Carnegie Transcript

Thomas Carothers from the Carnegie Endowment argues that there is a lack of appetite in the world right now for a League of Democracies. The greatest challenges the United States faces—including nuclear proliferation, energy, Iraq, Middle East peace, and climate change—all require close U.S. cooperation with autocratic regimes, who would be antagonized and alienated by the creation of such a League.

Former Palestinian negotiator Ghaith al-Omari and Carnegie Middle East expert Nathan J. Brown discuss Brown’s new report “Sunset for the Two-State Solution?” in which he argues that the current U.S. approach to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict actually further undermines the chances for a two-state solution.

The Carnegie Endowment and the National Committee on North Korea held a joint discussion on policy options for North Korea's nuclear program.

David Rothkopf discusses his new book, Superclass, at a launch party at Carnegie Washington.

Nobel Laureate in Economics, Joseph E. Stiglitz discusses his new book on the real cost of the War in Iraq with moderator Mark Medish of Carnegie and Steven Mufson of the Washington Post.

On February 22, 2008, Carnegie Moscow Center Scholar-in-Residence Nikolai Petrov discussed Russia's March 2 presidential elections, which are widely expected to usher in the rule of Dmitry Medvedev, President Putin's favored successor.

On February 13, the Carnegie South Asia Program explored the Pakistani military’s possible reactions to various post-election scenarios.

On January 25, Carnegie Senior Associate Ashley J. Tellis presented the findings of his Carnegie Report, Pakistan and the War on Terror: Conflicted Goals, Compromised Performance, at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London. Tellis and Carnegie Visiting Scholar Frederic Grare provided first-hand commentary following President Musharraf's keynote speech at RUSI.

Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, former Minister of Foreign Affairs for Afghanistan, discussed some of the challenges currently facing Afghanistan and how they may be addressed. According to Abdullah, the people living in dangerous areas of the country have no choice but to turn to the Taliban for protection, and cannot cooperate with other actors for fear of retaliation. The discussion was moderated by Carnegie President Jessica T. Mathews.

Before the assassination of Ahmad Shah Massoud on September 9, 2001, suicide attacks were considered alien to Afghanistan. They began to appear with regularity in 2005 and 2006 and are now commonplace. Christine Fair, former UNAMA political affairs officer, discusses her UNAMA report on the challenges of combating these attacks.

Economic reform remains a top priority for the Jordanian government, but it remains hindered by two major obstacles: a lack of public support, and the government’s inability to implement deep reform. In a recent seminar, Carnegie Middle East Center's Sufyan Alissa,discussed the steps Jordan should take to implement reform successfully.

Carnegie President Jessica T. Mathews and Carnegie Nonproliferation Program Director George Perkovich gave the opening remarks at the 2007 Carnegie International Nonproliferation Conference, “Tomorrow's Solutions,” June 25–26, in Washington, D.C., which addressed the critical challenges confronting the nonproliferation regime and offered policy recommendations to stop the spread and use of nuclear weapons and materials.

In the sixth debate in the series, Reframing China Policy: The Carnegie Debates, Robert B. Cassidy and Albert Keidel addressed the question, "Do China’s violations of international commercial norms, including exchange rate manipulation, IPR violations and non-tariff barriers, require immediate forceful steps by its trading partners to make it play by the rules?" This debate, moderated by Roger Ferguson, is part of the series, Reframing China Policy: The Carnegie Debates.

The session, part of the Carnegie's day-long program of events to launch its New Vision, examined the national interests and strategies of the U.S., Russia, and China in the region. Has a new Great Game taken shape? What kinds of competition and what degree of cooperation can be expected? How will political and social dynamics within Central Asia affect the plans of the great powers?

Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of UNCTAD and former Director-General of the WTO spoke recently at Carnegie about the future of the WTO, how to get the Doha Round back on track, and South-South cooperation. Carnegie Senior Associate Sandra Polaski offered comments.