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Starts: 05/18/2022 @ 5:30 pm
Ends: 05/18/2022 @ 8:00 pm

Valley Venture Mentors 276 Bridge St, Springfield, MA 01103

We are pleased to present Friends from Afghanistan: The Refugee Experience in Western Massachusetts a panel discussion featuring Nazifa Hassan Safie, Safieullah Safie, and Amran Faith, all of whom came to Western Massachusetts in the fall of 2021 after evacuating Afghanistan. Dianne Fuller Doherty will moderate. The event will begin with a light halal supper followed by the program. This program is generously sponsored by Incredible Toys and the Zonta Club of Quaboag Valley. Special thanks to NAI Plotkin.

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Starts: 04/20/2022 @ 12:00 pm
Ends: 04/20/2022 @ 1:00 pm

1350 Main Street, Springfield, MA

We are very excited that our return to in-person events will be an Instant Issues brown bag lunch discussion on Wednesday, April 20, 2022 at Noon EDT, featuring Council favorite Dr. Laura Reed on "Avoiding World War III: Nuclear Threats in Europe", in the 3rd Floor Community Room at 1350 Main Street in downtown Springfield. Instant Issues is generously sponsored by Wilbraham & Monson Academy, Glenmeadow, and Sir Speedy. Audience size will be limited to allow for social distancing so please register early! Dr. Reed is a lecturer at the Commonwealth Honors College at the University of Massachusetts--Amherst. She served as Assistant Director of the Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies, a Fellow in the Managing the Atom Program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and as a Research Scientist in MIT’s Security Studies Program. You must register and pay in advance. No walk-ins. Laura Reed’s talk will also be available virtually. Council board member Jeremy Cole and his company, Jdcole-TV, will be providing the equipment and personnel to stream her talk on YouTube Live. A link will be sent out to everyone on our mailing list closer to the date of the event. This will be free and you will not need to register. If you are not currently on our mailing list, please go to the home page of this website to subscribe.

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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.