Global Tennessee

September 30, 2020

Karl Dean, former Nashville Mayor talks with community leaders about the things that make Nashville a global city.

Global Nashville with Karl Dean

Former Mayor Dean talked with David Plazas, Opinion and Engagement Director for the USA TODAY Network newsrooms in Tennessee and The Tennessean, about community issues in the headlines.

David Plazas

David Plazas is the Opinion and Engagement Director for the USA TODAY Network newsrooms in Tennessee and The Tennessean where he serves an editorial writer, opinion columnist, op-ed editor and an editorial board member. He has written award-winning columns on affordable housing, government accountability and civic engagement. He leads the acclaimed Civility Tennessee campaign.

Foreign Policy Challenges: Russia, North Korea, and Afghanistan – Panel Chair: Dr. Breck Walker, PhD

Panel Chair: Dr. Breck Walker, PhD

DAS Annie Pforzheimer [Afghanistan] U.S. Foreign Service (Ret) Rank of Minister Counselor, former Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Afghanistan; former Deputy Chief of Mission, Kabul, Afghanistan (Confirmed)

Svetlana Savranskaya, PhD., [Russia] Senior Analyst, National Security Archive (Confirmed)

Ambassador Christopher Hill [North Korea] U.S. Foreign Service (Ret); Chief Advisor to the Chancellor for Global Engagement; former Asst Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs; former Ambassador to four countries including South Korea (Confirmed)

What image do you have when someone says Saudi Arabia?

Are you sure it's accurate?

Spend a little time with us as we talk with David Rundell, the American with the most experience as a diplomat in the Kingdom.

This country is key to American policy in the Middle East. You should know more about it.

"In February 1979, the last Shah of Iran was overthrown by a violent Islamic revolution. Two years later when I arrived in the Middle East, many commentators expected Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd would soon be the next monarch to fall. The Washington consensus held that we had paid inadequate attention to events outside of Iran’s capital, Tehran. We did not want to repeat that mistake. So, as the American Embassy’s most junior political officer, I was assigned to spend ten days a month for nearly two years traveling the byroads of rural Saudi Arabia to see what I could learn. I learned a great deal, and when I was done I argued against considerable skepticism that there would be no Saudi Revolution. Why was that my assessment then—and, more importantly, is it still correct today?"  -- David Rundell

That is how David Rundell began his affair with Saudi Arabia and how he opened his book on the Kingdom he came to know during a large part of his thirty years as a United States Foreign Service Officer. He was posted to the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh and the Consulates in Jeddah and Dhahran. He served at various times chief of mission, deputy chief of mission, political counselor, economic counselor, and commercial counselor.

Join us for this Special Edition of Global Dialogue with David Rundell, author of "Vision or Mirage: Saudi Arabia at a Crossroad.

Former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean hosts a conversation with Global Young Professionals Bronte Prins and Mary Love Richardson, of theTennessee World Affairs Council Board.

The Global YP Group is associated with the Tennessee World Affairs Council, a nonpartisan educational organization that works to connect our community to global affairs awareness programs and resources.

The Young Professionals group of the Tennessee World Affairs Council unites like-minded young professionals living and working in Tennessee who are interested in international affairs and global literacy. With a strong focus on networking, YP-TNWAC is committed to creating a connected community and providing opportunities for its members to develop socially and professionally.

Give Dick, Breck and Pat 45 minutes and they'll give you the world. Analysis and entertaining commentary on the top events and issues leading global news reports. Hard to find insights and perspectives from diplomacy, academia and intelligence.

THIS WEEK'S TOPICS:

1 - TikTok outcome

2 - The World Needs a Better World Health Organization

3 - The Mediterranean: Sea of Troubles

Charles Richard (Dick) Bowers served as the US Ambassador to Bolivia from 1991 through 1994. During that time, the American Embassy in Bolivia’s capital, La Paz, was the largest and most complex U.S. embassy in South America. Ambassador Bowers grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, attended the University of California, Berkeley. He entered the U.S. Foreign Service in 1967. From 1961 to 1964 he served in the U.S. Army as a Russian linguist in West Berlin at the height of the Cold War. As a career member of the U.S. diplomatic corps, Ambassador Bowers served in the U.S. Embassies in Panama, Poland, Singapore, Germany and Bolivia. He retired from the Foreign Service in 1995. Amb Bowers has been a Board Member of the Tennessee World Affairs Council since 2012.

Patrick Ryan is a native of New York City. He enlisted in the Navy at age 17 and volunteered for submarine duty. He served aboard nuclear fast attack and ballistic missile boats during the Cold War, rising to the rank of Chief Petty Officer. In 1982 he was commissioned and served aboard a cruiser in the Western Pacific before becoming a Navy Intelligence Officer. Ryan served aboard the carrier Constellation in the Pacific, the Joint Staff Intelligence Directorate in the Pentagon, the Center for Naval Analysis, and the Intelligence Directorate of U.S. Central Command. Ryan retired from the Navy in 1998 and worked as a consultant on Intelligence Community projects and as the VP/COO of the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations. Ryan ran a newsletter publishing business on international affairs from 1999-2016. He founded the Tennessee World Affairs Council in 2007.

Breck Walker received his PhD in Diplomatic History from Vanderbilt in 2007. His dissertation was on the foreign policy of the Carter administration. He taught at Sewanee, the University of the South, 2007-2012, and on the University of Virginia’s Semester at Sea Program in Spring 2013 and Fall 2015. He worked as a historian in the Historical Office of the Office of Secretary of Defense 2013-2016, researching and writing a book on early Pentagon cyber policy. Prior to becoming a history professor, Breck worked for twenty years as an investment banker, the last ten as co-head of the Corporate Finance Group at J.C. Bradford & Co in Nashville. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of Texas, and J.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Stanford University. Breck serves as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Tennessee World Affairs Council.

Aug 25, 2020

Global Update Webinar Featuring Consul General of Mexico in Atlanta, Javier Diaz de Leon

The Nashville Chamber’s International Business Council, in partnership with Baker Donelson, hosted a Global Update Webinar featuring Consul General of Mexico in Atlanta, Javier Diaz de Leon. We discussed the latest in US-Mexico business connections, including the USMCA, Mexico’s response to COVID-19, and opportunities for future collaboration between Tennessee and Mexico.

This event was in partnership with the TN World Affairs Council and Center for International Business at Belmont. Moderating the event will be IBC advisory board member John Scannapieco.

Part One - September 2, 2020

Examining Critical Issues in the Global Pandemic

COVID-19 has touched every part of the world but its effects and the reaction of different countries has been uneven. In an interconnected world we need to understand the pandemic’s impact beyond our borders. Importantly, the progress toward a COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutic treatments is a global pursuit. There are, as well, already no shortage of changes made and those to come in reaction to the global catastrophe – in our communities, technology, health and science, government performance, elections, the global economy and our lifestyles.

A group of World Affairs Councils – nationwide, independent, nonpartisan educational organizations – is joining together with an international network of journalists and specialists to organize conversations over the course of two evenings in early September. The goal is to help Americans understand the impact of the pandemic in an interactive program open to all.

We invite you to join this unique partnership to inform and inspire Americans to know more about COVID-19’s impact around the world, the race for a vaccine and how the vaccine has changed the world.

On September 2nd and 3rd journalists, physicians, researchers, NGO officials and others will come together to discuss the global impact of COVID-19 and the pursuit of a vaccine.

The program is brought to the public in partnership with many of the nationwide networks of World Affairs Councils and an international network of journalists.

The World Affairs Councils of Kansas City, Denver, Colorado Springs, Western Massachusetts, Harrisburg and Tennessee have joined together to organize “COVID Complexities: A Global Town Hall,” an international virtual event set for September 2nd and 3rd.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020

@ 7-8p ET/6-7p CT/5-6 MT

Panel One -- COVID-19: Impact in the Developing World

The opening night of the two-night program will begin with a scene-setting keynote from Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, PhD, U Penn Vice Provost for Global Initiatives and a former advisor for health policy in the Obama White House. That will kick off a deep dive into COVID-19 beyond America’s borders.

Through the eyes and reporters’ notebooks of journalists based around the world we’ll learn from: Yu Fen Tsao, Radio Free Asia’s Executive Director about “China, WHO and the Origins of the Pandemic”; Henry Flores, Regional Reporter Director for Unbound, an NGO that focuses on vulnerable communities on the situation in Latin America; Linord Moudou, VOA’s senior health reporter for Africa on COVID-19 in Africa; and Niusha Boghrati, Radio Farda RFE/RL Iranian Service Executive Editor on the situation in Iran.

The conversations will be aided by questions from our worldwide audience, consisting of nationwide World Affairs Council viewers, the general public, student groups and a virtual group tied in through our global network of partners.

Join our team of Ambassador Dick Bowers, Dr. Breck Walker and LCDR Patrick Ryan for expert analysis of current global developments.

Give Dick, Breck and Pat 45 minutes and they’ll give you the world. Analysis and entertaining commentary on the top events and issues leading global news reports. Hard to find insights and perspectives from diplomacy, academia and intelligence. [Register Below]

Topics for September 2, 2020:

1 – Japan: Abe Stands Down

2 – Russian Election Interference: Here We Go Again

3 - Turkish-Greek Face Off in the Eastern Med

TNWAC needs your support now more than ever. With a suggested donation of $100, you can help the Council continue to offer free and public programming to discuss global issues of critical importance to Americans’ security and prosperity. www.TNWAC.org/donate

Charles Richard (Dick) Bowers served as the US Ambassador to Bolivia from 1991 through 1994. During that time, the American Embassy in Bolivia’s capital, La Paz, was the largest and most complex U.S. embassy in South America. Ambassador Bowers grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, attended the University of California, Berkeley. He entered the U.S. Foreign Service in 1967. From 1961 to 1964 he served in the U.S. Army as a Russian linguist in West Berlin at the height of the Cold War. As a career member of the U.S. diplomatic corps, Ambassador Bowers served in the U.S. Embassies in Panama, Poland, Singapore, Germany and Bolivia. He retired from the Foreign Service in 1995. Amb Bowers has been a Board Member of the Tennessee World Affairs Council since 2012.

Patrick Ryan is a native of New York City. He enlisted in the Navy at age 17 and volunteered for submarine duty. He served aboard nuclear fast attack and ballistic missile boats during the Cold War, rising to the rank of Chief Petty Officer. In 1982 he was commissioned and served aboard a cruiser in the Western Pacific before becoming a Navy Intelligence Officer. Ryan served aboard the carrier Constellation in the Pacific, the Joint Staff Intelligence Directorate in the Pentagon, the Center for Naval Analysis, and the Intelligence Directorate of U.S. Central Command. Ryan retired from the Navy in 1998 and worked as a consultant on Intelligence Community projects and as the VP/COO of the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations. Ryan ran a newsletter publishing business on international affairs from 1999-2016. He founded the Tennessee World Affairs Council in 2007.

Breck Walker received his PhD in Diplomatic History from Vanderbilt in 2007. His dissertation was on the foreign policy of the Carter administration. He taught at Sewanee, the University of the South, 2007-2012, and on the University of Virginia’s Semester at Sea Program in Spring 2013 and Fall 2015. He worked as a historian in the Historical Office of the Office of Secretary of Defense 2013-2016, researching and writing a book on early Pentagon cyber policy. Prior to becoming a history professor, Breck worked for twenty years as an investment banker, the last ten as co-head of the Corporate Finance Group at J.C. Bradford & Co in Nashville. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of Texas, and J.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Stanford University. Breck serves as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Tennessee World Affairs Council.

Join us as we talk with Prof. Thomas Schwartz, Distinguished Professor of History and Politics at Vanderbilt University

ABOUT THE BOOK

The definitive biography of Henry Kissinger―at least for those who neither revere nor revile him

Over the past six decades, Henry Kissinger has been America’s most consistently praised―and reviled―public figure. He was hailed as a “miracle worker” for his peacemaking in the Middle East, pursuit of détente with the Soviet Union, negotiation of an end to the Vietnam War, and secret plan to open the United States to China. He was assailed from the left and from the right for his indifference to human rights, complicity in the pointless sacrifice of American and Vietnamese lives, and reliance on deception and intrigue. Was he a brilliant master strategist―“the 20th century’s greatest 19th century statesman”―or a cold-blooded monster who eroded America’s moral standing for the sake of self-promotion?

In this masterfully researched biography, the renowned diplomatic historian Thomas Schwartz offers an authoritative, and fair-minded, answer to this question. While other biographers have engaged in hagiography or demonology, Schwartz takes a measured view of his subject. He recognizes Kissinger’s successes and acknowledges that Kissinger thought seriously and with great insight about the foreign policy issues of his time, while also recognizing his failures, his penchant for backbiting, and his reliance on ingratiating and fawning praise of the president as a source of power. Throughout, Schwartz stresses Kissinger’s artful invention of himself as a celebrity diplomat and his domination of the medium of television news. He also notes Kissinger’s sensitivity to domestic and partisan politics, complicating―and undermining―the image of the far-seeing statesman who stands above the squabbles of popular strife.

Rounded and textured, and rich with new insights into key dilemmas of American power, Henry Kissinger and American Power stands as an essential guide to a man whose legacy is as complex as the last sixty years of US history itself.

ABOUT PROFESSOR THOMAS SCHWARTZ, PHD

See his bio on TNWAC.org

TNWAC needs your support now more than ever. With a suggested donation of $100, you can help the Council continue to offer free and public programming to discuss global issues of critical importance to Americans’ security and prosperity.

Join our team of Ambassador Dick Bowers, Dr. Breck Walker and LCDR Patrick Ryan for expert analysis of current global developments.

Give Dick, Breck and Pat 45 minutes and they’ll give you the world. Analysis and entertaining commentary on the top events and issues leading global news reports. Hard to find insights and perspectives from diplomacy, academia and intelligence. [Register Below]

Topics for Sep 9, 2020

1 – UNGA

2 – China’s Military Power

3 – Brexit: Still

TNWAC needs your support now more than ever. With a suggested donation of $100, you can help the Council continue to offer free and public programming to discuss global issues of critical importance to Americans’ security and prosperity. www.TNWAC.org/donate

Charles Richard (Dick) Bowers served as the US Ambassador to Bolivia from 1991 through 1994. During that time, the American Embassy in Bolivia’s capital, La Paz, was the largest and most complex U.S. embassy in South America. Ambassador Bowers grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, attended the University of California, Berkeley. He entered the U.S. Foreign Service in 1967. From 1961 to 1964 he served in the U.S. Army as a Russian linguist in West Berlin at the height of the Cold War. As a career member of the U.S. diplomatic corps, Ambassador Bowers served in the U.S. Embassies in Panama, Poland, Singapore, Germany and Bolivia. He retired from the Foreign Service in 1995. Amb Bowers has been a Board Member of the Tennessee World Affairs Council since 2012.

Patrick Ryan is a native of New York City. He enlisted in the Navy at age 17 and volunteered for submarine duty. He served aboard nuclear fast attack and ballistic missile boats during the Cold War, rising to the rank of Chief Petty Officer. In 1982 he was commissioned and served aboard a cruiser in the Western Pacific before becoming a Navy Intelligence Officer. Ryan served aboard the carrier Constellation in the Pacific, the Joint Staff Intelligence Directorate in the Pentagon, the Center for Naval Analysis, and the Intelligence Directorate of U.S. Central Command. Ryan retired from the Navy in 1998 and worked as a consultant on Intelligence Community projects and as the VP/COO of the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations. Ryan ran a newsletter publishing business on international affairs from 1999-2016. He founded the Tennessee World Affairs Council in 2007.

Breck Walker received his PhD in Diplomatic History from Vanderbilt in 2007. His dissertation was on the foreign policy of the Carter administration. He taught at Sewanee, the University of the South, 2007-2012, and on the University of Virginia’s Semester at Sea Program in Spring 2013 and Fall 2015. He worked as a historian in the Historical Office of the Office of Secretary of Defense 2013-2016, researching and writing a book on early Pentagon cyber policy. Prior to becoming a history professor, Breck worked for twenty years as an investment banker, the last ten as co-head of the Corporate Finance Group at J.C. Bradford & Co in Nashville. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of Texas, and J.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Stanford University. Breck serves as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Tennessee World Affairs Council.