Upcoming Speakers
International Nieman Weekend
Saturday, May 19 at High Mountain Hall in Camden from 9AM
Topic: Foreign Relations and the Media
Click here to download a registration form.
James P. Farwell
Monday, June 11 at Noon at the Samoset
Topic: The Pakistan Cauldron
James P Farwell is an expert in strategic communication and information operations who has advised the US Special Operations Command, the US Strategic Command and the Department of Defense on counterterrorism and counterinsurgency in the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan. He has written articles for the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Middle East Institute, Defence IQ, and the IO Journal. He is an attorney with degrees from Tulane and the University of Cambridge, and also a political consultant who has worked nationally and internationally at the presidential level. He lives in New Orleans.
He is also the author of the recently published book, ‘The Pakistan Cauldron’
The assault on Osama bin Laden spotlighted Pakistan’s unpredictable political dynamics, in which betrayal, paranoia and conspiracy feature prominently. Understanding Pakistani politics is crucial to working with this challenging American ally. As Benazir Bhutto often stated, there is “always the story behind the story,” and James Farwell tells it clearly in The Pakistan Cauldron.
Ambassador Beth Jones
Monday, July 16 at Noon at the Samoset
Topic: Afghanistan Negotiations (Such As They Are)
NOTE: The Ambassador’s remarks on July 16 will be Off The Record. No recordings will be made.
Ambassador Beth Jones was appointed Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan in October 2011. She was a Foreign Service Officer for 35 years and achieved the highest rank of Career Ambassador. She worked at a Washington-based consulting firm for six years before returning to the State Department in 2011.
Beth Jones was Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia for four years (2001-2005) under Secretary Powell. She served as U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan from 1995 to 1998 and as Special Advisor for Caspian Energy Diplomacy, 2000-2001. Her other senior positions included Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Near East, Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassies in Bonn and Islamabad and Executive Assistant to Secretary of State Warren Christopher. Her other overseas postings were in Kabul, Cairo, Amman, Baghdad and Berlin.
Ambassador Jones received a BA in history from Swarthmore College in 1970 and an MA in International Relations/Strategic Studies from Boston University in 1986. She speaks German and Russian and retains some knowledge of Arabic. She is married to Donald A. Ruschman and has two adult children.
Stephen Walt
Monday, August 6 at Point Lookout
Topic: The Israel Lobby
Stephen M. Walt is the Robert and Renee Belfer Professsor of International Affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School. He previously taught at Princeton University and the University of Chicago, where he served as Master of the Social Science Collegiate Division and Deputy Dean ofSocial Sciences. He has been a Resident Associateof the Carnegie Endowment for Peace and a Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution, and he has also served as a consultant for the Institute of Defense Analyses, the Center for Naval Analyses, and the National Defense University. He presently serves on the editorial boards of Foreign Policy, Security Studies, International Relations,and Journal of Cold War Studies, and he also serves as Co-Editor of the Cornell Studies in Security Affairs, published by Cornell University Press. Additionally, he was elected as a Fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in May 2005.
Professor Walt is the author of The Origins of Alliances (1987), which received the 1988 Edgar S. Furniss NationalSecurity Book Award. He is also the author of Revolution and War (1996), Taming American Power: The Global Response to U.S. Primacy (2005), and, with co-author J.J. Mearsheimer, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy (2007).