Sunday, March 25, 2018

Monday in Washington, March 26, 2018

WILL THE RUSSIANS MEDDLE IN LATIN AMERICAN ELECTIONS? 3/26, 9:30-11:00am. Sponsor: Americas Program, CSIS. Speakers: Javier Lesaca, Visiting Scholar, School of Media and Public Affairs, GWU; David Salvo, Resident Fellow, Alliance for Securing Democracy, German Marshall Fund; Evan Ellis, Senior Associate, Americas Program, CSIS. Moderator: Richard Miles, Senior Fellow, Deputy Director, Americas Program, CSIS, Director, U.S.-Mexico Futures Initiative.

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CHINA AT WAR. 3/26, 10:00-11:15am. Sponsors: Kissinger Institute, Wilson Center. Speakers: J. Stapleton Roy, Founding Director, Distinguished Scholar, Founding Director Emeritus, Kissinger Institute, Wilson Center; author, Hans van de Ven, Professor of Modern Chinese History, Cambridge University. Moderator: Robert Daly, Director, Kissinger Institute, Wilson Center.

A FUNDAMENTALIST’S APPROACH TO NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION AND NUCLEAR-WEAPONS REDUCTIONS: GET RID OF THE FISSILE MATERIAL! 3/26, NOON–1:30pm. Sponsor: GW, Institute for International Science and Technology Policy. Speaker: Frank Von Hippel, Professor, Princeton University.

U.S. IN A POST-ISIS IRAQ AND SYRIA: REALIGNING ALLIES AND CONSTRAINING ADVERSARIES. 3/26, Noon-1:30pm. Sponsor: Hudson. Speakers: Michael Pregent, Adjunct Fellow, Hudson; Hillel Fradkin, Senior Fellow, Hudson; Jennifer Cafarella; Senior Intelligence Planner, Institute for the Study of War; Dr. Nahro Zagros; Vice President, Soran University, Iraq.

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MOBILIZING WITHOUT THE MASSES: CONTROL AND CONTENTION IN CHINA - A DISCUSSION WITH DR. DIANA FU. 3/26, Noon-2:00pm. Sponsor: Sigur Center, Elliott School, GWU. Speaker: author Diana Fu, Assistant Professor of Asian Politics, University of Toronto.

THE FUTURE OF FINANCIAL REGULATION: A CONVERSATION WITH NEW YORK FEDERAL RESERVE PRESIDENT BILL DUDLEY. 3/26, Noon-2:00pm, Lunch. Sponsor: Center for Capital Market Competitiveness, U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Speaker: Bill Dudley, President, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

THE AGE OF EISENHOWER: AMERICA AND THE WORLD IN THE 1950s. 3/26, 4:00-5:30pm. Sponsor: Washington History Seminar, Wilson Center. Speakers: Author, William Hitchcock, Professor of History, University of Virginia Eric Arnesen, Fellow, Professor of History, The George Washington University; Philippa Strum, Global Fellow, Former Director, Division of United States Studies, Woodrow Wilson Center.


Sunday, March 18, 2018

Wither Osaka


A storm appears to be headed toward Osaka. As the article below notes, domestic politics may not long favor the city. The Moritomo Gakuen scandal is centered on Osaka and its ultra-rightwing politics. Osaka is also the epicenter of Japan's denier history toward the Comfort Women. Successive majors have been outspoken deniers of Pacific War history—even threatening to end the sister city relationship with San Francisco over the American city’s refusal to accept the Osaka mayors' false and pernicious construction of Comfort Women history.

The Abe's government has shown extraordinary favoritism to the region and its politicians who have helped the LDP maintain their Diet majority. Recently, Tokyo selected Osaka to be the host city for the G20 leaders summit in 2019. The government is also promoting Osaka to the Bureau of International Expositions to be the site for Expo 2025. By doing this, Tokyo is demanding that the rest of the world ignore the region's infamous war history and its modern deniers. 

A new Japanese government will not be able to long tolerate Osaka as a world outlier.


Moritomo scandal threatens Osaka leaders too
By Eric Johnston, Staff Writer

Japan Times, March 17, 2018

OSAKA – “A man once thoroughly endued with these three qualities of lying, impudence, and ingratitude will, I believe, scarce want any other titles to preferment and grandeur.” — Henry Fielding, from a satirical article on the traits of successful politicians, 1740

Over a year after it first blew up in Osaka, then went to Tokyo and languished, the Moritomo Gakuen scandal came roaring back with a vengeance earlier this month, shaking Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration to the core.

The “Teflon prime minister,” as Abe is dubbed by critics and admirers for his political durability, may finally have run out of luck. His finance minister, Taro Aso, whose ministry admitted it rewrote, deleted, or falsified records related to the scandal is facing intense pressure from the opposition, and members of his own party, to resign — and soon.

Without his friend Aso by his side, Abe will head into the September elections for Liberal Democratic Party president (and thus prime minister) weakened and a lame duck unlikely to be granted a third consecutive term — all because of a scandal that just would not go away.

The key questions still unanswered boil down to who gave the school an unprecedented discount on the land it wanted, why Moritomo received special treatment, who decided to give it that treatment and who was involved in the subsequent “editing” of ministry documents.

At the national level, those questions involve the prime minister and his wife, the finance minister and senior Finance Ministry officials and at least three Diet members. They include Takeo Hiranuma, the ultra-right-wing Liberal Democratic Party representative from Okayama, LDP veteran Yoshitada Konoike, a scandal-plagued politician from neighboring Hyogo Prefecture, and former Upper House LDP lawmaker Issei Kitagawa, who is from Osaka. Former Moritomo head Yasunori Kagoike’s claim that he was betrayed by lying, impudent, ungrateful politicians and bureaucrats sounds a bit more credible now.

But one influential politician of interest to Osaka was not in the documents: Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui.

Given that, in Diet testimony, Kagoike alleged the person who betrayed him the most was Matsui, Osaka’s media are now aggressively pursuing the Moritomo Gakuen “Osaka angle.” And they are asking what might have been going on between Matsui, the Kinki bureau of the Finance Ministry, Abe, Aso, Hiranuma and their friends in the conservative lobby group Japan Conference (Nippon Kaigi), reference to which was also originally deleted from Finance Ministry documents.

Matsui insists he had nothing to do with influencing the Kinki bureau to cut a deal with Kagoike and no evidence has surfaced to suggest otherwise. But, politically, he has two problems.

The first is local. More questions about Moritomo makes it ever more difficult for Matsui and his supporters to realize their integration of Osaka city, which is once again under discussion and still faces intense opposition.

The second problem is Osaka’s relationship — and the Nippon Ishin no Kai party’s relationship — with the Abe wing of the LDP.

If a splintering LDP leads to Abe stepping down, either now or later, then Matsui and Nippon Ishin must deal with another prime minister, one likely to be less friendly.

Various LDP leaders are now garnering attention as possible successors to Abe. They include former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and Internal Affairs Minister Seiko Noda. In Osaka, Ishiba, who is from Tottori Prefecture and has strong connections in the Kansai region, has already reached out to younger LDP members who are battling with Matsui and Nippon Ishin (some of whom are former LDP members).

How all of this plays out depends on what additional revelations there are about the Moritomo scandal. But in Osaka, as well as Tokyo, politicians and bureaucrats are running for cover, desperate to avoid a resurgent scandal most thought had long since been overcome.

Monday in Washington, March 19, 2018

A CONVERSATION WITH NICHOLAS KRISTOF. 3/19, 8:30-11:00am. Sponsor: Center for Global Development. Speaker: Nicholas Kristof, Columnist, New York Times. Moderator: Amanda Glassman, Chief Operating Officer, Center for Global Development.

REVOLUTION WITHOUT REVOLUTIONARIES: MAKING SENSE OF THE ARAB SPRING. 3/19, Noon-1:30pm, Sponsor: Project on Middle East Political Science, Institute for Middle East Studies, Elliott School, GWU. Author: Dr. Asef Bayat, Catherine and Bruce Bastian Professor of Global and Transnational Studies & Professor of Sociology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

THE NORTH KOREAN CRISIS: ON THE BRINK OF A BREAK THROUGH OR A BUST?
3/19, 12:30-1:45pm. Sponsor: Center for American Progress (CAP). Speakers: Kurt Campbell, & CEO, Asia Group; Chairman of the Board, CAP; Suzanne DiMaggio, Senior Fellow & Director, U.S.-DPRK Dialogue, New America; Kelly Magsamen, Vice President, National Security and International Policy, CAP. Moderator: Michael Fuchs, Senior Fellow, CAP.

JAPAN'S BALANCING BETWEEN NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT AND DETERRENCE. 3/19, 1:00-2:30pm. Sponsor: Stimson. Speakers: Masahiro Kurita, Fellow, National Institute for Defense Studies; Wakana Mukai, Assistant Professor, Faculty of International Relations, Asia University; Masashi Murano, Research Fellow, Okazaki Institute; Masahiro Okuda, Ph.D. Candidate, Takushoku University; Heigo Sato, Vice President, Institute for World Studies, Takushoku University. Moderator: Yuki Tatsumi, Co-Director, East Asia Program, Stimson Center.

FOREIGN POLICY AND FRAGILE STATES. 3/19, 2:00-3:00pm. Sponsor: U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP). Speakers: Nancy Lindborg, President, USIP; Ilan Goldenberg, Director, Middle East Security Program, Center for a New American Security; Kimberly Kagan, Founder & President, Institute for the Study of War. Moderator: Joshua Johnson, Host, 1A, NPR.

2018 U.S.-JAPAN SECURITY SEMINAR: NEXT STEPS ON NORTH KOREA. 3/19, 4:00-5:00pm. Sponsor: Japan Chair, CSIS; Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA). Speakers: Yoshiji Nogami, President, JIIA; Jung H. Pak, SK-Korea Foundation Chair in Korea Studies, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Center for Northeast Asia Policy Studies, Brookings; Tetsuo Kotani, Senior Fellow, JIIA. Moderator: Michael J. Green, Senior Vice President, Asia & Japan Chair, CSIS.

Sunday, March 11, 2018

Monday in Washington March 12, 2018

POLITICAL TRIBES: GROUP INSTINCT AND THE FATE OF NATIONS. 3/12, 10:00-11:30am. Sponsor: Brookings. Speakers: author Amy Chua, John M. Duff, Jr. Professor of Law, Yale; Robert Kagan, Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Project on International Order and Strategy; Michael O'Hanlon, Senior Fellow, Brookings.

INTERNATIONAL ENERGY R&D COOPERATION IN PRACTICE: PERSPECTIVES AND ISSUES. 3/12, Noon-1:00pm, Lunch. Sponsor: Global America Business Institute (GABI). Speakers: Dr. Charles Taylor, Global Partnerships Manager, U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory; Dr. Sangjin Choi, Strategic Planning Division, Korea Institute of Energy Research.

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IRAN’S POST-REVOLUTIONARY ELITE. 3/12, Noon-1:30pm. Sponsor: Future of Iran Initiative, Atlantic Council. Speaker: Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Professor of Political Science, Syracuse University, Author, Post-Revolutionary Iran: A Handbook. Moderator: Barbara Slavin, Director, Future of Iran Initiative, Atlantic Council.

DISCUSSION WITH THE SECRETARIES OF THE U.S. MILITARY DEPARTMENTS.
3/12, 1:30-2:30pm. Sponsor: International Security Program, CSIS. Speakers: Hon. Mark T. Esper, Secretary of the Army; Hon. Richard Spencer, Secretary of the Navy; Hon. Heather Wilson, Secretary of the Air Force. Moderator: Dr. Kathleen Hicks, Senior Vice President, Henry A. Kissinger Chair, Director, International Security Program, CSIS.

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THE U.S. AND GLOBAL HEALTH SECURITY AT A TIME OF TRANSITION. 3/12, 2:00-3:30pm. Sponsor: Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). Speakers: Jen Kates, Vice President & Director of Global Health and HIV Policy, KFF; Anne Schuchat, Acting Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Beth Cameron, Vice President for Global Biological Policy and Programs, Nuclear Threat Initiative; Rebecca Katz, Associate Professor & Co-Director, Center for Global Health Science and Security, Georgetown University; Nancy Knight, Director, Division of Global Health Protection, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; J. Stephen Morrison, Senior Vice President & Director, Global Health Policy Center, CSIS . Moderator: Josh Michaud, Associate Director of Global Health Policy, KFF.

Book Event: Marketcraft March 14, 2018

MARKETCRAFT
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HOW GOVERNMENTS MAKE MARKETS WORK IN THE US AND JAPAN
March 14, 2018
12:30-1:45pm 

Speaker

author Dr. Steven Vogel is the Il Han new professor of Asian studies and a professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley. He specializes in the political economy of advanced industrialized nations, especially Japan and the United States.


Location
George Washington University, Elliott School 
1957 E Street, NW 
Lindner Family Commons, Room 602 

From financial regulation to anti-trust enforcement to governance of the internet, policymakers in Washington and Japan are increasingly failing at the job of effective market regulation. In a provocative new book, Dr. Steven Vogel argues that the reason governments so often get this wrong is that they are stuck in a stale and misleading debate over government regulation versus market freedom. In fact, he argues, markets must by their nature be regulated, and the real debate is over how best to regulate in the public interest. In era of globalization and new, disruptive market platforms Vogel's thoughtful pro-governance arguments have never been more relevant.
This event is on the record and open to the media
Books wil be available for purchase 

Sponsors
George Washington University’s Sigur Center  and Institute for International Economic Policy

In cooperation with Asia Policy Point

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Monday in Washington, March 5, 2018

CHINA’S RAPID RICE AS A GREEN FINANCE CHAMPION. 3/5, 9:30-11:30am. Sponsor: China Environment Forum (CEF), Wilson Center. Speakers: Carolyn Szum, Program Manager, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Alan Xiangrui Meng, Market Analyst, Climate Bonds Initiative; Derek Ip, Senior Analyst, Financial Institutions Team, Trucost. Moderator: Jennifer L. Turner, Director, CEF, Wilson Center, Manager, Global Choke Point Initiative.

AN OUTLOOK OF THE CHINESE ECONOMY AND SINO-JAPAN RELATIONS. 3/5, Noon-1:00pm. Sponsor: East-West Center in Washington. Speakers: Kiyoyuki Seguchi, Research Director, Canon Institute for Global Studies; Dr. Anny Wong, Research Fellow, John G. Tower Center for Political Studies, Southern Methodist, University, Adjunct Political Scientist, RAND Corporation.

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OIL IN IRAQ: PATHWAYS TO ENABLING BETTER GOVERNANCE. 3/5, 2:00-3:30pm. Sponsor: Middle East Institute (MEI). Speakers: Erin Banco, Investigative Reporter, Star-Ledger & NJ.com; Alan Eyre, Director, Office of Middle East and Asia, Bureau of Energy Affairs, U.S. Department of State; Omar Al-Nidawi, Iraq Director, Gryphon Partners; Jean-Francois Seznec, Scholar, MEI, Adjunct Professor, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University. Moderator: Randa Slim, Director, Track II Dialogues Initiative, MEI, Non-resident Fellow, Foreign Policy Institute, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University.


THE U.S. AND THE UK: A CONVERSATION WITH KORI SCHAKE. 3/5, 3:00-4:00pm. Sponsor: Hudson. Speakers: Kori Schake, Deputy Director-General, IISS, Author, Safe Passage: The Transition from British to American Hegemony; Tod Lindberg, Senior Fellow, Hudson.

A CONVERSATION ON FREE TRADE AND GLOBALIZATION. 3/5, 5:00-6:00pm. Sponsors: Dean’s Forum & European and Eurasian Studies Program, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University. Speaker: Brian Mikkelsen, Danish Minister for Industry, Business and Financial Affairs. Moderator: Vali Nasr, Dean, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University.

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GLORY AND GRATITUDE TO THE UNITED STATES – CHERS BIENFAITEURS. 3/5, 5:00-7:00pm. Sponsor: Hoover Institution. Speakers: George Nash, PhD, Historian, Author, A Multivolume Scholarly Biography of Herbert Hoover; Nancy Heingartner, PhD, Assistant Director of Outreach, Institute for Regional and International Studies, University of WI-Madison; Bernard Geenen, Economic and Commercial Counselor, Wallonia, Embassy of Belgium; Brigadier General G. Franchomme, Defense, Military, Air and Naval Attaché, Embassy of Belgium; R.Admn. W.S. Truelove CMM, CD, Embassy of Canada.

TRADE AND GROWTH: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.
3/5, 5:30-7:00pm, Reception. Sponsor: Institute for International Economic Policy, Elliott School, GWU. Speaker: Bob Koopman, Chief Economist, World Trade Organization.