Transnational Issues: Recent and Upcoming Events

Outside the Law

Kirsten Gilbert — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:00:00 -0500

A New America Event
11/09/2009 - 4:00pm

On November 9, New America screened a new documentary film directed by filmmaker Polly Nash and journalist Andy Worthington called "Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo," which follows the stories of three current or former detainees from Guantanamo Bay and tells the story of Guantanamo, including segments on extraordinary renditions and secret prisons. With just over two months until President Obama's deadline for the closure of Guantánamo, and with the administration set to

Al- Qaeda and Its Allies: The Endgame

Kirsten Gilbert — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:45:00 -0400

A New America Event
10/21/2009 - 8:15am

This conference examined the civilian dimensions of counterterrorism, and took place on October 21, 2009, at the Mayflower Hotel. A full program agenda is below, as are video recordings from the webcasts of each discussion.

Higher resolution video and an MP3 audio recording will be added here as they become available.

In Afghanistan

Kirsten Gilbert — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
10/02/2009 - 3:30pm

David Loyn, developing world correspondent for the BBC and author of In Afghanistan: Two Hundred Years of British, Russian, and American Occupation, expounded upon 200 years of Afghan history as being useful in understanding the problems the U.S. and NATO currently face there. After declaring that clear thinking is needed on Afghanistan, and apparently not currently forthcoming from the Obama Administration, Loyn described his own ten points the U.S. must consider when planning its next move in the country. The two primary

Covering Afghanistan

Kirsten Gilbert — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
09/17/2009 - 12:15pm

At today's launch event for the AfPak Channel, a joint project between the New America Foundation and Foreign Policy magazine, a panel of journalists who have often traveled to the region that U.S. President Barack Obama has made the focal point of his foreign policy shared their experiences reporting from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In the Graveyard of Empires

Cecille Isidro — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:02:00 -0400

A New America Event
07/23/2009 - 12:15pm

On July 23 Seth Jones, a political scientist at the RAND Corporation, joined the New America Foundation and Peter Bergen, senior fellow and co-director of the New America Foundation's Counterterrorism Strategy Initiative, to discuss Afghanistan and Jones' recently published book, In The Graveyard of Empires.

Strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention

Stephanie Gunter — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
07/08/2009 - 3:30pm

Unlike the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) has no mechanism to ensure compliance and verification.

Given the dramatic advances in the life sciences over the past decade, the international community urgently needs to discuss strengthening the BWC.

Iran's Next President?

Cecille Isidro — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
06/08/2009 - 12:15pm

An exclusive national poll taken ahead of Iran’s presidential election is discussed by Ken Ballen, Azadeh Porzand, and Flynt Leverett. Steve Clemons moderated the discussion.

Who Should Own Our Nuclear Weapons?

Cecille Isidro — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:16:00 -0400

A New America Event
05/28/2009 - 12:15pm

Who Will Emerge Stronger After the Crisis?

Cecille Isidro — Sun, 17 May 2009 21:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
05/26/2009 - 12:15pm

Will China and the Gulf oil states have the U.S. over the proverbial barrel, or will the world's leading capitalist economy get lucky once again? On May 26, 2009, two of the New America Foundation's leading experts on geopolitics and the global economy joined with Foreign Policy magazine to debate which countries will emerge relatively stronger in the aftermath of the Great Recession.

War of Necessity, War of Choice

Cecille Isidro — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:29:00 -0400

A New America Event
05/14/2009 - 12:30pm

On May 14th Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign relations, discussed his new book War of Necessity, War of Choice: A Memoir of Two Iraq Wars with Steve Coll, President of the New America Foundation. Richard Haas described his role in the lead up to the war in Iraq and how the most recent Bush administration failed to properly calculate and prepare for the war.

To Live or to Perish Forever

Cecille Isidro — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:24:00 -0400

A New America Event
05/12/2009 - 12:45pm

Join us as journalist Nick Schmidle, who was deported from Pakistan in January 2008 after writing a controversial New York Times Magazine article entitled

Is the Nuclear Test Ban Verifiable?

Stephanie Gunter — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:00:00 -0500

A New America Event
01/28/2009 - 10:00am

NYC EVENT: Afghanistan Today

Communications — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 07:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
10/17/2008 - 9:00am

As the U.S. engages in a simmering war as well as in continued attempts at building infrastructure, the conference will consider a wide-ranging set of questions in order to clarify policy choices regarding both military and civilian investment in the country. What is the current state of the Taliban? What might the reversion of Afghanistan into failed-state status mean? How prevalent -- and how effective -- has counterinsurgency been in the country? What are the possibilities for increasing the size… more

Al Qaeda 3.0

Communications — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:15:00 -0400

A New America Event
10/10/2008 - 8:45am

Panel 1: The Future of Al-Qaeda

Frances Fragos Townsend noted that the two foiled Al-Qaeda plots in 2004 and 2006 prove that Al-Qaeda ought to still be taken seriously. She stated that “North Africa is more significant than most people talk about…[and] is a threat to the U.S. because of immigration through Western Europe.” The recent attacks on the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad,

A Grand Bargain With Iran

Communications — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
10/07/2008 - 12:00pm

The next U.S. president, whether it is Sen. John McCain or Sen. Barack Obama, should reorient American policy toward the Islamic Republic of Iran as fundamentally as President Nixon transformed American policy toward the People's Republic of China in the early 1970s. This is the argument put forth by Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett in "Time for a U.S.-Iranian Grand Bargain," the third proposal in New America's Big Ideas series. Their idea is also explored in… more

The Jihadists’ Revolt Against Al Qaeda

Communications — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
09/23/2008 - 10:00am

In May, terrorism experts Peter Bergen and Paul Cruickshank released an article titled, "The Unraveling: The jihadist revolt against bin Laden." The article was republished in media outlets around the world and became the subject for discussions on the current state and future of Al Qaeda. In this panel discussion, Messrs. Bergen and Cruickshank will discuss their continued research into the issue, with additional perspectives from panelists Contribuing Expert Evan Kohlmann and Stephen Coughlin and special guest… more

Pakistan: Toward Democracy and Stability

Communications — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 03:15:00 -0400

A New America Event
08/19/2008 - 12:15pm

Ambassador Husain Haqqani will discuss the current situation in Pakistan.

Scripting America's Priorities

Communications — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
08/15/2008 - 12:00pm

The following are highlights of the event, while an MP3 audio recording of the full 90-minute event can be downloaded below and video can be viewed at right.

Karen Kornbluh“The Platform Committee itself was almost evenly divided between supports of Senator Clinton and Senator Obama…so what I was warned about is you really don’t want to have a minority report… but this process despite about all that went so smoothly and there was so much unity there was actually in… more

The Myth of Nuclear Deterrence

Communications — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 06:30:00 -0400

A New America Event
07/24/2008 - 2:30pm

On Thursday the New America Foundation hosted Ward Wilson, winner of the 2008 Doreen and Jim McElvany Nonproliferation Challenge, to examine the underpinnings of nuclear deterrence theory. Joined by Jeffrey Lewis, Director of the Nuclear Strategy and Nonproliferation Initiative, Wilson challenged the belief that nuclear weapons continue to serve a useful purpose in the world. An MP3 audio recording can be downloaded below, while video is available at right. Wilson's argument framed nuclear weapons in the… more

Terror, Torture, and the Dark Side

Communications — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:30:00 -0400

A New America Event
07/15/2008 - 9:30am

One of the more infamous adages to come from the Vietnam War said that, in waging counterinsurgency in the Vietnamese brush, American policy was to "burn the village to save the village," from communism. This sentiment did not die with Vietnam, however, and has found a clear place in the Bush administration's regard to traditional civil liberties, as described by New Yorker reporter Jane Mayer at the New America Foundation on July 15. An MP3 audio recording can be downloaded… more