US foreign policy | The Santa Fe World Affairs Forum

The Santa Rosa Model: A Colombia Success Story

January 26, 2015

John Heard, former Senior Foreign Service Officer with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Peace Corps with tours in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Paraguay, El Salvador, Bosnia and the Philippines plus a number of years in Washington

Although Colombia has been pushed off the front pages by Iraq, Afghanistan and Ukraine, Colombia remains one of the largest recipients of US foreign assistance. Colombia is also a US foreign policy priority in terms of the “wars” on drugs and terror as well as our commitment to strengthening democracies. Not only is Colombia America’s staunchest ally in the hemisphere, it offers an underappreciated model of successful cooperation with the U.S. Santa Rosa del Sur, a small town in Colombia’s Southern Bolivar Department, was once in the heart of northern Colombia drug production with a heavy involvement of leftist guerilla groups. The farmers had no choice but to grow coca for peanuts, so to speak. Ten years later they thrive by growing cocoa and other legally marketable crops. USAID helped to make that happen. Our speaker was part of this durable transformation, and this program will tell us how it came about.

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The Santa Rosa Model: A Colombia Success StoryPatK2019-05-01T14:20:27-07:00

The US and Southeast Asia: The Challenging Times Continue

September 30, 2014

Will Itoh, Ambassador, Director, Washington International Programs, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Senior Advisor, McLarty Associates

Just in the past year, the political and economic atmosphere in mainland Southeast Asia – from Myanmar to Vietnam – has dramatically shifted. Myanmar’s “Arab spring” has faded, economically prosperous Thailand has succumbed to political control by a military junta, and still Communist Vietnam is locked in a fierce contest with China over disputed islands in the South China Sea. In April 2012, the Santa Fe World Affairs Forum devoted its two day symposium to an exploration of US-Asian relations. This month’s session by Asian specialist Ambassador Will Itoh explores the changes that have subsequently taken place in Asia’s dynamic Southeast corner and their implications for the US.

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The US and Southeast Asia: The Challenging Times ContinuePatK2019-05-01T14:20:27-07:00

Still Thinking about the Unthinkable: Maintaining Nuclear Stability through Times of Transition

June 16, 2014

Houston T Hawkins, Senior Fellow, Principal Directorate, Global Security, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Any reduction of the nation’s nuclear arsenal will have consequences, both direct and ancillary. Before the U.S. moves too far in shrinking nuclear stockpiles, many circumstances will need to be carefully evaluated. The following developments would deserve particular attention: foreign force modernizations, especially those which might signify a waning of American technological superiority; the re-emergence of confrontational strategies by countries like China and Russia; nuclear proliferation activities not justified by credible civilian applications; and the strengthening of international terror networks directed against the U.S. and its allies.

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Still Thinking about the Unthinkable: Maintaining Nuclear Stability through Times of TransitionPatK2019-05-01T14:20:27-07:00

“Let My Dataset Change Your Mindset” TED talk (Video)

February 21, 2014

Hans Rosling, MD, Karolinska Institute, Moderator Arvid Lundy

Even the most worldly and well-traveled among us will have their perspectives shifted by Hans Rosling. A professor of global health at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, his current work focuses on dispelling common myths about the so-called developing world, which (he points out) is no longer worlds away from the West. In fact, most of the Third World is on the same trajectory toward health and prosperity, and many countries are moving twice as fast as the west did. (more…)

“Let My Dataset Change Your Mindset” TED talk (Video)PatK2019-05-01T14:20:27-07:00

US Foreign AID and Child Survival: . . . What the US could Still Accomplish

November 15, 2013

David Douglas

We are living through an unprecedented decline in deaths of children worldwide from preventable diseases. U.S. foreign aid played a central role in this little-known story.
Around the world 6 million fewer children will die this year than in 1990. This global effort has been collaborative, but such success would not have happened except for U.S. foreign aid, which is only 1{fe681502a50b39155a3ca75d1ea8a550fe0ee8275f6f89ef466f508ac0f80879} of the federal budget. Yet as much progress has been made in global health, 18,000 children will die today, mainly from diseases that are preventable.

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US Foreign AID and Child Survival: . . . What the US could Still AccomplishPatK2019-05-01T14:20:27-07:00

No More Deaths: The Mexican Border and Immigration Reform

October 14, 2013

Reverends John Fife and Gene Levebre

Immigration reform is stalled in Congress. That’s the bad news. The good news is that we can still put on the pressure for better legislation.

The Presenters will describe what’s actually happening along the Arizona border with Mexico, an intolerable situation rife with abuse, human suffering and death. They will also cover the Immigration Reform controversy, the “fatal flaws” in proposed legislation and credible efforts to eliminate them. Not only will they bring to light the truth regarding enforcement enhancement and militarization measures along our border, they will show how these measures have real social and economic consequences for our future.

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No More Deaths: The Mexican Border and Immigration ReformPatK2019-05-01T14:20:27-07:00