PS21 Update Week Ending April 1

We are pushing this e-mail out a day early on this occasion to draw your attention to two events in particular next week.

The first is an excellent discussion on the future of the Arctic in Whitehall on Monday. Places are limited but it should be a great discussion.

We also have a great discussion in Washington on Wednesday with former MI6 deputy chief Nigel Inkster. Details below.

As always, some great reading material on the website. This week’s Imagining 2030 piece looks at the long-term future for newly arrived migrants in Germany, Merkel’s kinder. Thanks to Caitlin Vito for a very thought-provoking piece.

Also on the website, Asha Castleberry argues the rapprochement with Cuba and implications of Pres. Obama’s Latin America tour make it more important than ever the next president should be a foreign policy specialist like Hillary Clinton.

In my weekly column on Reuters.com, meanwhile, I’m discussing how the rise of Donald Trump and reaction to the Brussels attack points to a return to American isolationism almost regardless of who wins.

A really great discussion in DC this week on the major contribution of think tanks, incidentally, expertly chaired by Negar Razavi. Panelists were Andrew Selee from the Wilson Center, Maria Stephan from the United States Institute for Peace and myself, the first time I’ve been on a panel rather than moderating. Any fascinating discussion which you can watch again here.

Peter Apps

Executive director, PS21

LONDON EVENTS

A Changing Arctic: Local Changes, Global Implications

Monday 4th April 2016, 18.00, Whitehall TBC to attendees

Changes in the Arctic landscape are altering the relationship Arctic and non-Arctic states alike have with the Far North. Opportunities created by rapid environmental changes in the Arctic have sparked numerous debates regarding the global consequences of the development of natural resources and shipping routes, as well as their impact on the local communities and regional states.

Jennifer Brindisi (Moderator) – Former London Executive Director of Young Professionals in Foreign Policy, Board Member PS21.

Wim Jolles – Director of European Operations at Canatec and an Arctic shipping specialist.

Michael Burgass – Marine scientist within the Imperial College Conservation Science group working to assessing ocean health for polar regions.

Dr Klaus Dodds – Professor at Royal Holloway specialising in geopolitics, security, and international governance of the Antarctic and the Arctic.

Registration will begin at 5:30 and the event will commence at 6:00. Please note that we will not be able to guarantee entry to those arriving after 6:15.

You can sign up for the event here. Sign up will close Sunday, April 3 2016 so the final guest list can be provided to the venue for first thing Monday morning.

WASHINGTON DC Event

Counterterrorism and Intelligence in Europe

Wednesday, April 6, 11:30 a.m. Thomson Reuters, 1333 H St. NW., Washington DC

With attacks in Paris and Brussels and a resurgent Russia making its presence felt in Eastern Europe, European intelligence agencies face a range of growing new challenges. PS21 talks counterterrorism, cyber, counterrorism and a host of other issues — including the security implications of a potential Brexit.

Peter Apps [moderator] — Global Affairs Columnist, Reuters

Nigel Inkster — Former Deputy Chief, UK Secret Intelligence Service [MI6]. Now Head of Transnational Threats and Political Risk, International Institute for Strategic Studies

FURTHER EVENTS — SAVE THE DATE

LONDON

Social Media and Political Activism in the Post-Arab Spring World

Tuesday, April 12, 5:45 PM. Whitehall. Sign up here

From Benghazi to Damascus and San’a, the Arab World is, for the most part, on a different trajectory than what many involved in the 2011-2013 uprisings had hoped for. What remains of the movements which emerged to challenge the autocratic establishment? Have they given rise to a “new Arab conscience” and what does the way the West has handled these crises tell us about its perceived role in the MENA region? Finally, how is the role of Islam going to be changed by this legacy? What has happened to the social and traditional media and other forces that helped create the revolts in the first place?

Gwenn Lainé [moderator] – former French Naval officer, now strategic communications consultant, documentary filmmaker and PS21 Global Fellow.

Reem Assil – Reem’s activism ranged from media and citizen journalism, human rights, civil society research, all the way to peace building. She is a founding member of the Syrian Nonviolence Movement, co-founder of the Free Syrian Translators, and currently works with the Syrian Platform for Peace-UK, which she has been chairing for the last year.

Layal Hafid – Having grown up in Ireland, Layal moved back to Benghazi with her family in 2005. After a first experience with UNICEF she joined the UN Support Mission to Libya (UNSMIL) in 2011 working with members of militias and reporting on human rights abuses. She also worked as a programme development officer for USAID before moving back to Europe last year.

Baraa Shiban – Baraa is the Yemen project co-ordinator for the human rights organisation Reprieve. A prominent investigator of the United States drones attacks in Yemen, he has testified to a United States congressional hearing on the effects of drones in Yemen.

WASHINGTON DC

What is really going on with Brexit?

Wednesday, April 13, 3 PM. 1333 H St. NW., Washington DC.

A wide-ranging discussion on these dynamics within Britain’s EU referendum. Moderated by Peter Apps with panelists including New Statesman journalist Jonn Elledge.