News

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 April 10, AFPC Vice President for Policy Ilan Berman appeared on the Fox News Channel's "America's Newsroom" program to discuss Iran's most recent nuclear advances, and the state of U.S. strategy toward the Islamic Republic.

AFPC Vice President for Policy Ilan Berman was cited in an April 3rd story by the Jerusalem Post over differing assessments of the Iranian threat within the Obama administration.

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 February 4, 2009, AFPC Vice President for Policy Ilan Berman was the featured guest on the Voice of America's On The Line program, where he discussed the current state of U.S. policy toward Iran, and the likely next steps for the Obama administration in its approach to the Islamic Republic.

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”.

On December 3rd, AFPC Vice President for Policy Ilan Berman spoke at a conference on "Missile Defense in Europe" convened by The Heritage Foundation. In his remarks, Mr. Berman focused on the current state of Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, and their implications for international security.

On September 3-4, 2008, AFPC Vice President for Policy Ilan Berman was interviewed by the Iranian reformist newspaper E'temad regarding future U.S. policy toward the Islamic Republic.

In early July, AFPC Fellow in Asia Studies Joshua Eisenman and former US Ambassador to Ethiopia David Shinn published an AFPC Policy Paper titled “Responding to China in Africa.” The twelve-page report, which has been distributed widely on Capitol Hill and within the Administration, serves as a predecessor and a summary to their book which is to be published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2009.

AFPC Vice President for Policy Ilan Berman was cited in Cliff May's August 14, 2008 syndicated column for the Scripps Howard News Service on Iran's interest in asymmetric military capabilities such as electromagnetic pulse.

On August 13, 2008, AFPC Senior Fellow in National Security Affairs Jim Robbins appeared on NPR's "On Point" regarding whether news outlets should show images of service members killed in combat.

On July 25-26th, AFPC Vice President for Policy Ilan Berman traveled to Dearborn, Michigan to participate in the Claremont Insitute’s 2008 conference on “Missile Defense Challenges for the 21st Century.”

On April 28th, 2008, AFPC and the Heinrich Boell Foundation co-sponsored a seminal conference on China’s expanding influence in Africa. The conference, entitled “Current Developments and Trends in China’s Relations with African Countries,” served as an opportunity for participants to review the policy findings and recommendations developed by AFPC Fellow in Asia Studies Joshua Eisenman and Ambassador David Shinn during their research study on China's relations with African countries. Their research will culminate in a co-authored book on China-Africa relations to be published by the University of Pennsylvania Press.

AFPC hosted the Washington visit of Russian State Duma member Ilya Ponomarev March 16-20, 2008.

On March 10, 2008, Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) addressed the American Foreign Policy Council's 2008 Capitol Hill conference on "Missile Defenses and American Security." Senator Kyl, one of the leading proponents of missile defense in Congress, discussed the current strategic challenges confronting the United States, and the role of Congress in mobilizing an effective response.  Mr. Peter Brookes, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense, addressed the importance of the Bush administration's planned deployment of ballistic missile defenses in Europe.

On March 5-9, 2008, AFPC Vice President for Policy Ilan Berman visited London, England as a guest of the Henry Jackson Society, Ilan gave presentations before Members of Parliament in the British House of Commons and scholars at boh the London School of Economics and International Institute for Strategic Studies on the subject of Iran and evolving U.S. policy toward the Middle East.

In August, AFPC again partnered with the McCormick Tribune Foundation to host a working group on the threat posted by Iran and potential U.S. responses. The event, a follow-on to last year's AFPC-McCormick conference, "Forging an Iran Strategy," brought together leading national security experts, former government officials, military specialists and civic leaders to examine the next steps in the unfolding crisis with Iran. 

From July 2-9, 2007, former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich led an American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC)-sponsored delegation to Russia. The Moscow meetings took place immediately following the Bush-Putin summit in Maine, which attempted to improve what has become a very difficult and contentious relationship.