San Diego World Affairs Council (SDWAC)

Our June newsletter featured an opinion piece - "The Chinese Government's Race to Central Banking Digital Currency & its Increasing Control Over its Citizens" - written by our very own SDWAC Volunteer, Jared Hernandez, featured in the link below. https://sdwac.org/resources/Documents/JH%20-%20Opinion.pdf

SDWAC: 8 July Distinguished Speaker DANIEL MILLER, US Foreign Service Officer (ret.), USAID [REGISTER: sdac.org] "Where’s the Beef? Developing Mongolia’s Livestock Industry" ...Continue reading

Foreign Policy Mashup: Partisanship, Civics, and Meeting Global Challenges Thursday, June 17, at 5:00 PM ET (2:00 PM PT) via Zoom To wrap up its 27th season, "Finding Solutions to Global Crisis," the International Affairs Forum of Traverse City revisits its popular year-end format: a Foreign Policy Mashup on Thursday, June 17 via Zoom with WACA President and CEO Bill Clifford. Register at https://www.nmc.edu//iaf-2021-06-17-event-registration.html... PANELISTS: Bill Clifford is President and CEO of the World Affairs Councils of America in Washington, DC. Karen Puschel Segal is a former State Department official and intelligence analyst specializing in Russian affairs. Nick Beadleston is the founding partner at Good Impacts, a niche mission-driven business consulting firm which specializes in supporting small and mid-sized businesses.

The SDWAC Annual Members Meeting is happening on July 8, 2021. Register for free at www.sdwac.org 5:30 p.m. 6:30 p.m. Annual Members Meeting with SDWAC status update & voting on the new Board of Directors... 6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Keynote Speaker - Daniel Miller (USAID FSO) Mongolia/China/ Nepal/Afghanistan - "A Cowboy in Mongolia: In Search of the Sacred in the Steppes" We invite all members to attend and vote for returning and new board members for the San Diego World Affairs Council!

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID): Please watch this informative YOUTUBE video illustrating the work of USAID through its new Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (a merger of two existing USAID entities). Such vital work on behalf of the American people!!

USAID: So proud of the many things USAID does around the globe...doing good because it's the right thing to do (and it's in the "US National Interest") -- and, yes, because you can...

If you missed our event this week on U.S. Soft Power in Foreign Policy Series featuring Col. Christopher Conlin, you can catch the video presentation here Col. Christopher Conlin presenting: "Iraq: Iron Hand, Velvet Glove, Glass House - Employing Soft Power in Hard Places" https://youtu.be/OFkfvCV6Q6c

US Soft Power - The United States Agency for International Development (USAID): Our new Administrator, Samantha Power, explains what USAID is and what we do! What we do is so very important -- please give this a listen (and feel free to look us up: usaid.gov)...

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) new Administrator (head of our USAID agency) under President Biden, Samantha Power, will be on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert tonight @2335 (11:35 pm). Please watch!!

Join us tonight! The San Diego World Affairs Council presents the "Distinguished Speaker" Series featuring: Col. Christopher Conlin, United States Marine Corps (Retired)... Presenting: Iraq: Iron Hand, Velvet Glove, Glass House - Employing Soft Power in Hard Places https://www.facebook.com/events/1771362116381582

If you missed our "Distinguished Speaker" Series last month with ANISH GOEL, Ph.D., Senior Analyst, U.S. Department of Defense, you can catch it at the YouTube link below. "India in South Asia: Fraught Regional Relationships" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAXPNWRq1YA&t=2s

JOIN THE SDWAC BOARD! SDWAC will be hosting our annual Board & Members meeting online on July 8, 2021. A key aspect of this annual event is to elect new Board members and re-elect those who are up for re-election. We are asking all of our SDWAC members and network to nominate new Board member candidates! We welcome young professionals to become Board members as well! ... If you or someone you know is interested serving on the Board of Directors for the San Diego World Affairs Council, send us the contact information, a bio, and a letter of interest to the Nominating Committee Chair, Sabodh Garg, at [email protected]. Deadline for submissions for consideration is June 7, 2021.

The San Diego World Affairs Council & the World Affairs Council of Inland Southern California present the U.S. Soft Power in Foreign Policy Series, a free event. Register now! Featuring Col. Christopher Conlin United States Marine Corps (Retired) ... Presenting on "Iraq: Iron Hand, Velvet Glove, Glass House - Employing Soft Power in Hard Places" Thursday, 10th June 2021 from 6:30-8:00 p.m. (PST) https://www.facebook.com/events/1771362116381582

Happy Lunar New Year from the San Diego World Affairs Council!

U.S. Soft Power in Foreign Policy Series - Wednesday, February 17 at 12:00pm PST (on Zoom) WACISC and SDWAC are launching a series of events on soft power assets the U.S. relies on to help achieve strategic foreign policy objectives. Former Ambassador, P. Michal McKinley, will be our first guest speaker to talk about the benefits of soft power in U.S. international relations. Ambassador McKinley was Ambassador to Afghanistan, Peru, Columbia and Brazil and most recently serv...ed a Sr. Advisor to Secretary Pompeo until October 2019 when he resigned in protest over the failure of the Secretary of State to support foreign service employees, particularly the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yanovitch who became embroiled in the Trump/Ukraine scandal. Register at https://www.wacinlandsocal.org/event-4144148

San Diego World Affairs Council celebrates Black History Month by spotlighting significant historic Americans. A former slave, Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) became an outspoken advocate for abolition, temperance, and civil and women’s rights in the nineteenth century. Her Civil War work earned her an invitation to meet President Abraham Lincoln in 1864. Truth was born Isabella Bomfree, a slave in Dutch-speaking Ulster County, New York in 1797. She was bought and sold four times..., and subjected to harsh physical labor and violent punishments. In her teens, she was united with another slave with whom she had five children, beginning in 1815. In 1827, a year before New York’s law freeing slaves was to take effect, Truth ran away with her infant Sophia to a nearby abolitionist family, the Van Wageners. The family bought her freedom for twenty dollars and helped Truth successfully sue for the return of her five-year-old-son Peter, who was illegally sold into slavery in Alabama. (Source: womenshistory[.]org)

Academic WorldQuest! Calling all SD county high school students to compete March 13th in Academic WorldQuest! 10 questions on 10 topics. It’s a fun, fast-paced team competition that tests students’ knowledge of current events, international relations, world history, and global cultures. Great experience to add to a college application! This year, the top 3 teams will get to advance to the national finals on April 17th. Participants in the San Diego AWQ competition receive ...a free, 1-yr membership in the San Diego World Affairs Council. We are a member of the nation’s largest international relations organization: the World Affairs Councils of America founded in 1918 as the US debated whether to sign the Treaty of Versailles at the end of WWI. For more info & AWQ study materials visit https://sdwac.org/page-1075241 Contact/email [email protected] for questions or more information

The San Diego World Affairs Council presents the "Distinguished Speaker" Series featuring DAVID PASQUINI, Consul, Government & Business Affairs UK Government Office in San Diego ... Presenting on: THE UNITED KINGDOM: A YEAR OF GLOBAL LEADERSHIP Tuesday, 16th February 2021 from 6:30-8:00 p.m. (PST) Register at - https://sdwac.org/event-4165203

"The chances of this war becoming a broader regional conflict are low, but it should not be dismissed as a distant war between small states," says Global Fellow Michael Kofman for War on the Rocks. READ more

BELARUS: EXCELLENT ZOOM ABOUT BELARUS TODAY - The session was recorded and is available after the event (today). Please make time to watch/listen. Very informative. University of Toronto: MUNK SCHOOL OF GLOBAL AFFAIRS AND PUBLIC POLICY Speakers Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya... Keynote Belarusian opposition leader and human rights activist H.E. Linas Linkeviius Opening Remarks Foreign Minister of Lithuania Mark MacKinnon Panelist Senior International Correspondent, The Globe and Mail Prof. Lucan Way Panelist CERES, University of Toronto Hon. François-Philippe Champagne Opening Remarks Foreign Minister of Canada Main Sponsor Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies Co-Sponsors Macdonald-Laurier Institute

Please share with your college student family & friends who are interested in international affairs.

Please share with your college student family and friends interested in international affairs.

Recommendation: Atlantic Council: The future of US national security -- this promises to be an outstanding presentation. If interested RSVP on their site. Next Monday at 0700-0815 a.m. (PDT)

FILIPINO AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH - OCTOBER The Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) has been observing October as Filipino American History Month since 1991. The month was established to commemorate the first documented landing of Filipinos in what is now known as the continental United States over 425 years ago. The United States Congress passed subsequent Resolutions to recognize October as Filipino American History Month nationally. Whereas the earliest do...cumented Filipino presence in the continental United States was on October 18, 1587, when the first Luzones Indios set foot in Morro Bay, CA, onboard the Manila-built galleon ship Nuestra Senora de Esperanza," "Resolved That the House of Representatives...Resolved That the Senate recognize the celebration of Filipino American History Month as a study of the advancement of Filipino Americans as a time of reflection and remembrance, and as a time to renew efforts toward the research and examination of history and culture in order to provide an opportunity for all people in the United States to learn and appreciate more about Filipino Americans and their historic contributions to the Nation." --Special thanks to SDWAC's Dennis-Michael Broussard for this timely and informative contribution. See more

AFGHANISTAN: "The Beginning of the End to Afghanistan's Conflict?" Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad Discusses Progress in Afghanistan Peace Negotiations This Thursday, 24 September 2020 @ 6-7 a.m. (PCT) online event: The US Institute of Peace (USIP) is hosting a discussion this Thursday morning, early San Diego time, but undoubtedly well worth the listen. ... Please register with USIP if interested: https://www.usip.org/e/beginning-end-afghanistans-conflict

BELARUS "a process of historic change is finally underway:" "Based on the experience of the past seven weeks, there is every reason to believe the Belarusian protest movement will be more than capable of rising to the challenges ahead. Street protests that began on August 9 have taken root nationwide in ways that would have seemed utterly fanciful just two months ago. This is rapidly transforming the way Belarusians see themselves and their country. It may still be somewhat p...remature to talk about the birth of a new Belarus, but it is equally clear that there can be no return to the dictatorship which existed prior to August 2020. After almost three decades in the post-Soviet doldrums, a process of historic change is finally underway in Belarus. Lukashenka and Putin can do much to disrupt and delay this process, but they can no longer realistically hope to derail it entirely. Instead, the final word will go to the Belarusian people, who have amazed the world and surprised themselves with their resilience and hunger for democratic change over the past seven remarkable weeks. Franak Viaorka, a native of Minsk, Belarus, is a journalist and non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council. He tweets @franakviacorka.

Regional Expansionism: Iran's militias in the Levant - Atlantic Council event -- for those interested in issues relating to Iran...

BELARUS WARNING UPDATE: LUKASHENKO RESISTS MOSCOW’S PRESSURE FOR ECONOMIC INTEGRATION

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