the directorship of Ambassador Richard N. Haass, where he was responsible for East Asia and the Pacific, political, military and legislative affairs (2001-02).
Before serving at the State Department, Wilkerson served in the U.S. Army 31 years. During that time, he was a member of the faculty of the U.S. Naval War College (1987 to 1989), Special Assistant to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Powell (1989-93), and Director and Deputy Director of the U.S. Marine Corps War College at Quantico, Virginia (1993-97). Wilkerson retired from active service in 1997 in the rank of a colonel to work as an adviser to General Powell.

The American Middle East Policy Summit - The Forum Intellectual: United States Policy in the Middle East (Visions and Transformations)
2019-03-23 | Dosso Dossi Hotels, 34080, Aksemsettin Mahallesi, Istanbul, Turkey
Time
Sessions Manager
Panelists Speaker
Sessions

9.30AM – 10.00AM

Mr. Mohammad Al-Rashed
Khaled Saffuri

Opening Remarks

10.00AM – 11.30AM
Dr.Ali – Alkandari
Khaled El Gindy, Brookings Institution
Karen Attiah, Global Opinions Editor, Washington Post
Dr. Amr Darrag, Egyptian Institute for Studies
Dr. Burhan Aldin Duran, Director of SETA
A Case for Dignity: Freedom and Autocracy in the Middle East

11.30AM – 11.45AM

Break

11.45AM – 1.15PM
Saul Anuzis
Rep. Nick Rahall, Former U.S. Congressman
Doug Bandow, Cato Institute and the Huffington Post
Dr. Ahmed Ramadan,
Prof. Ahmet Uysal, Director of Middle Eastern Studies Center, Ankara
The U.S and Middle East: In Search of Strategy

1.15PM – 2.15PM

Lunch

2.15PM – 3.45PM
Dr. Ahmed Attawna
Rep. James Moran, Former U.S. Congressman
John Fund, Editor of National Review Online, Political Commentator on FOX news
Dr. Abdullah Al, Kuwait University
Dr. Hakki Uygur, Center for Iranian Studies, Ankara
Will there be a US war on Iran?

3.45PM – 4.00PM

Break

4.00PM – 5.30PM
Dr. Gammal Nassar
Michael Steele, Former Chairman of Republican Party, Political Commentator MSNBC
Tim Constantine, Capitol Hill Show
Dr. Halil Mutlu, Turkish American Steering Committee
Dr. Ali Bakir, Kuwait University
Dr. Talha Kosa, Ibn Haldun University
The United States and Turkey in the Middle East: Managing Conflict and Forging Cooperation

Arrive: March 22, 2019
Panel Discussions: March 23, 2019
Social Day and Istanbul Tour: March 24, 2019
Departure: March 25, 2019

Why the U.S. Always Gets It Wrong On the Middle East
2019-02-06 12:00 - 13:30 | 1800 K Street, NW, Suite 1124, Washington, DC, 20006, United States
A luncheon discussion with
David Hearst
Foreign Policy Writer and Editor

The National Interest Foundation is pleased to invite you to attend our luncheon discussion where David Hearst tackles the topic of U.S. foreign policy and the Middle East.
Our estrangement from the Middle East derives from trends that are much deeper than the manifest deficiencies of executive and congressional leadership in Washington. The U.S and our partners in the Middle East have developed contradictory interests and priorities. Where shared values existed at all, they have increasingly diverged. There have been massive changes in geoeconomics, energy markets, power balances, demographics, religious ideologies and attitudes toward America. Many of these changes were catalyzed by historic and recent U.S policy errors.
Join us as we evaluate these faulty methods and discuss new strategy ideas in approaching the Middle East.

About our Speaker:
David Hearst is the Editor in Chief of the Middle East Eye. He left The Guardian as its chief foreign leader writer. In a career spanning 29 years, he covered the Brighton bomb, the miner’s strike, the loyalist backlash in the wake of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in Northern Ireland, the first conflicts in the breakup of the former Yugoslavia in Slovenia and Croatia, the end of the Soviet Union , Chechnya, and the bushfire wars that accompanied it. He charted Boris Yeltsin’s moral and physical decline and the conditions which created the rise of Putin. After Ireland, he was appointed Europe correspondent for Guardian Europe, then joined the Moscow bureau in 1992, before becoming bureau chief in 1994. He left Russia in 1997 to join the foreign desk, became European editor and then Associate Foreign Editor. He joined The Guardian from The Scotsman, where he worked as an education correspondent. @davidahearst

The Future of Democracy in Tunisia
2019-01-22 12:00 - 13:30 | NIF, 1800 K st. Suite 1124, Washington, DC, 20006, United States
A luncheon discussion with elected female parliamentarian from Tunisia,
Meherzia Labidi Maïza
The National Interest Foundation is pleased to invite you to attend our luncheon discussion where Meherzia Labidi tackles the question on Tunisia’s future of a stable democracy.
Tunisia is the sole democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring protests that ripped through the region over the past decade. By 2013, the democratic process was almost derailed by unfulfilled economic promises, political and ideological disagreements, and foreign meddling. Fortunately, local and international mediation then helped to avert catastrophe and pave the way for elections. But less than a year before the next general election, scheduled for late 2019, the country is again in crisis. Tunisia’s President Beji Caid Essebsi warned this past Monday that the country’s democratic experience is not in a safe situation. He also warned of the risks of a general strike called by his country’s largest labour union for Thursday. What happens next is a critical test of where Tunisian democracy is headed.

About our Speaker:
Known as “most senior elected woman in the Middle East”, Meherzia Labidi Maïza is currently a member of the Tunisian Parliament and Head of the Committee For Women, Family, Children and the Elderly Affairs. She was proud of helping to include a clause to protect women’s rights into Tunisia’s post Arab Spring constitution. She is also the honorary president of the organisation Religion for Peace. She has a degree in English literature and writes on topics linked to women and education. She is also a translator, and specialises in Islamic jurisprudence and Islamic finance. She holds a certificate in theatre studies and a Master’s degree in translation from Sorbonne University. She teaches translation at the European Institute of Social Science in Paris.

China's Cultural Genocide Against the Uyghurs
2018-11-14 12:00 - 13:30 | NIF, 1800 K st. Suite 1124, Washington, DC, 20006, United States
Luncheon Discussion on US China Relations and Human Rights

A Luncheon Discussion on
US-China Relations and Human Rights

The National Interest Foundation is pleased to invite you to attend our luncheon discussion where expert Omer Kanat will tackle the issue of Uyghur Muslims and the Xinjang “education” camps. Pervasive ethnic discrimination, severe religious repression, and increasing cultural suppression justified by the government in the name of the “fight against separatism, religious extremism, and terrorism” continue to fuel rising tensions in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Xinjiang’s mass indoctrination centers are expected to be an area of focus during a major United Nations Human Rights Council review of China this month.
Occurring this month as well, in a possible sign of resolving the trade dispute between the US and China, the U.S. State Department said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Chinese politburo member Yang Jiechi and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe will take part in diplomatic and security talks. Mattis and Wei discussed that the world’s two largest economies need to deepen high-level ties to reduce the risk of conflict.

About our Speaker:

Omer Kanat is the chairman of the Executive Committee of the World Uyghur Congress. He co-founded the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) in 2003, as well as the World Uyghur Youth Congress, where he served as president from 1996-2000. Mr. Kanat was the Senior Editor of Radio Free Asia’s Uyghur Service, where he covered the War in Afghanistan & Iraq, edited Uyghur-language news, and conducted interviews with prominent figures in Inner Asia, including his holiness the Dalai Lama.

Discussion with Ambassador Vygaudas Usackas: "The Future of NATO and Transatlantic Relations"
2018-10-15 00:00 - 01:30 | NIF, 1800 K st. Suite 1124, Washington, DC, 20006, United States
A Luncheon Discussion with Ambassador Vygaudas Ušackas
Join us for a round table discussion with Ambassador Vygaudas Ušackas on the future of NATO and Transatlantic Relations.
Ambassador Vygaudas Ušackas currently serves as the Director of the European Institute at Kaunas Technological University. From 2013 to 2017 he served as the European Union’s Ambassador to Russia. He previously served as the EU Special Representative for Afghanistan. Prior to heading Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ušackas was the Ambassador of Lithuania to the United States and Mexico from 2001 through 2006, then Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Currently, he is a candidate for President of the Republic of Lithuania.

UNRWA's Resiliency for Security and Human Development for Palestinian Refugees
2018-09-18 00:00 - 01:30 | NIF, 1800 K st. Suite 1124, Washington, DC, 20006, United States
A Luncheon Discussion with the Director of UNRWA’S DC Representative Office, Elizabeth Campbell
Join us for a round table discussion with Elizabeth Campbell on UNRWA and the continual and latest efforts to fostering the human development of Palestinian Refugees.
Prior to joining UNRWA, Elizabeth was the Senior humanitarian policy advisor in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs in the Department of State. Her role included working on refugee and humanitarian issues in the United Nations system. Campbell has also served as a senior advocate for Refugees International, where she focused on the humanitarian crises in East Africa and the Middle East. She was director of Refugee Council USA, an NGO consortium focused on refugee resettlement and protection.

Yemen: The Forgotten War
2018-05-02 11:30 - 14:00 | Rayburn House Building – Room 2075, 45 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC, 20515, United States
The Yemen war has entered its fourth year with no end in sight. Thousands of civilians have been killed, 130 children die every day from starvation and lack of medical aid due to blockade, and terrorist groups have flourished amid the chaos.
What are the United States’ options to avoid greater instability in the region and at what cost? Join us for a discussion with seasoned speakers and regional experts who will offer their insights and views on the roots and fallout of the conflict.

Speakers:
Flynt Leverett, Former senior director for Middle East affairs on the George W. Bush’s National Security Council, former CIA & State Department official, professor at the Pennsylvania State University School of International Affairs.
Doug Bandow, Former special assistant to President Regan, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, author and analyst.
Sama’a Al-Hamdani, Former political officer at Yemen embassy in Washington, “Yemeniaty” director & political analyst & consultant.
Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi journalist, author, & Washington Post columnist.
