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Starts: 03/09/2022 @ 12:00 pm
Ends: 03/09/2022 @ 1:00 pm

On Wednesday, March 9, 2022 at Noon EST, The World Affairs Council will present author Dr. Constantine Pleshakov at an Instant Issues event on Russia's Foreign Policy in the 21st Century. A former foreign policy analyst at the Institute of U.S. and Canada Studies in Moscow, Constantine Pleshakov emigrated to America in 1998. He has published six books on geopolitics, war, and revolution, translated into twelve languages. His most recent book is The Crimean Nexus: Putin's War and the Clash of Civilizations. Other titles include The Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Voyage to the Battle of Tsushima, Stalin's Folly: The Tragic First Ten Days of World War II on the Eastern Front, and There Is No Freedom Without Bread! 1989 and the Civil War That Brought Down Communism. A native of Yalta in Crimea, he is currently a visiting professor at Amherst College. This event is free and open to the public.

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Starts: 02/17/2022 @ 12:00 pm

Freelance writer and podcaster Bill Scher will speak at an Instant Issues Online event on He Saved the World: Edward Stettinius and the Creation of the U.N. on Thursday, February 17 at noon ET. The almost-completely forgotten Secretary of State for Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, Edward R. Stettinius, Jr. did more than anyone to create the United Nations, navigating a thicket of international disputes to maintain consensus between FDR, Churchill, Stalin and a litany of smaller nations to forge the final U.N. Charter. Bill Scher is a Contributing Editor to Politico Magazine and a Contributor to Real Clear Politics. He is the host of the history podcast "When America Worked: True Tales of America's Pragmatist Heroes," as well as co-host of "The DMZ" online show and podcast with conservative writer Matt Lewis produced by Bloggingheads.tv.

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Starts: 01/27/2022 @ 12:00 pm

The World Affairs Council will present Dr. Omar Dahi, Associate Professor of economics at Hampshire College and a research associate at the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, at an Instant Issues event on "Global Insecurity: Climate Change, Inequality, and War in the 21st Century".

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Starts: 12/13/2021 @ 12:00 pm
Ends: 12/13/2021 @ 1:00 pm

Online

Mr. Gedeon Werner, Novak Family Endowed Polish Chair at Quinnipiac University, will shed a light on the most recent dispute between Poland and European Union. This event is generously sponsored by Glenmeadow, Sir Speedy, and Wilbraham and Monson Academy.

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Starts: 12/01/2021 @ 1:00 pm

On Wednesday, December 1 at 1:00 PM EST, The World Affairs Council will present an Instant Issues Online event on The State Department & Racial Equity featuring Desiree Cormier Smith, Senior Advisor in the Bureau of International Organizational Affairs, and Maryum Saifee, Senior Advisor in the Secretary of State's Office of Diversity and Inclusion. The program will be moderated by longtime member and friend of the Council, Western New England School of Law Professor Matthew Charity. This event is generously sponsored by Glenmeadow, Sir Speedy, and Wilbraham and Monson Academy.

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Starts: 11/22/2021 @ 6:30 pm

Join us in celebrating our virtual 95th Annual Meeting with featured speaker Esam Boraey, Visiting Professor of Public Policy at Wesleyan University, on "From Egypt to the US: Lessons for Activists From the Arab Spring". Esam Boraey is a human rights activist working for freedom and democracy in the Middle East. He began his career as an activist over 10 ago when he and a group of 6 other youth leaders gathered on the steps of Egypt’s Supreme Court, calling for justice, freedom, and democracy, in the first direct protest against the president in over six decades. He played a key role in the Egyptian revolution of 2011, which helped overthrow Hosni Mubarak.

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Starts: 10/19/2021 @ 6:00 pm

The World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts and the Five College Center for East Asian Studies are pleased to present National Committee on U.S. China Relations (NCUSCR) CHINA Town Hall virtually on Tuesday, October 19. The local program will start at 6:00 PM EDT with Smith College Associate Professor of Government and NCUSCR Public Intellectuals Program Fellow Sara Newland on Taiwan and the future of US-China relations. At 7:00 PM EDT we will join the NCUSCR 's broadcast, featuring CNN host and best-selling author Fareed Zakaria on how the U.S.-China relationship affects our cities, towns, and communities. From supply chains to national security, new technologies to climate change, the future of both countries will be determined by their relations with one another and the global community. Zakaria will examine the challenges and opportunities for both countries as they confront the most critical issues of the 21st century.

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Starts: 10/02/2021 @ 10:00 am
Ends: 10/02/2021 @ 3:30 pm

Godwin College, East Hartford, CT

The World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts is pleased and proud to join the World Affairs Council of Connecticut in presenting Global Security Forum 2021 on October 1 & 2. The Global Security Forum brings the world's top leadership directly to the citizenry. Generals, experts, policymakers, and foreign leaders convene in Connecticut, a center for national defense, to address the most critical global security issues of today and the opportunities of tomorrow. Previous Global Security Forums have featured speakers including current Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, General Daniel Hokanson, 29 th Chief, National Guard Bureau, General David Petraeus, U.S. Army (Ret.), Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins, nominee, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Affairs, Dr. Richard Haass, President, Council on Foreign Relations, and more. GSF 2021 will be hosted virtually and in person to address the central theme: Competing for the future. GSF2021 will explore emerging technologies, evolving battlefronts, and shifting global power centers to address why nations must innovate to day in order to compete for tomorrow.