Global Conversations MINNEAPOLIS: The Middle East – Regional Disorder

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As the presidency of Donald Trump passes the halfway point, the Middle East remains a region in turmoil. The Trump administration has aligned itself with strongmen in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt, which along with Israel have a common goal of frustrating Iranian expansion. What will be the fallout from policy reversals such as withdrawing from the Iranian nuclear accord and moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem?

Join us for a discussion with Paul R. Pillar, Senior Fellow at the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University, on the United States’ path forward in the Middle East and the possibility of war with Iran.

About the Speaker

Dr. Pillar is a nonresident Senior Fellow at the Center for Security Studies in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and an Associate Fellow of the Geneva Center for Security Policy. Previously, Dr. Pillar worked for several decades in the U.S. intelligence community in a variety of analytical and managerial positions, including as National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia; Chief of Analytic Units at the CIA covering portions of the Near East, the Persian Gulf, and South Asia; and Executive Assistant to the CIA’s Deputy Director for Intelligence. He was also a Federal Executive Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Dr. Pillar is a retired U.S. Army Reserve officer and served in Vietnam. He received a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College, a B.Phil. from Oxford University, and a master’s and Ph.D. from Princeton University. He is the author of several publications including Terrorism and U.S. Foreign Policy and Intelligence and U.S. Foreign Policy: Iraq, 9/11, and Misguided Reform, and is a contributing editor of The National Interest.

Global Conversations in Minneapolis is presented in partnership with the Friends of the Minneapolis Central Library, Hennepin County Library – Minneapolis Central, and Patrick Kelly and Fredrikson & Byron, P.A.