July 29, 2020
Robert Hunter
Welcome! You are invited to join our July 29 webinar: “A Zero-Based Foreign Policy?” with US Ambassador (rtd) Robert Hunter.
Following the election in November, we will either continue with more of the same or have in January a new administration committed to doing things “differently” in foreign policy. For some of Biden’s advisors who speak in public, that means recapturing some of the practices that Trump has abandoned, notably a commitment to “liberal internationalism,” institutions, US “leadership,” solid relations with allies, and the like. But with the pandemic and its aftermath the United States (as well as others, of course) will find itself having to rethink and recalibrate at least some important aspects of its foreign policy. The Trump team – unless changed radically – has proven incapable of dealing with even this part of the agenda; but will Biden choose people able to do meet the daunting tasks either?
Perhaps this is a time when we should consider a “zero-based foreign policy,” starting with “things that we have to do for our security and well-being” that include guarding against “things that go bump in the night,” a foreign policy that pays more attention to our domestic situation than previously and one that includes a team capable of the strategic analysis needed to understand what is important to us and what is not and a foreign policy that ultimately faces the difficult, long term questions about America’s future role in the world.
Ambassador Robert Hunter served in the LBJ White House (education) at the time of the Great Society; was Ted Kennedy’s first foreign policy advisor; and was lead official on Europe and the Middle East on the Carter NSC staff. He was US ambassador to NATO (1993-1998) and was a principal architect and the lead negotiator of the post-Cold War transformation of NATO. He served on the Defense Policy Board and State’s International Security Advisory Board. He has taught at 5 universities; written 1200+ publications; taken part in 8 presidential campaigns; and written speeches for more serious candidates for president (12) than anyone else in US history. BA: Wesleyan University; PhD, London School of Economics.
This is the fifth in our summer series Summer with SFWAF: Hot Weather, Hot Topics. We hope to offer two webinars a month normally held on a Wednesday from 11:00 am to 12:15 pm Mountain Time throughout summer 2020 on a variety of current international affairs topics of concern to SFWAF members and friends.
We are using the Zoom Webinar Format. We will begin this and future webinars with a short orientation. We encourage you to use Hand Raise and Talk function more than Q&A to preserve the discussion format that is the character of the Forum. It will be possible for people to join at 10:50 to familiarize yourselves with the webinar format in advance of the program.
You are invited to a Zoom Webinar.
When: Jul 29, 2020 11:00 AM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
Topic: A Zero-Based Foreign Policy?
Register in advance for this webinar: Click Here
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Please keep that email where you can easily access it on Jul 22.
If you do not receive the confirmation email or are not familiar with Zoom and need technical assistance, please contact Krista Peterson prior to the webinar at krispete@rocketmail.com. She will also monitor this email at the beginning of the webinar in case you are having difficulty connecting, but may not be able to respond right away. President Patricia Kushlis, Board members Krista Peterson and Steve Kerchoff will be co-hosting and moderating the session.
For pricing and reservations, click here: https://sfwaf.org/payment/
The Speaker
