When: Wednesday, February 16, 2011, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Where: Suffolk University • 120 Tremont St • Faculty Meeting Room, 4th floor • Park St or Government Center T • Boston
Reading any day’s newspaper is enough to fill us with hopelessness about prospects for peace in the Middle East. The reason that region is so torn by violence and hatred, though, is that outside powers including the US are pursuing policies that were shaped for the 20th century and no longer make sense. If we break away from the failed paradigms of the past and free ourselves from the paralyzing grip of emotion, we can turn the Middle East into a producer of security rather than an exporter of insecurity.
Stephen Kinzer will talk about the true history of US-Iran and US-Mideast relations, and discuss future prospects. As Andrew Bacevich wrote, “Stephen Kinzer sees cause for hope: the possibility of change exists if we but seize it.”
Kinzer is is an award-winning foreign correspondent, including more than 20 years writing for The New York Times, who has covered more than 50 countries on five continents. His articles and books have led the Washington Post to call him “among the best in popular foreign policy storytelling.” Kinzer is currently Visiting Professor of International Relations at Boston University. He is author of Reset: Iran, Turkey, and America’s Future; Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq, and All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror. For a recent article, see http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_next_power_triangle)
Mahsa Rouhi will act as discussant and start the discussion period with questions before turning the discussion period over to the audience. Rouhi is a Nuclear Security predoctoral fellow at the Belfer Center of Harvard’s Kennedy School. She is a Ph.D. candidate in international relations at University of Cambridge, UK, and a research associate at the Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She received her B.A. in economics from Shahid Beheshty University in Tehran and a master’s degree in political theory from the University of Sheffield, UK. She is currently researching and writing on Iran’s foreign and security policymaking, with a special focus on Iran’s nuclear-related policymaking.
Sponsored by Massachusetts Peace Action. Cosponsored by Democratic Socialists of America and the Suffolk University Government Department and International Law Concentration. For information, contact info@masspeaceaction.org or call 617-354-2169.