A live interview with Professor William Beeman, University of Minnesota, and Reza Marashi, Policy Director with National Iranian American Council on issues related to sanctions and threats of war with Iran.  Panel also reviewed President Obama's change of policy on Iran from negotiations to pressure and hostile track.

Reza Marashi joined NIAC in 2010 as the organization’s first Research Director.  He came to NIAC after four years in the Office of Iranian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.  Prior to his tenure at the State Department, he was an analyst at the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) covering China-Middle East issues, and a Tehran-based private strategic consultant on Iranian political and economic risk. Marashi is frequently consulted by Western governments on Iran-related matters.  His articles have appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, The National Interest and Al Jazeera, among other publications. He has been a guest contributor to the BBC, NPR, Financial Times, Reuters, and ABC News, among other broadcast outlets.  Follow Reza on Twitter: @rezamarashi

“Diplomatic Stalemate and Democratic Revolts: Making Sense of a Middle East in Transition,” 

Rami G. Khouri (www.ramikhouri.com), editor-at-large of the Beirut-based Daily Star and an award-winning journalist and scholar, talked at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Portland, co-sponsored by PCC’s Internationalization Initiative among others!

Rami is a Palestinian-Jordanian and US citizen whose family resides in Beirut, Amman, and Nazareth. He is the Director of the Issam Fares Institute of Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut.  He is an internationally syndicated political columnist and author. Rami was a visiting scholar at Stanford University in October 2006, and in November 2006, he was the co-recipient of the Pax Christi International Peace Award for his efforts to bring peace and reconciliation to the Middle East.

This is the Q&A after the lecture that Mr. Khouri answered many questions that explain current situation in the region.  

Libya after the fall of Tripoly

After 6 months of heavy bombardment by and military assistance from NATO and some Arab countries Libyan capital Tripoli fell and now is under the control of the Libyan Transitional National Council.  Countries from all across the world have recognized the TNC as the only representative of the people of Libya, but the struggle is not over.  Several cities are still in control of the forces loyal to colonel Ghadafi and the African Union is still refusing to recognize what has replaced one of the friendlier leaders of the African nations. 

In this program Goudarz Eghtedari of the Voices of the Middle East interviews Professor Stephen Zunes, University of San Francisco, an authority in the Middle East Studies www.stephenzunes.org,  and Mahdi Darius Nazemoroaya, a sociologist and research associate with the Center for Research on Globalization,  www.globalresearch.ca, who has been reporting from within the country for the past 3 months on dispatch by Global Research and Pacifica.

Host Goudarz Eghtedari presents a panel discussion on "Focus on North Africa: A Second Roundtable on the Middle East." recorded recently at Portland State University and featuring Lindsay Benstead, Assistant Professor of Political Science in the School of Government at PSU, where she teaches courses on Middle East and North African politics; Nabil Boudraa, Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies at Oregon State University; and Professor Keith Walters, a Professor in the Department of Applied Linguistics at PSU.