Midcoast Forum on Foreign Relations

Katharine Babson

Katharine Babson has made over 30 month-long trips to Myanmar since 1994.

A graduate of Williams College, she earned her Masters in Divinity from Virginia Seminary and her Doctorate in Ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington D.C

A strong proponent of inter-cultural, interfaith, and international exchange among people of difference, she has served on the Episcopal Church’s Standing Commission for World Mission, and now chairs its Episcopal Partnership for Global Mission, a
consortium of Episcopal Church agencies working in various capacities all over the world. She is Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Mission and World Religion at Virginia Seminary in Alexandria Virginia

.At home in Maine, she and her husband, Bradley, live in a mid-18th century cape in Pennellville, Brunswick.

Andrew Zolotov, Jr

Andrei Zolotov, Jr. is the Chief Editor of RussiaProfile.org. Since June 2009, he is also Deputy Director of International Service at the Russian News and Information Agency “Novosti.”

A native of Moscow, he graduated from the Moscow State University’s School of Journalism in 1992. During his studies, spent a year as an exchange student at Sarah Lawrence College and a year as a visiting scholar at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

He began his career in journalism as a translator and fixer at the Moscow bureau of The Christian Science Monitor. He went on to serve as Moscow correspondent for the Geneva-based news and features agency Ecumenical News International (ENI).
In 1997, Andrei joined The Moscow Times, where he covered politics, media and religion as a senior staff writer. Also in 1997, Andrei was named the John Templeton European Religion Journalist of the Year. Two years later, he was awarded a Carnegie Media Fellowship at Duke University.

His coverage of the takeover of NTV and TV-6 television companies, as well as other aspects of the country’s media policies earned Andrei a reputation as an expert on media issues; he is also recognized as an expert in Russia’s religious affairs and global developments related to Orthodox Christianity.

In 2003, Mr. Zolotov left The Moscow Times and ENI to develop Russia Profile, which he has served as editor since its inception. In 2008-09 academic year he was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University

Tom Andrews

Tom Andrews, a former Member of Congress from the first Congressional District of Maine, is the National Director of Win Without War, a coalition of forty-two national membership organizations including the National Council of Churches, the NAACP, the National Organization of Women, the Sierra Club, and MoveOn. Win Without War led the national campaign opposing the US invasion of Iraq and is now leading opposition to the Bush administration’s policy there.

Andrews’ leadership of Win Without War has thrust him into the national spotlight appearing on network television programs such as Meet the Press, NewsNight with Aaron Brown, Wolf Blitzer Reports, Lou Dobbs and Crossfire and through speeches and special events including an address to the National Press Club in Washington that was broadcast to a live national television and radio audience. Andrews is a widely known and respected strategist and organizer. Win Without War’s campaign to lobby Congress generated over 1 million calls in a single day and its global candlelight vigil led to over six thousand events in 136

Andrews is President of New Economy Communications, a not-for-profit organization that provides strategic planning and communication services to individuals and groups working on human and labor rights issues at home and abroad. His clients include “No More Sweatshops – The Campaign for the Abolition of Sweatshop and Child Labor.” He is Senior Advisor to the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, chaired by Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. He has worked to promote democracy and human rights in emerging democracies throughout the world including Indonesia, Cambodia, Yemen, Algeria, Croatia, Serbia and Jordan and with international coalitions in Europe and East Asia.

He works on behalf of Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League of Democracy of Burma, the political party that won 82% of the seats in the parliament in Burma’s last democratic election but was denied the right to take office by Burma’s brutal military regime. In 2001 Andrews directed an international campaign for the release of Suu Kyi with the Nobel Peace Committee in Oslo Norway. The campaign featured 40 simultaneous events worldwide that included the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former Philippine President Corozan Aquino, and twenty-one Nobel Peace Laureates. The events were connected through satellite television and the Internet.

Andrews’ twelve years in public political office earned him a reputation as a strong, principled and effective leader. The columnist Jack Anderson called Andrews “the most courageous member of Congress.” Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate, called him “the most principled politician I have ever met.”

He was elected to the Maine House of Representatives in 1982, the Maine Senate in 1984 and the United States Congress in 1990. In the Maine Senate Andrews served as Chairman of the Joint Standing Committees on Taxation, Economic Development, and State Government. Upon his arrival in Washington, Andrews was elected president of the class of newly elected Democrats. He served on the powerful Armed Services Committee as well as the Committee on Small Business and the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee and was a Deputy Majority Whip.

Andrews grew up on a farm in Easton, Massachusetts and moved to Maine to attend Bowdoin College where he earned a degree in Philosophy and Religion. A turning point in his life was the discovery of cancer in his right leg at the age of sixteen. “I made one of those classic deals with the Almighty: Let me live and I’ll make it worth your while. I have literally been trying to keep my end of the bargain ever since.” His home is in South Portland Maine.

Nancy Soderberg

Nancy Soderberg was the senior policy advisor to Sen. Ted Kennedy and became a top National Security official in the Clinton administration 1993-1997 with the title of Deputy Assistant to the president on national security affairs. From 1997-2001 she was an alternative representative to the UN with the rank of ambassador. After leaving the UN she was vice president of the International Crisis Group. She is the author of several books among them “The Superpower Myth”. She appears regularly on national TV and radio. Adjunct Professor – School of Int. & Public Affairs, Columbia University.

Donald P. Gregg

September 2009

Topic: Where we go from here on the Korean penninsula

Donald P. Gregg is Chairman of the Board of The Korea Society in New York City.

Following graduation from Williams College in 1951, he joined the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and over the next quarter century was assigned to Japan, Burma, Vietnam and Korea. He was seconded to the National Security Council staff in 1979, where he was in charge of intelligence activities and Asian policy affairs.

In 1982, he was asked by the then Vice President George Bush to become his national security advisor. He then retired from the CIA, and was awarded its highest decoration, the Distinguished Intelligence Medal. During his six years with Vice President Bush, Mr. Gregg traveled to 65 countries.

Between 1980-1989, he also served as a professorial lecturer at Georgetown University, where he taught a graduate level workshop entitled “Force and Diplomacy.”

In September 1989, Mr. Gregg began his service as the United States Ambassador to Korea. Prior to his departure from Korea in 1993, Mr. Gregg received the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, an Honorary Degree from Sogang University, and a decoration from the Prime Minister of Korea.