June 30, 2011
The Center for Political Studies headed by Gulnara Karimova on June 30 held the second session of Discussion Club, a platform for establishing a professional dialog between Uzbek and international experts. Titled “Contemporary U.S. Foreign Policy in Eurasia: the Formation of New Parameters or the Preservation of Traditional Approaches”, the session brought together leading experts.
The session, which was opened by Professor Gulnara Karimova, was attended by international experts such as Andranik Migranyan, head of the New York Office of the Institute for Democracy and Cooperation (USA), Irina Isakova, an independent expert on international affairs, a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Royal Institute of Defense Studies Chatham House (UK), Mikhail Leontyev, a prominent journalist and editor-in-chief of “Odnako” journal (Russia), and Saurab Kumar Shahi, senior correspondent on international issues of The Sunday Indian magazine.
Other participants included officials of government agencies, ministries, higher educational institutions, local think tanks international organizations and diplomatic missions in Tashkent. It`s notable that the session was also attended by intellectual youth who has the opportunity to ask the experts questions.
The Discussion Club session focused on a series of issues related to the conceptual aspects in current American politics: values, political and economic values, political and economic benchmarks, and key ideologies and strategies.
The experts also looked into issues linked with the future of the U.S. mission in Afghanistan and the prospects of the U.S. policy after 2014; the impact of change in Washington`s Afghanistan policy on the U.S. strategy for Central Asia and the Greater Middle East at large.
Those gathered also addressed issues relating to the fight against international terrorism and search of a new paradigm for NATO development. The experts also discussed the so-called Chinese challenge as a new vector of NATO development.
Problems in the U.S. economy and their impact on Washington`s geopolitical strategy in Eurasia and Central Asia made for another interesting item in the session agenda the participants discussed.
The participants held a fruitful discussion on the current unrest in the Middle East and North Africa as well as possible adjustments to the U.S. strategy toward the Muslim world.
Discussion Club is a platform for setting up a professional dialog between Uzbek and international experts and creating a ground for generating new viewpoints and ideas able to have an impact, both theoretically and practically, on the development of a political and economic school of thought in Uzbekistan and its incorporation into the global intellectual space.
Related links
A Large Scale Forum in Tashkent