The Institute of World Politics

About the Book: The media often suggest that Russia poses the greatest threat to America’s national security, but the real danger lies farther east. While those in power have been distracted and disorderly, China has waged a six-front war on America’s economy, military, diplomacy, technology, education, and infrastructure–and they’re winning. It’s almost too late to undo the shocking, though nearly invisible, victories of the Chinese. In Stealth War, retired Air Force Brigadier General Robert Spalding reveals China’s motives and secret attacks on the West. Chronicling how our leaders have failed to protect us over recent decades, he provides shocking evidence of some of China’s most brilliant ploys, including: • Placing Confucius Institutes in universities across the United States that serve to monitor and control Chinese students on campus and spread communist narratives to unsuspecting American students. • Offering enormous sums to American experts who create investment funds that funnel technology to China. • Signing a thirty-year agreement with the U.S. that allows China to share peaceful nuclear technology, ensuring that they have access to American nuclear know-how. Spalding’s concern isn’t merely that America could lose its position on the world stage. More urgently, the Chinese Communist Party has a fundamental loathing of the legal protections America grants its people and seeks to create a world without those rights. Despite all the damage done so far, Spalding shows how it’s still possible for the U.S. and the rest of the free world to combat–and win–China’s stealth war. About the Author: Robert Spalding retired from the U.S. Air Force as a brigadier general after more than twenty-six years of service. He completed his career as the senior director for strategic planning to the president at the National Security Council, and was the chief architect for the National Security Strategy. He is a former China strategist for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, as well as a senior defense official and defense attaché to China. He earned his doctorate in economics and mathematics from the University of Missouri and is fluent in Mandarin.

About the Lecture: Energy security has been a perennial concern since the early 1970s. But what exactly do we mean by energy security, and how do we know if it’s getting better or worse? This presentation discusses different dimensions of U.S. energy security and how they can be measured in an index. The presentation also will look at how the U.S. performs compared to other large energy-using countries. About the Speaker: Stephen D. Eule is vice president for climate and technology at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute. With more than two decades of experience, Eule is a recognized and respected expert on the nexus between energy and climate change. He engages with business groups across the world, is asked frequently to testify before Congress, and is quoted often in major media outlets. Eule represents the Chamber in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and helped found the Major Economies Business Forum on Energy Security and Climate Change, a coalition of more than 20 national cross-sector business organizations from major economies. Eule also is responsible for GEI’s two authoritative energy security reports—the Index of U.S. Energy Security Risk and the International Index of Energy Security Risk. These risks indices represent the first and most comprehensive efforts to quantify energy security risks over time and across a wide range of measures. They have been cited by the International Energy Agency and are used by universities and think tanks across the world. Previously, Eule was director of the Office of Climate Change Policy & Technology at the Department of Energy. There he oversaw the development of the U.S. Climate Change Technology Program Strategic Plan in 2006 and ran President Bush’s Climate VISION program. Internationally, Eule represented DOE as part of the U.S. government delegations to the UNFCCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the G20, and other multilateral forums. He was lead chapter author on the U.S. Climate Action Report—2006 and contributed to other U.S. government publications. His prior experience includes a decade working in various public policy positions. He was a subcommittee staff director on the House Science Committee and served as legislative director for Rep. Nick Smith (R-MI). In addition, Eule was an environmental analyst in the Washington, D.C., office of New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman (R-NJ). Earlier, he worked for eight years as an Orkand Corporation consultant to the Energy Information Administration and worked at the Heritage Foundation. Eule earned a Master of Arts degree in geography from The George Washington University and a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Southern Connecticut State College.

About the Book: In spring 2011, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad turned to his friend and army commander, Manaf Tlass, for advice about how to respond to Arab Spring-inspired protests. Tlass pushed for conciliation but Assad decided to crush the uprising — an act which would catapult the country into an eight-year long war, killing almost half a million and fueling terrorism and a global refugee crisis. Assad or We Burn the Country examines Syria’s tragedy through the generational saga of the Assad and Tlass families, once deeply intertwined and now estranged in Bashar’s bloody quest to preserve his father’s inheritance. By drawing on his own reporting experience in Damascus and exclusive interviews with Tlass, Dagher takes readers within palace walls to reveal the family behind the destruction of a country and the chaos of an entire region. Dagher shows how one of the world’s most vicious police states came to be and explains how a regional conflict extended globally, engulfing the Middle East and pitting the United States and Russia against one another. Timely, propulsive, and expertly reported, Assad or We Burn the Country is the definitive account of this global crisis, going far beyond the news story that has dominated headlines for years. About the Speaker: Sam Dagher is a senior correspondent for The Wall Street Journal focused on Syria, Iraq and Iran. He has worked in the Middle East for more than 12 years. He covered Syria starting in spring 2012. He reported from inside Syria for more than two years and was the only Western correspondent working and living in the Syrian capital Damascus fulltime between June 2013 and August 2014. While in Syria, Dagher reported mainly on the steps taken by the regime of Bashar al-Assad to stay in power and the impact of this on the country and its people. Dagher’s first story from inside Syria in October 2012 was about the counterinsurgency strategy adopted by Assad and his allies Iran and Hezbollah in Damascus which involved demolishing entire neighborhoods sympathetic to rebels and standing up loyalist militias. Dagher also reported on how the regime fueled sectarianism, mobilized loyalist businessmen to evade international sanctions, rallied minorities to fight on its side, besieged and starved opposition areas and contributed to the rise of Islamic militancy in the country. Dagher reported extensively from the strategic central city of Homs, which was subdued by the regime and its allies only after destroying large parts of it and changing its demographics by driving out most of its Sunni inhabitants. Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority is leading the rebellion against Assad. He also spent time in Syria’s largest city Aleppo, a place partitioned by war. In August 2014 the regime banned Dagher from entering Syria. In October 2014 he was able to enter the Kurdish-controlled part of the country in the northeast, where he reported on how Kurds were battling Islamic State in order to establish their own self-rule area. He also reported on the battle between Kurds and Islamic State for oil resources and the impact of this on people.

About the Book: The Red Sea is one of the world’s most important trade routes, a theater of power struggle among local, regional, and global powers. Military and political developments continue to impact on the geostrategic landscape of the region in the context of its trade thoroughfare for Europe, China, Japan and India; freedom of navigation is a strategic interest for Egypt, and essential for Israel’s economic ties with Asia. Superpower confrontation is inevitable. China, the US, France, Japan and Saudi Arabia have military bases in Djibouti. US strategy seeks to curb Chinese economic influence and Russian political interference in the region through diplomacy and investment. And at the centre of US alliances is the “war on terror” still prevalent in the Middle East and East Africa: Islamic terror groups Al Shabaab in Somalia and Kenya; Al Qaeda of the Arab Peninsula in Yemen; and the Islamic State in Egypt. The civil war in Yemen has become the arena for Iran and Saudi Arabia’s struggle for regional hegemony. Saudi Arabia’s Sunni Arab coalition have been fighting Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels to a stalemate (December 2018). In 2016 Egypt ceded Saudi Arabia the Tiran and Sanafir Islands, the narrow sea passages between the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas, giving control of the entire length of the Red Sea. This, and other perceived positive geostrategic developments, have to be offset by the “nuclearization” of the Red Sea basin (directed in part by Russian foreign policy) and the dangers of multiple country military deployments in the hubs of radical Islam and terrorism potential. A stable future for the region cannot be taken for granted. And as alliances shift and change, so will Israel’s foreign policy and strategic partnerships have to adjust. About the Speaker: Dr. Col. (Res.) Shaul Shay is a senior research fellow of the International Policy Institute for Counter Terrorism (ICT) and former Director of Research at the Institute for Strategy and Policy (IPS) at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel.

About the Lecture: This lecture will discuss an industry standards based approach to manage cyber security threats. The focus will be to understand holistically where weaknesses exist and the overall cyber security posture. Also discussed will be a prioritized approach for mitigating the most serious threats and associated remediation. This will focus on complete end to end cyber security management, starting from all end points to all network connected devices as well as the cloud infrastructure. Additionally, all operating systems and application vulnerabilities and ports associated with these devices will be reviewed and a holistic approach for continuous cyber security management. About the Speaker: Ari Bose is the CEO & President at Torii Technologies where he provides the leadership that is driving innovation and growth for Torii Technologies, which is a cyber security and compliance company. Prior to Torii, Ari was the Chief Information Officer for major, global companies such as Brocade, Polycom, UTStarcom and 3COM. Ari is a Global Information Technology, Operations, and Business Transformation executive with demonstrated success in leading teams and line management to design, implement, and communicate transformational changes that improve business performance and drive profitability. His track record is one of successfully leading critical corporate initiatives in rapidly changing, diverse global environments. Ari is a strategic leader and advisor, able to mentor and motivate business and technical teams across a variety of verticals to achieve superior results.

About the Lecture: This lecture will focus on the Trump Administration’s withdrawal from the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) and the Administration’s strategy towards Iran. Michael Pregent will discuss the reasons for the Administration’s withdrawal from the JCPOA, the rationale behind the Administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign, the Administration’s naming of the IRGC as a terrorist organization and the impact that action may have on Iran’s ability to exercise influence in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere. This will be considered in the context of the Trump Administration’s broader plans for the Middle East that seek to simultaneously turn the tables on our enemies there while attempting to cut back on the U.S. military footprint on the ground. About the Speaker: Michael Pregent is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. He is a senior Middle East analyst, a former adjunct lecturer for the College of International Security Affairs, and a visiting fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University. Pregent is a former intelligence officer with over 28 years of experience working in security, terrorism, counter-insurgency, and policy issues in the Middle East, North Africa, and Southwest Asia. He is an expert in Middle Eastern and North African political and security issues, counter-terrorism analysis, stakeholder communications, and strategic planning. He spent considerable time working malign Iranian influence in Iraq as an advisor to Iraq’s Security and Intelligence apparatus. Pregent served in Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and he served as a liaison officer in Egypt during the 2000 Intifada, as a counter-insurgency intelligence officer at CENTCOM in 2001, and as a company commander in Afghanistan in 2002. Additionally, Pregent served as an embedded advisor with the Peshmerga in Mosul from 2005-2006. Also, as a civilian SME working for DIA, Pregent served as a political and military advisor to USF-I focusing on reconciliation, the insurgency, and Iranian influence in Iraq from 2007-2011. He was a violent extremism and foreign fighter analyst at CENTCOM from 2011-2013.

This lecture is our ninth annual Kosciuszko Chair Military Lecture held in honor of Gen. Walter Jajko. It is sponsored by the Center for Intermarium Studies and the Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies at The Institute of World Politics. About the Lecture: About the Lecture: Maurice Pate (1894-1965) was an American gentleman of the old WASP school who already early in his youth felt an urge to help civilian victims, children in particular, of war, revolution, and other calamities. He will serve as a paradigm for our inquiry about humanitarian aspects of conflict. The focus will be on the American Relief Administration whose charity work saved millions of Europeans from death and disease. Specifically, this lecture will refer to Pate’s role in ARA’s stupendous effort in Poland between 1919 and 1921, while also covering briefly his career afterwards, which culminated in the assumption of the post of the executive director of UNICEF. The lecture will be based on the research conducted for the Intermarium/Pinsk project at the Seely G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University, and Hoover Institution, Stanford, California, among other places. About the Speaker: About the speaker: Dr. Marek Jan Chodakiewicz holds The Kosciuszko Chair in Polish Studies at The Institute of World Politics, where he also serves as a Professor of History and teaches courses on Geography and Strategy, Contemporary Politics and Diplomacy, Russian Politics and Foreign Policy, and Mass Murder Prevention in Failed and Failing States. He is the author of Intermarium: The Land Between the Black and Baltic Seas and numerous other books and articles. Professor Chodakiewicz is the head of the Center for Intermarium Studies at The Institute of World Politics. He holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and has previously taught at the University of Virginia and Loyola Marymount University

About the Lecture: Belarus can’t find a way out of geopolitical turbulence. In contrast to neighboring Ukraine, Russian meddling here is mostly done through soft power. But the Belarusian society is growing more resilient in the face of the Kremlin’s narratives. Confronting Russian revanchism, Belarusians embrace their pre-soviet history, like a heritage of Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Rzeczpospolita. Before Presidential elections next year, and Population census this fall, a discussion about identity and national ideology is intensifying. What can the West do about it? About the Speaker: Franak Viačorka is the Vice President of the Digital Communication Network. He concurrently works as the consultant for U.S. Agency for Global Media, and he is the Creative Director of RFE/RL Belarus Service. Mr. Viačorka is a frequent speaker and advocate for democracy and personal freedom in post-Soviet countries. An expert in Russian disinformation, he recently published research on the Kremlin-backed media, Russian Orthodox church, and think-tanks as the Kremlin’s “soft-power." Mr. Viačorka has earned degrees from American University in Washington D.C. and Warsaw University in Poland, and he has also studied at Georgetown University and European Humanities University.

About the Lecture: Until about two decades ago, Israel imported 98 percent of its energy requirements from far off places on the globe. Although located in a region rich in oil and gas, relation of political enmity with the producers effectively rendered the Jewish state an energy island, isolated from intra-regional energy trade and electricity grids. Securing energy supply from abroad has always been a major concern of Israeli policymakers. However, with the discovery of natural gas in its Mediterranean waters, Israel’s energy-dependent status is changing rapidly. Today, close to 70 percent of Israel’s electricity is generated from natural gas; the rest comes from imported coal. Israel’s transportation still relies exclusively on imported oil, a small amount of which is also used in industrial, residential and commercial sectors. To meet its growing energy requirement and vulnerability vis-à-vis the imports of fossil fuels, Israel – similar to other large energy consumers, such as, India, China and Turkey – has evolved a multi-faceted energy security strategy, which has six essential components. These include, broadening of import; pursuit of proximate supply sources; constant search for indigenous energy; development of renewables and alternatives; ensuring physical security of energy installations; and promotion of energy efficiency. This lecture will talk about each of these components and assess the on-going transformation of Israel’s energy status from import-dependency to energy self-sufficiency that is underpinned by the gas discoveries. About the Speaker: Dr. Sujata Ashwarya is Associate Professor in the Centre for West Asian Studies [Middle Eastern], Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India. She received her MPhil and PhD degrees in West Asian Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She was awarded research fellowships at the Rothberg International School, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel; Maison des Sciences de l’Homme (MSH) and Centre d’Etudes et des Recherches Internationales (CERI), Paris; and the Schusterman Centre for Israel Studies, Brandeis University, USA. She was also affiliated as a researcher at the Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, Iran. Her research interests cover a wide range of areas related to politics, economics and international relations of West Asia. Of primary focus are the domestic development, foreign policy and strategic-security issues (especially those related to Iran, Iraq and Israel), politics of energy, conflict and peace-making, and themes related to civil society and democratization in the region. She also has a strong interest in exploring India’s West Asia policy. A frequent traveler, Dr Ashwarya has presented more than 50 research papers in national and international conferences and seminars. She has more than 30 published research articles and has written, edited and co-edited 5 books. Her books include, Israel’s Mediterranean Gas: Domestic Governance, Economic Impact, and Strategic Implications (Routledge, 2019), Contemporary West Asia: Perspectives on Change and Continuity (co-edited; Routledge, 2019); India-Iran Relations: Progress, Problems and Prospects (Routledge, 2017); Essays on Iran and Israel: An Indian Perspective(Knowledge World, 2014); and Civil Society, Democracy and State in West Asia (edited; New Century, 2010).

About the lecture: Dr. Chodakiewicz will discuss the details of the Nazi and the Soviet attack on Poland in 1939. He will explain pre-war diplomatic arrangements and the impossible predicament of Poland stuck between Germany and the Soviet Union. About the Speaker: Dr. Marek Jan Chodakiewicz holds The Kosciuszko Chair in Polish Studies at The Institute of World Politics, where he also serves as a Professor of History and teaches courses on Geography and Strategy, Contemporary Politics and Diplomacy, Russian Politics and Foreign Policy, and Mass Murder Prevention in Failed and Failing States. He is the author of Intermarium: The Land Between the Black and Baltic Seas and numerous other books and articles. Professor Chodakiewicz is the head of the Center for Intermarium Studies at The Institute of World Politics. He holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and has previously taught at the University of Virginia and Loyola Marymount University.

Title: The Fight So Far About the Lecture: Lieutenant General Michael Nagata, USA, Ret. will discuss a strategic review of the US Government’s efforts against terrorism, both past and present. About the Speaker: Michael K. Nagata retired from the US Army in 2019 after 38 years of Active Duty, 34 of which were spent in US Special Operations. His final position was Director of Strategy for the National Counterterrorism Center from 2016 to 2019. As an Officer, he initially served as a Platoon Leader in the 2nd Infantry Division before volunteering for Army Special Forces in 1984. In Special Forces, he served in various positions including Detachment Commander, Company Executive Officer, Battalion Operations Officer and Executive Officer, and Group Operations Officer. He then served within the US Intelligence Community in Washington D.C. as a Military Deputy for Counterterrorism until 2009. Afterward, he deployed again until late 2011 to Pakistan as the Deputy Chief, Office of the Defense Representative at the US Embassy there. Upon returning to the US, he served on the Joint Staff as the Deputy Director for Special Operations and Counterterrorism until 2013. LTG (R) Nagata assumed command of Special Operations Command-Central, and was responsible for Special Operations across the Central Command region from 2013 to 2015, and was heavily involved in the first two years of combat operations against the Islamic State in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere.

The Mission of the Republic of Senegal to the UN hosted a United Nations roundtable for 14+ member nations on July 30, 2019. Dr. Matthew Daniels of IWP, Stephen Enada of the Int Committee on Nigeria, and Katy Money of Ushahidi led the discussion on how NGOs are using digital media.

Title: Losing One’s Country Twice, Finding it Once About the Lecture: This lecture is a part of The Loss of Country Panel, which was held at The Institute of World Politics on June 13th. About the Panelist: Dr. Marek Jan Chodakiewicz holds The Kosciuszko Chair in Polish Studies at The Institute of World Politics, where he also serves as a Professor of History and teaches courses on Geography and Strategy, Contemporary Politics and Diplomacy, Russian Politics and Foreign Policy, and Mass Murder Prevention in Failed and Failing States. He is the author of Intermarium: The Land Between the Black and Baltic Seas and numerous other books and articles. He holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and has previously taught at the University of Virginia and Loyola Marymount University.

Title: To Lose a Country: France 1940 About the Lecture: This lecture is a part of The Loss of Country Panel, which was held at The Institute of World Politics on June 13th. About the Panelist: Dr. John J. Tierney, Jr. is a Professor Emeritus at The Institute of World Politics and teaches History of American Foreign Policy, History of International Relations, Peace, Strategy and Conflict Resolution, and U.S. Foreign Policy: Current and Future Challenges. He served for many years as the Walter Kohler Professor of International Relations at IWP. Dr. Tierney is a Former Special Assistant and Foreign Affairs Officer for the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (1981-1993); He formerly participated in various national security negotiations for U.S. Government. He was Executive Director of the Congressional Caucus on National Defense and the National Security Research Group, U.S. House of Representatives. He is former Chairman of the Politics Department at Catholic University and former Professor of International Relations at Univserity of Virginia and The Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of Chasing Ghosts and The Politics of Peace.

Title: The Artful Recluse: 17th Century China About the Lecture: This lecture is a part of The Loss of Country Panel, which was held at The Institute of World Politics on June 13th. About the Panelist: Dr. Richard J. Bishirjian, was Founding President and Professor of Government at Yorktown University from 2000 to 2016. He earned a B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh and a Ph.D. in Government and International Studies from the University of Notre Dame under the direction of Gerhart Niemeyer. While a graduate student at Notre Dame he studied under Eric Voegelin. After completing graduate work at Notre Dame, he did advanced study with Michael Oakeshott at the London School of Economics. Dr. Bishirjian taught at colleges and universities in Indiana, Texas and New York and is the author of a history of political theory, editor of A Public Philosophy Reader and The Conservative Rebellion (2015) and The Coming Death and Future Resurrection of American Higher Education(2017), published by St. Augustine’s Press. Dr. Bishirjian is the author of professional essays in The Political Science Reviewer, Modern Age, Review of Politics, Anamnesis and The Imaginative Conservative. He has published topical essays in Chronicles and the American Spectator.