U.S.-Israeli ties examined in lecture
America’s support for Israel and the costs and consequences for U.S. policy will be examined by Aaron David Miller, a public policy scholar with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, in a free public lecture at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 16 in Room 182 of the Dennison Building.
In “Loving Israel to Death: America, Israel and the Pursuit of Arab-Israeli Peace,” Miller will examine the many aspects of Arab-Israeli peacemaking, including the one that is perhaps the most misunderstood and politicized, the U.S.-Israeli relationship and how domestic politics influences American policies.
Miller, an alumnus who holds a doctorate degree in history, became a senior Middle East advisor to six American secretaries of state during his 25 years at the State Department. He left the State Department in 2003 to run Seeds of Peace, a nonprofit organization that trains promising youths from regions at war to become future leaders. In 2006, he became a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
His new book, “The Much Too Promised Land: America’s Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace,” includes interviews with presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, along with four National Security Advisors and nine Secretaries of State, from Henry Kissinger to Condoleezza Rice.
The lecture is sponsored by the International Institute.
Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen to visit U-M
Ronen Sen, India’s ambassador to the United States and former ambassador to Russia will speak on U.S.-India relations at 6 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Alumni Center, 200 Fletcher.
Sen’s visit helps inaugurate a major new three-year initiative of scholarly programs focused on contemporary South Asia, entitled “The Trehan India Initiative at the University of Michigan.” The initiative is made possible by a grant from Ranvir and Adarsh Trehan and the Trehan Foundation Fund.
Sen was India’s first ambassador to a newly configured Russia (1992-98), and also served as ambassador to Germany during that country’s reunification (1998-2002). Sen’s service in Moscow helped re-establish a longstanding friendship between India and Russia at a time when relations between the two countries were at a low ebb.
In a 2004 India Abroad interview, just weeks before he assumed his post in Washington, Sen spoke of his belief that the many Americans of Indian origin had served as unofficial ambassadors contributing to the American economy and culture in so many ways. His role, he says, was to continue to strengthen the special relationship between “the world’s biggest democracy and the world’s most powerful democracy.”
Sen’s visit is sponsored by the Center for South Asian Studies, the International Institute, the College of LSA, the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, and the Office of the President.
