Global I.q. Minute With Jim Falk

In this year’s annual Gail Koppman American History endowed lecture, David Rubenstein takes an introspective look at what it means to be American in his latest book, The American Experiment. Diversity is a foundational element of the United States of America, reflected in culture, religion, political views, and ideas. The bringing together of fifty individual states and of people from all ethnicities forms the basis of what it means to be American, a nationality built on the belief in freedom as a right, regardless of background. Through conversations with some of the most influential thought-leaders of our time, Rubenstein explores the idea of “America as a grand experiment in democracy,” gleaning insight from the likes of Madeleine Albright, Ken Burns, and John Meacham, attempting to define “what America is” and “what it can be.” David Rubenstein is chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations as well as co-founder and co-executive chairman of The Carlyle Group private equity firm. He is the New York Times

Ambassador P. Michael McKinley Ambassador McKinley (Ret.) joined The Cohen Group as a Senior Counselor after a decorated 37-year career at the Department of State. Ambassador McKinley most recently served as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State until October 2019, covering a wide range of global policy issues. This month he penned the sagacious "We All Lost Afghanistan" — a must-read piece published in Foreign Affairs. As a four-time ambassador, he led some of the largest and most sensitive U.S. embassies in the world as the U.S. Ambassador to Peru (2007-2010), Colombia (2010-2013), Afghanistan (2014-2016), and Brazil (2017-2018). Ambassador McKinley has also had extensive experience with regional conflicts and peace negotiations across three decades on three continents including Afghanistan, where he played a central role in shaping key policy decisions.

 Ambassador Anne W. Patterson is moderating this event. Like Ambassador Mckinley, Ambassador Patterson has led critical U.S. embassies around the wor

Emily Haber has been Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United States since June 2018. Prior to her transfer to Washington, DC, she served in various leadership functions at the Foreign Office in Berlin. In 2009, she was appointed political director and, in 2011, state secretary, the first woman to hold either post. Thereafter, she was deployed to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, serving as state secretary in charge of homeland security and migration policy from 2014 until 2018. Emily Haber has many years of experience with Russia and the former Soviet Union, including Head of the Political Department. At the Foreign Office in Berlin, she served as Head of the OSCE Division and as Deputy Director-General for the Western Balkans, among other positions. Moderated by Lee Cullum, journalist at Public Media of North Texas (KERA/PBS) and Senior Fellow at the John Tower Center for Public Policy and International Affairs at SMU. . . Do you believe in the importance of international education

Fisher and Garten will discuss Garten’s new book, THREE DAYS AT CAMP DAVID, which describes how and why the Nixon administration broke the link between the dollar and gold, setting shock waves throughout the world economy and upending America’s most important political and military alliances. They will explain why this decision was perhaps the biggest one ever made in the international monetary system since the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944, how it led to floating exchange rates, to more financial engineering, more intense globalization, and even to the emerging world of crypto and digital currencies. And they will examine the challenges to the dollar today, from China, from new forms of currency, from new kinds of protectionism, and from dysfunctional elements of our political system and institutions. Jeffrey Garten is the former dean of the Yale School of Management, undersecretary of commerce for international trade, and managing director of the Blackstone Group. He now teaches courses at Yale on the gl

This breaking-news program provides context on the current state of affairs in Haiti in the wake of the assassination of President Jovenel Moise on July 7, 2021, as well as insight on the broader U.S.-Haitian relationship, and the history of Haitian leadership. Paula Caldwell St-Onge (B.Sc.Queen's University, MBA (Leadership and Sustainability) University of Cumbria, recipient of the Head of the Public Service Award for Excellence in Policy and the Queen’s Gold Jubilee medal, began her career in the Public Service in 1989. She worked in several government departments where she gained expertise in communications, environmental sustainability and political risk. She has been a Director General of Canada’s Environmental Federal national programs on Enforcement, Environmental assessments and Emergency and Preparedness as well as Director General of the Pan African bureau at Global affairs Canada. She has lived and served abroad for 28 years having been brought up in Latin America and the Caribbean and served as

Awakening, a global look at the worldwide impact of the #MeToo movement, shines a light on the far-reaching effects of the rise in women’s activism that sprang from a hashtag. Weaving together the personal stories of women from seven vastly different countries, and focusing on the international cultural reckoning the movement sparked, Awakening looks at #MeToo on the world stage through political analysis and anecdotal evidence, providing an in-depth look into how the campaign has reached across borders since its beginning in 2017. Rachel Vogelstein is the director of the Women and Foreign Policy Program at the Council on Foreign Relations, where she is also the Douglas Dillon senior fellow. During the Obama administration, Vogelstein served as top counselor on women’s issues to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and was a member of the White House Council on Women and Girls. She currently sits on the boards of Planned Parenthood Global and the National Women’s History Museum. She is a contributing writer on

China’s restriction on the free flow of information is no secret in the western world. Many are aware of the “Great Firewall,” as well as the intense surveillance of visitors and Chinese citizens. But what is life really like under such invasive conditions? In The Perfect Police State, Asia-based reporter Geoffrey Cain shares intel from inside China’s surveillance network in the country’s westernmost province of Xinjiang. Informed by first-hand testimony and Cain’s own investigations into China’s “effective and enduring technological dystopia,” Cain argues that China has indeed created a perfect police state. Geoffrey Cain is an award-winning foreign correspondent and author. He was formerly a correspondent at The Economist and is a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, Time, The New Republic, CNN, MSNBC, BBC, and Bloomberg. He is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a security fellow at the Truman National Security Project. Cain is a Fulbright scholar who earned a master’s degree

Yemen is a nation on the brink of collapse. Devastated by more than 5 years of civil war, the humanitarian situation in Yemen is dire. Economic volatility and conflict have stretched Yemenis’ ability to cope to the breaking point, leaving millions deeply vulnerable and famine a real threat. In the first half of 2021, about 16 million people face acute levels of food insecurity, with a return of famine-like conditions for the first time in two years. Over 24 million people rely on humanitarian assistance to get by. According to the 2021 Global Report on Food Crises—an analysis of global food insecurity by 16 partners including the United Nations World Food Programme—conflict remains the leading driver of hunger globally, with about 99 million severely hungry people living across 23 conflict-affected countries. If adequately funded this year, the United Nations World Food Programme aims to provide emergency food assistance to about 13 million people as well as malnutrition treatment and prevention to 3.3 millio

When Jean Becker closed up President Bush’s Houston office in 2019 after his death, she told the Houston Chronicle, “What a pleasure. What a journey.” In The Man I Knew, the former chief of staff to President George H. W. Bush shares an intimate look into the post-presidency of one of America’s most influential one-term presidents. Becker served as Bush 41’s chief of staff for nearly 25 years, handling monumental tasks like the opening of the George Bush Presidential Library in 1997 and overseeing the former president’s state funeral in 2018. From the perspective of one of the president’s closest confidantes, who was at his side when he died, The Man I Knew offers a behind-the-scenes look into how President Bush continued to lead a life of service after losing the 1992 election – going on to see his own son become president after him and serving as a mentor to Presidents Clinton and Obama. Jean Becker was chief of staff for President George H. W. Bush from 1994 until his death in 2018. In 1999, Becker took

Jason L. Riley’s biography of Sowell, Maverick, tells the story of the successful and provocative career of one of America’s foremost intellectuals and the experiences that shaped his insights and ideas. In Riley’s recently released companion documentary Thomas Sowell: Common Sense in a Senseless World, Larry Elder said of Sowell, “He is America’s greatest contemporary living philosopher.” Jason Riley is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank focused on domestic policy and urban affairs. He is the author of several books, as well as a columnist and editorial board member for the Wall Street Journal, which he joined in 1994. Riley is a commentator on Fox News and frequently appears on ABC, NBC, CNN, PBS, and NPR. He holds a B.A. in English from The State University of New York at Buffalo. Moderated by Talmage Boston Talmage is a partner in Shackelford, Bowen, McKinley & Norton, LLP's Dallas office who specializes in commercial litigation. He’s a past board member of the WAC of

In the early 1960s, President Kennedy said the United States was in an "hour of maximum danger," as the Soviet Union was winning the space race. Then, on February 20, 1962, Friendship 7 began its orbit of Earth. With astronaut John Glenn on board, Friendship 7 got America back into the space race at one of the tensest moments of the Cold War. Jeff Shesol draws on historical archives, interviews, and Glenn’s personal notes to tell the story of the mission that changed the dynamics of the space race and restored American confidence during the Cold War. Jeff Shesol’s two previous books, Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. The Supreme Court and Mutual Contempt: Lyndon Johnson, Robert Kennedy, and the Feud That Defined a Decade, have won numerous awards. He also spent three years in the White House as one of President Clinton’s speechwriters. Shesol is a founding partner of West Wing Writers and formerly taught presidential history at Princeton University. He is a Rhodes Scholar who holds a master’s degree in h

Throughout her nine terms in Congress, Jane Harman served on all major security committees, including as a ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee in the years following the September 11 attacks. As a recognized expert on national security and public policy – with the resume to back it up – Harman has won numerous awards for her distinguished service. Now, in Insanity Defense, Harman recounts her decades on the national security front, arguing that no less than four presidential administrations have failed to address the most pressing threats to the nation. In a push to shift away from Cold War strategies, Harman lay outs her solutions for meeting the challenges of our times, in which rapidly advancing technology and multi-faceted global power structures may eventually redefine American dominance. Jane Harman served nine terms as a U.S. Representative in Congress. She resigned in 2011 to become the first female president and CEO at the Woodrow Wilson Center, where she spent the past decade. Harma

Number one bestselling author of ​The Boys in the Boat,Daniel James Brown has collaborated with a nonprofit that preserves the oral histories of formerly-interned Japanese Americans to produce Facing the Mountain, a heartbreaking and eye-opening account of four Japanese American families whose sons volunteered for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, deploying to the frontlines of Europe while their families were imprisoned at home. A tale of Americans “striving, resisting,” “laying down their lives, and enduring,” Facing the Mountain shines a light on the bravery and patriotism of a few young men during one of the darkest moments in American history. Daniel James Brown is a narrative nonfiction author who has published three previous books that strive to bring historical events to life. He taught writing at San José State University. As a California native, he received a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and an M.A. from University of California, Los Angeles. Moderated by Tom Ikeda, executive d

About the author: https://www.workman.com/authors/daniel-levin-1 Daniel Levin was at his office when he got a call from an acquaintance with an urgent, cryptic request to meet in Paris. A young man had gone missing in Syria. No government, embassy, or intelligence agency would help. Could he? Would he? So begins a suspenseful, shocking, and at times brutal true story of one man’s search to find a missing person in Syria over twenty tense days. Levin, a lawyer turned armed-conflict negotiator, uses his extensive contacts to chase leads throughout the Middle East, meeting with powerful sheikhs, drug lords, and sex traffickers in his pursuit of the truth. He also discovers remarkable people who retain their essential goodness and spirit in the face of adversity. 

In Proof of Life, Levin dives deep into a shadowy world where few have access—an underground industry of war where everything is for sale, including arms, drugs, and even people. He offers a fascinating study of how people use leverage to get what th

When Americans think of a global menace, one of two countries often comes to mind: China or Russia. These global powerhouses are two of the United States’ greatest adversaries on the world stage. But what are the risks they actually pose? In Spymaster’s Prism, 32-year CIA veteran Jack Devine details how Russia’s intelligence apparatus has continuously worked against American national security from the Cold War to the present. He uses the history of U.S. intelligence achievements and failures to help Americans understand what this adversary may be planning in the future. In a similar vein, geostrategic expert John Ward’s China’s Vision of Victory outlines the ways in which “the Chinese Communist Party is guiding a country of 1.4 billion people towards” the “great rejuvenation” of China and the downfall of American dominance. Combining their joint knowledge, Devine and Ward lay out the threats America currently faces, as well as what can be done to neutralize those threats. Jack Devine is a 32-year veteran of t

As one of the country’s leading authorities on American foreign policy and what goes on behind the scenes, James M. Lindsay has a wealth of knowledge about where the U.S. stands on the global stage, how it’s affected by shifting power dynamics, and how all these elements come together to shape our understanding of current issues. Lindsay is the co-author of The Empty Throne: America’s Abdication of Global Leadership and America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy, for which he has won multiple awards. On his blog, The Water’s Edge, Lindsay writes about the ways in which politics influence U.S. foreign policy decisions and how those decisions affect global power structures and domestic politics – topics that are frequently discussed on Lindsay’s podcasts, The President’s Inbox and The World Next Week. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Lindsay is a recipient of the Pew Faculty Fellowship in International Affairs, as well as the CFR International Affairs Fellowship. James M. Lindsay is s

When a new president is elected, administration officials change but the White House staff often does not. Many of these “White House lifers” maintain their roles for decades – like Dale Haney, the chief groundskeeper since 1972. In The Secret Life of the White House, Susannah Jacob paints a vivid picture of the daily life of the residence staff behind the scenes – illuminated with interviews from dozens of former and current longtime professionals. Jacob argues these individuals are symbols of the independence of the White House, conserving the legacies of past presidents and “continuing to do their jobs and serve whoever moves in.” Susannah Jacob is a writer and former speechwriter for President Barack Obama. As a Ph.D. student in Yale University’s Department of History, Jacob's interests focus on twentieth century America, labor, and political history. Her work has been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and the New York Times. She holds a B.A. in history from the University of Texas at Austin. J

Fifty-three years after the phrase “Space! The final frontier…” entered U.S. pop culture via the television series “Star Trek,” the United States Space Force became the newest branch of the American Armed Forces. Operating within the Department of the Air Force, the USSF began developing military doctrine for space power and military space systems to protect the U.S. and its allies in space in December 2019. In an exclusive, members-only event, Lt. Gen. William J. Liquori will pull back the curtains for an inside view of how the need for a military presence in space came to be – followed by a look ahead to what’s in store for this exciting new endeavor. Lt. Gen. William J. Liquori is the deputy chief of space operations, strategy, plans, programs, requirements, and analysis for the U.S. Space Force. Lt. Gen. Liquori’s service includes commanding a space operations squadron and the 50th Space Wing, as well as positions within the USAF Space Command, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the White House.

When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that companies and labor unions enjoy the same right to political speech as individuals, many restrictions on money in American politics were lifted. Super PACs now rule our political landscape and can pour hundreds of millions of dollars into campaigns, as long as their efforts remain independent of candidates. The influx of large sums of money into politics can damage trust in government, suppress turnout, and put corporate interests before the interests of constituents. To what extent is this a uniquely American issue? How much influence is for sale and what can be done about it? Meridian Young Professionals are invited to join our virtual conversation with Ann Drumm of American Promise on the impact money has in our local and federal system and whether a new constitutional amendment is appropriate to combat this phenomenon. About Ann Drumm and American Promise: Ann Drumm is regional organizer for American Promise, a nati

Fiona Hill, one of the nation’s foremost experts on Russia, is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. She previously served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European and Russian Affairs on the National Security Council from 2017 through 2019. In November 2019, Hill testified before the House Intelligence Committee during the committee’s impeachment hearing. Dr. Hill has researched and published extensively on Russia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, specifically on issues related to regional conflicts and energy. She is the author of “The Siberian Curse: How Communist Planners Left Russia Out in the Cold” and “Energy Empire: Oil, Gas and Russia’s Revival.” Hill also co-authored “Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin” with Clifford Gaddy. Dr. Fiona Hill holds a master’s degree in Soviet studies and a doctorate in history from Harvard University. She also holds a master’s degree in Russian and modern history from St. Andrews University and has studied at the Maurice Thorez Inst