Events

On April 28th, 2009, the American Foreign Policy Council convened a Capitol Hill briefing on U.S. policy toward Syria and Lebanon. The event, held under the auspices of the office of Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA-27), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade, featured presentations by AFPC’s own Matthew RJ Brodsky; David Schenker of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy; United States Institute of Peace scholar Mona Yacoubian, and; Tony Badran of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

On February 9, 2009, the American Foreign Policy Council convened a Capitol Hill conference on U.S. policy toward Russia. The high-profile event featured presentations by AFPC President Herman Pirchner, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer, former Undersecretary of State for Arms Control Stephen Rademaker, U.S. Army War College Professor Stephen Blank, and AFPC Senior Associate E. Wayne Merry.

On Tuesday February 3, AFPC hosted a small working luncheon with Mr. Victor Suvorov. Suvorov, a former Soviet army officer who served in military intelligence, defected in 1978 to the United Kingdom. He is the author of eighteen books that have been translated into more than twenty languages. His better known works included: Inside the Aquarium: the Making of a Top Soviet Spy and Icebreaker: Who Started the Second World War?

On October 15 and 16, 2008, the annual roundtable series titled Ukraine’s Quest for Mature Nation Statehood was held at the Library of Congress, also the event’s principal sponsor. AFPC is a longtime partner and co-sponsor of the series, and as a member of the event’s Steering Committee, AFPC’s Jeff Smith worked with the conference organizer, Center for US-Ukrainian Relations founder Walter Zaryckj, to plan and coordinate the two-day event.

The Fall 2008 issue of Demokratizatsiya, the scholarly journal of post-Soviet democratization, carried AFPC President Herman Pirchner”s 14 page article, “The Uncertain Future Sino-Russian Relations in the Twenty-First Century”.