Providence Committee on Foreign Relations |
2016/2017 Seasons Speakers |
Laura Freid, founding CEO of the Silk Road Project. Terence Roehrig of the U.S. Naval War College on how to deal with the threat from North Korea. James Griffin, international food-sector consultant and former fishing industry executive, on the future of global fish supplies and sourcing. Rand Stoneburner, M.D., international epidemiologist, on global disease challenges. Jean Lesieur, French journalist, novelist and media executive, on the French presidential election, right-wing populism, Trump and Brexit. Evodio Kaltenecker, Brazilian political economist, on that nation's economic and political crises. Stephen Coen, director of the Mystic Museum, on the future of the seas. | Carl Maccario, international security expert, on identifying terrorists and other bad people through knowledge of nonverbal communication. Ralf Horlemann, German general consul on post-Brexit Europe and Russia. Jeffrey Frankel Harvard economist and former member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers on whether international trade is good for America and the world. Prof. James Holmes, U.S. Naval War College on the geopolitics of global warming. Amb. Theodore Sedgwick on the future of Central Europe. Mark Blyth, famed political economist, on Brexit. Evan Matthews, director of the Port of Davisville, on international shipping changes, particularly in the context of the expansion of the Panama Canal. |
2015/2016 Season Speakers |
Greg Lindsay, writer, futurist and expert on cities around the world and their relationship to airports. Hedrick Smith, PBS documentary maker, former star foreign correspondent. David Alward, Canadian general consul. Allan Cytryn, international cybersecurity expert. Andrew Michta, U.S, Naval War College expert on Russia and NATO. Rima Salah, High U.N. humanitarian-relief official. Eduardo Mestre, Cuban-American civic leader and international banker. | Anders Corr, a geopolitical analyst and former Defense Department official in Afghanistan, on Chinese expansionism. Richard George, former high National Security Agency official, on international cyber-security. Prof. Evodio Kalteneker, on the Brazilian economy and politics. Professor and journalist Janet Steele on democratic Indonesia. Jennifer Yanco, global public-health expert and a director of the West Africa Research Association, on the Ebola crisis. Australian Consul Gen. Nick Minchin, on his nation’s relations with Asia and the U.S. Delphine Halgand, a high official of the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, on threats to free speech and journalism. (She spoke a few days after the Charlie Hebdo massacre.) |
Amir Afkhami, M.D., a psychiatrist, on dealing with mental illness in war zones, particularly the Mideast. Military historian and retired Army Colonel Andrew Bacevich on why America should stop fighting wars in the Mideast. Famed Canadian journalist Diane Francis on why the U.S. and Canada should consider merging. International landscape architect Thomas Paine on making cities more humane, especially in China. Admiral Robert Girrier, deputy chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, on countering Chinese expansion in the South China Sea. Gary Hicks, deputy chief of mission in Libya at the time of the Benghazi attack and now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on lessons for the U.S. in Libya and the future of international trade. Anne Garrels Thomas Lippman Christopher Swift Michael Ledeen – Center for the Defense of Democracies The Very Rev. Paul Zahl Canadian Consul General Patrick Binns Captain Tom Fedyszyn, United States Navy Gordon Chang German Consul General Friedrich Lohr Jean Lesieur Benjamin Valentino Alan Tonelson Taiwanese Consul General Anne Hung William Martel Bing West Juan Carlos Hidalgo Lieutenant Commander Chris Sanford, United States Navy French Consul General Fabien Fieschi Martin Love Sashi Tharoor – former UN Under Secretary General U.S. Ambassador Franklin Lavin (Singapore) U.S. Ambassador William Twaddell (Nigeria) | Minister Naoyuki Agawa – Japanese Embassy Washington Alistair Harrison – Head of Chancery, UK Mission to the UN Senator Jack Reed U.S. Ambassador Thomas Hubbard (Philippines & South Korea) Ambassador Nirupam Sen (Indian Ambassador to the United Nations) U.S. Ambassador William G. Miller (Ukraine) U.S. Ambassador Christopher R. Hill - Assistant Secretary of State Dr. Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former President of Brasil U.S. Ambassador C. W. Freeman, former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Dr. Karen Donfried, Exec. V.P. - German Marshall Fund U.S. Ambassador Stephen Bosworth, Dean-The Fletcher School-Tufts Dr. Marshall I. Goldman – Harvard – Petrostate: Putin, Power & the New Russia Dr. Lyle F. Goldstein, Naval War College, Newport – Contending with China Lt. Commander Jason Salata, USN: - Military in Support of US Foreign Policy M. Francois Gauthier, Consul General of France at Boston Col. John F. Cuddy, CO Regional Police Advisory Command - Kandahar Dr. Ricardo Lagos, former President of Chile Dr. James Holmes, Naval War College: Combating Piracy in the Indian Ocean Dr. Romano Prodi, Former President, European Commission and Prime Minister of Italy Col. Theodore Gatchel, Professor Emeritus - Naval War College - Newport Mr. William Taft IV , Chairman - Freedom House Amb. L. P. Bremer: Defeating Islamic Extremism Mr. Joseph Cirincione: The Policy & Politics of Obama's Nuclear Security Agenda |