Join us for a discussion on sustainable peacebuilding in the modern age, The Overlooked Enemies of Peace: Rethinking Modern Peacekeeping Program, a conversation you won’t want to miss.
In-Person Reception: 6:00 PM Central Time (CT)
In-Person & Zoom Program: 6:30 PM Central Time (CT) / 7:30 PM Eastern Time (ET)
This timely event will explore recent and ongoing conflicts, including:
Haiti, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Gaza, Kosovo and other conflict regions.
The program will feature three distinguished experts in peacebuilding:
Retired U.S. Ambassador Luis G. Moreno
Ambassador Luis G. Moreno, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, was confirmed as U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica in 2014. He has served in senior roles in Madrid, Tel Aviv, Baghdad, Mexico, Haiti, Colombia, and Panama, with expertise in political-military affairs, counternarcotics, and refugee coordination.
During his tenure in Israel, Ambassador Moreno served as the Oslo Accords Roadmap Deputy and played a key role in negotiating humanitarian corridors and the evacuation of American citizens from Gaza during Operation “Cast Lead.”
Ambassador Moreno has received numerous awards, including the James Clement Dunn Award for Excellence in Diplomacy and the Presidential Meritorious Service Award. He holds a B.A. from Fordham University and an M.A. from Kean College, and speaks Spanish, French, and some Haitian Creole.
Read the full bio at this link: Moreno, Luis G.
David Young, Conflict Advisor
David Young is a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, a consultant for the World Bank focused on fragile and conflict-affected settings, and a consultant for the German government advising on reconstruction strategy in Ukraine and Syria. He has twenty years of policy and field experience helping prevent and reduce violent conflict in Afghanistan, the Sahel, Israel/Palestine, the Balkans, the Caucasus, and Northern Ireland.
Most recently, he served as the deputy director for the lessons learned program at the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), where he advised the NSC, State, DOD, and USAID how to stabilize conflict-prone countries around the world. Prior to that, with Interpeace, he led a comprehensive review of stabilization efforts in Mali, including the country's UN mission.
Special guest author, Dr. Michael J. Dziedzic Col. (Ret.), Peace & Stability Operations Expert
Michael Dziedzic is a retired Colonel with over 20 years of experience in the international civil/military and stabilization field whose career blended the worlds of theory and practice. His scholarly positions have included Professor at the Air Force Academy, the National War College, Georgetown University, and George Mason University and Senior Fellow and Senior Program Officer at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Institute for National Strategic Studies, and US Institute of Peace. His field experience includes postings in a number of societies emerging from protracted conflict, including El Salvador, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan. His publications include works that have shaped the way the U.S. approaches peace and stability operations: Policing the New World Disorder identified a recurring “public security gap” in international interventions which led to the creation of the Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units;Quest for Viable Peace proposed that “conflict transformation” is the essence of the transition from war to sustainable peace, and this concept was adopted by the State Department’s Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization as the paradigm for U.S. strategic planning and was incorporated into the US Army Field Manual 3-07 on Stability Operations. His most recent publications (2016) are Criminalized Power Structures: The Overlooked Enemies of Peace and Combating Criminalized Power Structures: A Toolkit provide empirical evidence that criminalized power structures are the predominant spoilers of peace and stability operations and propose strategies for dealing with them.
The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Arnold Vela.
Dr. Arnold Vela, PhD in Latin American Studies, is a Rio Grande Valley native whose career spans the military, foreign service, and education. He earned degrees in Philosophy (Kilroe Seminary College), an MBA (Chapman College), and a PhD in Latin American Area Studies (UT Austin). He served in the Air Force as a B52 Radar Navigator and later as an instructor and Associate Professor at the Air Force Academy, where he modernized Spanish and foreign language programs and taught interdisciplinary courses in politics and economics. Following retirement, he joined the State Department, serving in consular, management, and peacekeeping roles, including a UN mission monitor assignment and as Deputy at the School of Democracy and Human Rights at Fort Benning, earning the Army Superior Civilian Service Award. He also served as a Pearson Fellow in the U.S. Senate, contributing to labor protections in the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. At Northwest Vista College, he integrates global perspectives into government courses and remains active in community affairs, particularly with the World Affairs Council.
Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of meaningful change. Learn how you can contribute to peacebuilding in your own way.
Admission:
Members: $10
Students: No cost
Voluntary gift appreciated! Donate
Non-Members: $20
New Member (admission + 1-year membership, you save the $20): $100
Come and be part of the conversation!
Register Here to Join the Zoom Webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_j7F640ehR6eHJeJPXdDvyg
