Great Discussions 2010:a community forum for debating global issues

Great Discussions 2010For the second year, the Global Affairs Center at Shoreline Community College hosted a series of discussions on current foreign policy issues.  The events occurred on seven consecutive Thursday evenings beginning April 14, 2010.  Each week we began by watching a 30 minute video that provided additional background at 6:00 p.m., followed by a short presentation by the discussion leader and then a round table discussion involving all participants.  This year 25 people signed up for the series and each week there were 2-3 walk-in participants.

 

The format was built around Great Decisions, a publication prepared annually by the Foreign Policy Association (FPA) of New York; and containing several pages of thoughtful briefing material on each issue.

 

The themes and facilitators were:

 

April 15

U.S.-China Security Relations

Joe Borich, President, Washington State China Relations Council

 

April 22

Global Financial Crisis

Bob Francis, Economics Professor, Shoreline Community College

 

April 29

Global Crime

Selby Smith, Special Agent, Drug Enforcement Agency

 

May 6

Russia and its Neighbors

Chip Dodd, Geography Professor, Shoreline Community College

 

May 13

Special Envoys

Lew Macfarlane, U.S. Foreign Service, Retired

 

May 20

The Persian Gulf

Abdi Sami, Former CEO of Dream Quest Images and Co-Producer of Rick Steves' Iran

 

May 27

R2P (Responsibility to Protect)

Bruce Kochis, Professor, University of Washington - Bothell