PRESS RELEASE

For immediate release 04.01.2015

World Affairs at the Library

U.S. Foreign Policy / U.S. – Cuba Relations

April 2015

Portsmouth Public Library

In conjunction with the World Affairs Council of New Hampshire, this spring the Portsmouth Public Library will be hosting several speakers on global issues. In April, we’re so pleased to welcome Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson and National Security Archive analyst Peter Kornbluh. We hope you’ll join us for a closer look at world affairs, and stay tuned for future lectures in this series!

U.S. Foreign Policy with Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson

Thursday April 16 | 6:30 pm

Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, a retired United States Army Colonel and former chief of staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell, is a regular expert commentator on television news talk shows providing analysis and opinion. Wilkerson offers honest criticism of the foreign policy decisions of current and past administrations—particularly related to the planning and execution of the Iraq War and the global politics before and after. He has spoken on U.S. positions on militarism, torture, and race.

Before serving at the State Department, Wilkerson served 31 years in the U.S. Army. He is Distinguished Visiting Professor of Government and Public Policy at College of William & Mary and Professorial Lecturer on National Security Affairs at George Washington University Honors Program. He is currently working on a book about the first George W. Bush administration.

U.S. – Cuba Relations with Peter Kornbluh

Tuesday April 21 | 7 pm

As a Senior Analyst, Peter Kornbluh has worked at the National Security Archive since April 1986. He currently directs the Archive's Cuba and Chile Documentation Projects. He was co-director of the Iran-contra documentation project and director of the Archive's project on U.S. policy toward Nicaragua. From 1990-1999, he taught at Columbia University, as an adjunct assistant professor of international and public affairs.

His most recent book is Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana (UNC Press, 2014). He is the author/editor/co-editor of a number of Archive books: the Archive's first two documents readers: The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 and The Iran-Contra Scandal: The Declassified History, both published by the New Press, and Bay of Pigs

Declassified: The Secret CIA Report on the Invasion of Cuba (The New Press, 1998). On the 30th anniversary of the Chilean military coup in September 2003 he published The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability, which the Los Angeles Times selected as a "best book" of the year. The Pinochet File has been translated into Spanish and published in Barcelona as Pinochet: Los Archivos Secretos. A smaller book on the United States and the overthrow of the government of Salvador Allende has been published in Chile under the title: Los EEUU y el Derrocamiento de Allende.

His articles have been published in Foreign Policy, The New York Review of Books, the New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and many other journals and newspapers. He has appeared on national television and radio broadcasts, among them "60 Minutes," "The Charlie Rose show," "Nightline," CNN, All Things Considered, and "FreshAir" with Terri Gross. He has also worked on, and appeared in, numerous documentary films, including the Oscar winning "Panama Deception," the History Channel's "Bay of Pigs Declassified," and "The Trials of Henry Kissinger." In November 2003, he served as producing consultant on the Discovery Times documentary, "Kennedy and Castro: The Secret History," which was based on his article in Cigar Aficionado, "Kennedy and Castro: The Secret Quest for Accommodation." He is currently a weekly columnist for the Chilean newspaper, Diario Siete.

Contact: Steven K. Butzel, Library Director

skbutzel@cityofportsmouth.com | 603 766 1710

Former Board Member, Great Decisions teacher, and frequent Council speaker on 'Grand Strategy' William C. Martel passed away on Monday, January 12, 2015. Bill was an Associate Professor of International Security Studies at the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a graduate of St. Anselm College and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Read more about Bill in a remembrance published in The Daily Signal. His service to the World Affairs Council of NH will always be remembered.

The staff and board of the World Affairs Council have expressed our deepest condolences to Bill's family, including his wife, Diane, and his children William Martel, Jr. and Catherine Martel.

Best of the Best: The World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh's Top Books of the Year

Each week, the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh brings you the best analysis and opinion on current global issues. This week - as a special supplement to our Weekly World News Update - the Council has drawn on many of its regular sources to bring you a selection of the top books of 2014.

If you are tempted to buy any of these books this holiday season, please consider supporting the Weekly World News Update by doing so through AmazonSmile using the following link: http://smile.amazon.com/ch/25-1064871.

 

Global Hotspots

Why We Lost: A General's Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, Daniel P. Bolger

China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants are Building a New Empire in Africa, Howard W. French

No Good Men among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War through Afghan Eyes, Anand Gopal

Without You, There is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite, Suki Kim

The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan, Jenny Nordberg

Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China, Evan Osnos

Nothing is True and Everything is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia,Peter Pomerantsev

 

Geopolitics

The Myth of the Strong Leader: Political Leadership in the Modern Age, Archie Brown

The Contest of the Century: The New Era of Competition with China - and How America Can Win, Geoff Dyer

Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy, Francis Fukuyama

World Order, Henry Kissinger

National Insecurity: American Leadership in an Age of Fear, David Rothkopf

 

Secrets and Betrayal

The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames, Kai Bird

No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State, Glenn Greenwald

Dear Leader: Poet, Spy, Escapee - A Look Inside North Korea, Jang Jin-Sung

A Spy among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal, Ben Macintyre

 

Historical Analysis

Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence, Karen Armstrong

Gaza: A History, Jean-Pierre Filiu

Congo: The Epic History of a People, David Van Reybrouck

The Long Shadow: The Legacies of the Great War in the Twentieth Century, David Reynolds

The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall, Mary Elise Sarotte

The Deluge: The Great War, America and the Remaking of the Global Order, 1916-1931, Adam Tooze

Thirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David, Lawrence Wright

 

Also Notable

Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, Robert M. Gates

The Boom: How Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the World, Russell Gold

Pay Any Price: Greed, Power, and Endless War, James Risen

The Tyranny of Silence, Flemming Rose

Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon, Kim Zetter

Charitable Gaming to Benefit the World Affairs Council of NH One of the many ways you can financially support WACNH is by taking your gaming skills to 1 Lafayette Road, Hampton Falls on December 12 through 18 between 11:00 AM and 1:00 AM.  For a description of the games, exact times and directions to the facility visit www.thepokerroomnh.com. The Council will benefit from Charitable Gaming in December in Hampton Falls, NH, because 30% of the proceeds of gaming at state-regulated facilities like this one is donated to qualifying charities that are assigned specific game dates.

At the Council's annual meeting in June, members elected four new trustees for three-year terms. Welcome! Read more about our new Board Members below.

   Charles Davis Farmer, East Kingston

Davis Farmer is Founder and Chairman of MSM Protein Technologies based in Woburn, MA and Russia. MSM is the pre-eminent company for the discovery of antibodies to complex cell membrane proteins. He holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Vermont. Davis is past Chair of Squamscott Community Commons and founding member of the board of the New Hampshire BioMedical Council. He also serves as NH Commercial Consul to Australia and New Zealand.

   Thomas Hildreth, Hollis

Tom is Director and Chair of Immigration & Law Practice Group at McLane Law Firm. He has been counseling a diverse mix of closely-held business clients for nearly 20 years. In addition, Tom has substantial experience in  real estate development, telecommunications, and franchise law. He has served as President of the Nashua Association for the Elderly; Trustee of the Beaver Brook Association; Member of the Board of Advisors at First Colebrook Bank; Founding Member of the Hollis-Brookline Rotary Club; and Selectman, Treasurer and Member of the Strategic Planning and Budget committees for the Town of Hollis.

   Geoff Moody, Dunbarton

Geoff Moody is the Associate Vice President of International Programs at SNHU.  Geoff's work revolves around international education and he has extensive experience living and working abroad.  He spent over a decade in Europe, living for eight years in northern Italy with shorter stints in Barcelona, Paris, and Greece.  Prior to his position at SNHU, Geoff was the Director of International Recruitment at Green River College in Washington State and Director of the International Center at Hawaii Pacific University.  Geoff holds a Bachelor's degree in Biology from New Mexico State University and an MBA from the University of Washington.

   Virginia Szymanowski, Bedford

Ginny Szymanowski graduated magna cum laude from Boston University in 1974, earned an MBA with distinction from Babson College in 1980 and an MS in taxation from Bentley College in 1991.  Ginny is a certified public accountant and member of the American Institute of CPAs. After beginning her career with the audit staff at Peat, Marwick, Mitchell, & Co in Boston, she later entered the non-profit sector, serving as Director of Finance at the NH Historical Society and Families First of the Greater Seacoast Health Center; and Chief of Staff at US FIRST.  Ginny, along with her husband Joe, has hosted many groups of foreign visitors through WACNH.  Ginny and Joe are also supporters of the Currier Museum of Art, the NH Historical Society, US FIRST, Manchester Historic Association, the NH Institute of Art, the Manchester Community Music School and Canterbury Shaker Village.