PS21 update week ending Feb 19

Greetings from a still pretty seriously cold Washington DC. A couple of great discussions last week, one on the US election in New York and the other on “frontline civilians” in London. In both cases, the conversation carried on nicely to a bar afterwards which is, of course, always the PS21 way.

Also another interesting piece in our ongoing “Imagining 2030” series, this time with Phillip Thicknesse looking ahead to the future of energy in the United Kingdom.

This coming week we will be holding events on the US election [Monday, London], the Syria war [also Monday, Washington] and the zika virus outbreak [Tuesday, New York].

Then in March we have another slew of great events planned including networking drinks in London, the future of conflict in New York and a whole string of great discussions for Washington looking at narratives and conflict, social media and elections and the immediate future of Europe.

Details of some of that is the latter below. As always, many thanks for being part of the PS21 adventure and we look forward to seeing where it goes further going forward.

Also, delighted to say PS21 is now on LinkedIn. You can follow us here

UPCOMING EVENTS

WASHINGTON DC

Monday, February 22 – Will Syria’s War Ever End?

Five years after the start of the “Arab Spring”, Syria’s civil war is as brutal as ever — and dragging in ever more outside powers. As Russian-backed government forces close on Aleppo, has Bashar al-Assad finally regained the upper hand? What compromises might Syrians be willing to accept as the price of peace — and given the increasing involvement of foreign states, does that even matter? How will a new American president handle what increasingly looks like one of the defining regional wars of the era?

The discussion will be moderated by Peter Apps and the panelists will include Rasha Elass, Syrian American journalist and former Damascus-based reporter and PS21 Global Fellow and Andrew Tabler, Senior Fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Thomson Reuters, 1333 H Street Northwest, Washington DC

NEW YORK

Tuesday, February 23 – The Zika Virus: What’s Next?

With the mosquito-borne zika virus on the rise in Latin America and with thousands of babies apparently already brain-damaged, how can global health authorities possibly respond? What does the science say and where are the gaps in our knowledge? And with some countries already simply recommending women avoid pregnancy, what kind of international and local health response would prove appropriate?

Panelists will include NYU assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology Taraneh Shirazian, Mount Sinai epidemiologist Dana Mazo and David Abrahamson, director of NYU’s program on population recovery and resilience. Helen Coster, senior editor at Thomson Reuters, will be moderating the discussion. This event is held in conjunction with Women in International Security.

LONDON

Monday, February 22 — US Election 2016 – What happens next?

With the US elections in November 2016 only a stone through away, we are looking back to the two recent primarys, but we are looking ahead to which candidates will define the course of their party for decades to come. The panel of speakers will include Julia Clarke from Ipsos MORI, a leading market research company, Prof. Andrew Moran from London Metropolitan University whom specialises in US Foreign Policy, John Elledge, editor at CityMetric.com, former Daily Telegraph Washington correspondent Peter Foster and John Bassett who worked at the UK embassy in DC in the 2008 campaign

This is a joint event between Young Professionals in Foreign Policy (YPFP) and PS21.

Thursday, March 2 – Networking Drinks

Join Project for the Study of the 21st Century (PS21) for an evening of drinks and networking in central London. The location to be confirmed shortly.