Category Archives: Global Matters

U.S. Image Abroad: The Ongoing Case for the U.S. Peace Corps

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An evening with Steve Driehaus
Wednesday, April 17, 2019

5:30-7 p.m. – Reception & Dinner
7:00-8:30 p.m. – Presentation and Discussion

Schiff Conference Center
Cintas Center at Xavier University

Steve Driehaus is a former Member of Congress and four term State Representative from Cincinnati. In addition to serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal ’88-‘90, he spent six years as Country Director for Peace Corps in Swaziland and Morocco from 2011-2017.

Steve is currently the Executive Director of Cincinnati Compass, Cincinnati’s welcoming initiative for immigrants, and the Managing Partner of the Good Government Group.

Established in 1961, the Peace Corps has sent over 230,000 Volunteers to 141 countries around the world. There are currently 7,376 volunteers and trainees serving in 65 countries. While the foreign policy direction of the United States changes with each administration, Peace Corps remains a constant and integral presence in developing countries across the globe. Steve will discuss the relevance of the Peace Corps, 58 years in, and its ongoing contribution to US foreign policy.

Event Sponsored by:

World Affairs Council

International Cybersecurity

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International Cybersecurity:
The Depth and Breadth of the Challenge

An evening with Gene Price, Attorney/Rear Admiral

Thursday, December 13, 2018
5:30-6:15 p.m. – Reception 6:15 p.m. Dinner
7:00-8:30 p.m. – Presentation and Discussion

Schiff Conference Center, Cintas Center at Xavier University

Gene PriceGene Price is an attorney with Frost Brown Todd and serves as a Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy Reserve. He recently was assigned as Deputy Commander of the U.S. Tenth Fleet and Fleet Cyber Command.

He has experience involving multiple cybersecurity issues, and has supported the Navy, U.S. Cyber Command, and the Department of Defense in his career. Among other areas in private practice he counsels businesses and insurers on cybersecurity.

There are daily news reports of cyber breaches, but the problem’s scope and scale are poorly understood. Many wonder why cyber-criminals aren’t brought to justice or why the U.S. has been repeatedly victimized by other nations. Gene will address the complex world of international cyber-security in terms we can all appreciate.

Event sponsored by:

Iran versus Saudi Arabia

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Ancient religious divide – Modern fight for power
An evening with
Ambassador Kenton Keith

Tuesday, February 13, 2018
5:30-6:15 p.m. – Reception 6:15 p.m. Dinner
7:00-8:30 p.m. – Presentation and Discussion

Schiff Conference Center, Cintas Center at Xavier University

Today’s burgeoning proxy conflicts in the Middle East between forces loyal to Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran are rooted in irreconcilable religious differences between the two main schools of Islam. Rarely have the two powers been as close to open conflict as they are today. Iran’s regional influence is increasing as Shia allies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere appear to be gaining influence. Saudi Arabia’s succession drama is playing out in ways that few would have predicted only a couple of years ago. The Kingdom is involved in a conflict in Yemen that pits Sunni against Shia. Both Saudi Arabia and Iran are in existential conflict with ISIS, which is largely Sunni.

Each has oil and gas resources, but each has domestic economic and political challenges that have distanced the leadership from their populations. U.S. interests are tied to maintaining stability in the Middle East, progress toward Mideast peace between Israel and the Arab world, and unimpeded access to oil and gas. All those interests are affected by the dynamics of Saudi-Iranian competition.

Kenton KeithKenton Keith retired from government service in 1997 after four years as a naval officer and thirty-two in the U.S. Information Agency and Department of State. His final years at USIA included assignments in Brazil, Paris, and Cairo in public affairs and cultural affairs in deputy and senior positions. In Washington, he served as both Deputy Area Director and Area Director for USIA’s (NEA) North Africa, Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs. Keith led the USIA planning team for the amalgamation of foreign affairs agencies. He was confirmed as Chief of Mission Doha, Qatar in 1992. For five years he served as a team leader in the Department’s Office of the Inspector General, before being named US Ambassador to Qatar in l992 for three years.

As Ambassador to Qatar he oversaw U.S. cooperation with American private sector companies competing for a share in the rapid expansion of Qatar’s LNG development, related technologies, as well as traditional petroleum exploration and development. He participated in successful negotiations with the Qatari government on regional security cooperation including the pre-positioning of U.S. military equipment and had an active role in Qatar’s establishment of American university faculties in the country.

Post Foreign Service Keith was Senior Vice President of Meridian International Center, the largest program agency assisting the Department of State in the management of the International Visitor Leadership Program. After retirement from Meridian, Ambassador Keith returned to State for occasional stints as Team Leader for Office of Inspector General teams. He led inspections of embassies in Luxembourg, The Hague, Reykjavik, Madrid, Lisbon and Brasilia, as well as the board of the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

Keith serves on the boards of the conflict resolution organization Partners Global, the Association of Diplomatic Service and Training, the Washington Humane Society, and the anti-human trafficking organization Artworks for Freedom. He belongs to the American Academy of Diplomacy, the citizen diplomacy organization Global Ties U.S., Meridian’s Hospitality and Information Service, and DACOR, and organization for retired diplomatic and consular officers.

Ambassador Keith is a Chevalier in the French Order of Arts and Letters. He is a member of the Cosmos Club of Washington, DC.

Event sponsored by:

Xavier University - Edward B. Brueggeman Center for Dialogue

World Affairs Council

Latin America Trending towards Beijing, Washington, or its Southern Star

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Presented by Cynthia Watson, Ph.D.
Professor of Strategy at the National War College

Tuesday, December 5, 2017
5:30-6:15 p.m.- Reception 6:15 p.m. Dinner
7:00-8:30 p.m. – Presentation and Discussion

Schiff Conference Center, Cintas Center at Xavier University

According to Dr. Cynthia Watson “Latin America is much in the news because a number of leaders are under scrutiny for corruption, the Chinese are involved in a manner they have never been historically, and the United States is absorbed in issues elsewhere. The region is showing some evidence of achieving the conditions the U.S. has long hoped for – absorbing the rule of law, calling its international relationships to adhere to standards, and trying to create a genuinely Latin American path towards sustained development.”

Please join us to find out what is really going on in Latin America today.

Dr. Cynthia Watson

Dr. Cynthia Watson

Cynthia Watson grew up in Thailand and Colombia. She earned a M.A. in Economic History/Latin American Studies from the London School of Economics and a PhD in Government & International Studies from Notre Dame. She was 2011 Alumna of the Year at University of Missouri at Kansas City. Author of nine books on security issues, including Combatant Commands: Origins, Structure and Engagements (2011), Stability, Security, Reconstruction and Transition Operations (2012), and Military Education (2007), she focuses on military education as an instrument of statecraft as well as China’s modernizing and its effect on security relations, having worked on China in Latin America for the past fifteen years. Her most recent manuscript is Asia First: Reflecting or Refracting Strategy?, assessing the use of strategy to achieve the rebalance to Asia and the future of the United States around the world.

Dr. Watson joined the National War College faculty in 1992. She was Assistant Dean for Social Sciences at Loyola University of Chicago where she also taught Political Science. Dr. Watson worked for the House Subcommittee on Government Information & Individual Rights as well as the U.S. General Accounting Office. She is a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Event sponsored by:

Xavier University - Edward B. Brueggeman Center for Dialogue

World Affairs Council