Global Tennessee

Join us for this conversation with the Kurdistan Regional Government Representative to the U.S., Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, a great friend of the Tennessee World Affairs Council and homeland connection to the thousands of Iraqi Kurds who call Nashville home as new Americans. TNWAC thanks her for her previous programs with the Council including hosting our visiting student groups in Washington, D.C.

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There is a Kurdish proverb, "No friends but the mountains," that captures the sense of what the Kurds face as an ethnic group living across several international borders in the Middle East. The Kurds living in the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq have suffered at the hands of the Saddam Hussein government -- enduring genocidal campaigns -- and attacks from the Islamic State Caliphate.

At the end of the Operation Desert Storm, when a U.S.-led military coalition reversed Saddam's invasion of Kuwait, he turned his army on the Kurds in the north and the Shia minority in the south. The Kurds were being driven into the mountains. Here is how Madam Abdul Rahman described it during a 2016 program with TNWAC and Lipscomb University:

Saddam turned his weapons on us because he had by then been thrown out of Kuwait, and he committed terrible crimes during that period of the uprising. And this was just a couple of years after the chemical bombardment of Halabja, where five thousand people were killed, and the Anfal genocide campaign, where two hundred fifty thousand people were killed.

So when Saddam turned against the Kurdish people everybody thought he would use chemicals again. Everyone fled. They fled to the borders of Iran and Turkey. This was in the spring of 1991, an incredibly cold spring, severe weather conditions. People died on the mountaintops. People starved. They died of exhaustion and exposure.

The United States, Britain, France launched Operation Provide Comfort. It was the biggest military and humanitarian operation, and probably the most successful in history. I’ve met some of the military leaders, American military leaders who were involved in that operation, General Jim Jones, General Bob Barrow, General Jay Garner, and others who were involved in that operation, and they all speak of that operation with great pride because they saved lives. They saved hundreds of thousands if not one and a half million lives.

[Complete remarks here]

The United States went on to enforce a UN "No Fly Zone" that prevented Saddam from persecuting the Iraqi Kurds and allowing the Kurdistan Region to develop as an autonomous area. The 2003 invasion of Iraq permanently eliminated the threat from Saddam. In recent years the Kurds were again beset by the ominous threat posed by the Islamic State. The remarkably brave Peshmerga fighters of Kurdistan stood against ISIS with American and other coalition troops and support joining in the campaign. We commend to your reading the remarks of Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman during her April 2016 program in Nashville.

The KRG enjoys a special relationship with the United States. The Kurdish people have been reliable partners, seeking democracy and independence and looking to the West for partners.

We invite you to talk with Madam Abdul Rahman in this special program.

Global News Review - February 3, 2021

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.

TOPICS FOR February 3, 2021

Covid-19: Global Update

Myanmar: Leadership Trouble

India's Farmers: Growing Trouble for Modi

and remembering Ralph Bunche

This week we're pleased to welcome Austin Travis as a guest panelist on the Global News Review. Austin will provide background, context, and analysis of the unfolding drama of a coup in Myanmar.

Austin Travis is a senior at Lipscomb University studying political science and international affairs. He is currently interning with the Tennessee World Affairs Council. Travis is a member of Lipscomb's Model U.N. team and has led Lipscomb's delegation to the Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature for three years. Additionally,  he volunteers with the YMCA Center for Civic Engagement's Model U.N. conferences for Tennessee high schoolers. Travis is from Dickson, Tennessee, and graduated from Dickson County High School. Since then, he has worked on various campaigns, most recently managing the successful re-election to the Tennessee House of Representatives for Rep. Mary Littleton.

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.

Listen to a conversation with former Nashville Mayor Dean and former TN ECD Commissioner Kisber about developments in Nashville. Learn about Silicon Ranch, one of the largest solar power producers in the country. Hear how the state's Economic and Community Development Department brings global businesses to Tennessee.

About Matt Kisber

Matt is a co-founder of Silicon Ranch and served as CEO of the company until becoming Chairman in July 2019. As Chairman, Matt works closely with the company's executive leadership to set and implement its ambitious growth strategy.

Under his leadership, Silicon Ranch has become one of the fastest growing developers, owners, and operators of solar energy plants in the U.S., with a portfolio that includes more than 3 Gigawatts of PV systems that are contracted, under construction, or operating coast to coast. Matt brings a unique background to Silicon Ranch having been a business owner and having served eight years as Tennessee Commissioner of Economic Development. He has also worked with industry leaders from across the U.S. and around the globe to bring investments and jobs to Tennessee.

During his tenure as Commissioner Tennessee received over $33 billion in new capital investment and over 200,000 new jobs. A graduate of Vanderbilt University, Matt served 10 terms in the Tennessee House of Representatives and held numerous leadership positions including Chairman of the powerful Finance, Ways & Means committee, which handles all revenue and spending legislation.

In the private sector, Matt grew up in his family's Jackson, TN department store business and developed a great love for the people and the business. He has owned a number of successful small businesses and served as Vice President for Business Development for First Tennessee Bank prior to leading Tennessee's economic development efforts.

Matt is married to Paige Kisber and they have a son who attends Southern Methodist University and a high school daughter who attends Harpeth Hall. He is currently Chairman of the Tennessee Business Roundtable, member of the board of directors of the Adventure Science Center and is a founding board member and former Chairman of the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council.

About Karl Dean

Karl Dean was the sixth mayor of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. He was elected on Sept. 11, 2007 and was re-elected on Aug. 4, 2011. He completed his second term in office on September 25, 2015. Dean first held public office when he was elected as Nashville’s Public Defender in 1990, a post he was re-elected to in 1994 and 1998. He served as Metro Law Director from 1999 to January 2007, when he resigned to run for the office of mayor. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Vanderbilt. Dean was the Democratic Party nominee for Governor of Tennessee in 2018. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Tennessee World Affairs Council.

The Future of Korea Project

United States-Republic of Korea Relations

Join us for a conversation with distinguished speakers from United States Department of State, Embassy of the Republic of Korea to the United States, Korean Economic Institute.

Hon. Bob Rolfe

Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development

Panelists

Marc Knapper, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Korea and Japan, U.S. State Department

Hon. YoungJae Kim, Economic Minister, Embassy of the Republic of Korea to the U.S.

Troy Stangarone, Korea Economic Institute

Thursday, January 28, 2021

5:30-7:00pm CT

This program is presented by the Tennessee World Affairs Council, the World Affairs Councils of America and the Korea Economic Institute in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, the Belmont University Center for International Business and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.

International Business Council Seminar

The Future of Korea Project

United States-Republic of Korea Business Relations

Join us for a conversation with distinguished speakers from United States Department of State, Embassy of the Republic of Korea to the United States, Korean Economic Institute.

Thursday, January 28, 2021 @ 9:00-10:00 am CT

Speakers

Hon. Marc Knapper, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Korea and Japan, U.S. State Department

Hon. YoungJae Kim, Embassy of the Republic of Korea to the U.S.

Troy Stangarone, Senior Director, Korea Economic Institute

Thursday, January 28, 2021 @ 9-10:00 am CT

This program is presented by the Tennessee World Affairs Council, the World Affairs Councils of America and the Korea Economic Institute in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, the Belmont University Center for International Business and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.

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.

TOPICS FOR JANUARY 27, 2021

We'll focus on Inauguration Day and the start of the President Joe Biden Administration.

Renewing U.S. Global Engagement

Banning Nuclear Weapons: A New Treaty Takes Effect

Navalny Jailed, Russians Take to the Streets

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.

TOPICS FOR JANUARY 20, 2021

We'll focus on Inauguration Day and the start of the President Joe Biden Administration.

Biden and the World

The Biden Team

Global Challenges

There's no shortage of issues impacting Nashville's and Middle Tennessee's well-being. On Tuesday evening, January 19th former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean talked with Ralph Schulz, community leader and head of the Nashville Chamber. Join us for this review of important issues affecting you and your neighbors: the impact of the pandemic on business and the economy; the 2nd Avenue bombing aftermath and effects on the hospitality industry and the downtown; effects of new policies in the Biden Administration on immigration, trade and more; the situation for small businesses shuttered or in hibernation as a result of COVID; and much more.

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

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