The Institute of World Politics

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.