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2018 Halifax International Security Forum

2018 Halifax International Security Forum

Date
November 16-18, 2018
Location
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Participants
300

Agenda & Speakers

Friday, November 16
Saturday, November 17
Sunday, November 18

7:00

5K Run with Member of Parliament from Halifax Andy Fillmore

LOCATION: Westin Lobby

9:00-10:30

Breakfast Sessions

Energy: What’s New Under the Sun?
LOCATION: Harbour B

SPEAKERS:

  • Dr. John Lee, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute; Adjunct Professor, United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney
  • Mr. Vladimir Milov, Economic Advisor, Campaign of Russian Opposition Leader Alexey Navalny
  • Mr. Laurent Ruseckas, Executive Director, Global Gas, IHS Markit
  • MODERATOR: Professor Steve LeVine, Future Editor, Axios; Future Tense Fellow, Atlantic Council; Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service

 

Mayhem, Massacre, Misery: MidEast Makeover
LOCATION: Atlantic Ballroom

SPEAKERS:

  • Mr. Farea Al Muslimi, Chairman and Co-Founder, Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies
  • Mr. Raed Al Saleh, Co-Founder and Director, Syria Civil Defence
  • Mr. Lotfi Maktouf, Founder & President, Almadanya
  • Dr. Nancy Okail, Executive Director, The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy
  • Dr. Paul Salem, President, Middle East Institute
  • MODERATOR: Ms. Karen DeYoung, Associate Editor, Washington Post

 

Tech: American’s Great Inventions, Its Enemies’ True Intentions
LOCATION: Tradewinds

SPEAKERS:

  • Mr. Scott Carpenter, Managing Director, Jigsaw
  • Mr. Jason Rezaian, Global Opinions Writer, Washington Post
  • Mr. Rafal Rohozinski, Chief Executive Officer, The SecDev Group
  • MODERATOR: Ms. Courtney Kube, National Security & Military Reporter, NBC News

 

 

10:30-11:30

Plenary 7: UN-specific: Aging Institutions, Modern Solutions On the record

Speakers

Host, The West Block, Global News
Moderator
Ms. Mercedes Stephenson

Ms. Mercedes Stephenson

Mercedes Stephenson is Global News’ Ottawa Bureau Chief and the host of the network’s flagship national political affairs program The West Block. Leading Global News’ coverage from the nation’s capital, Stephenson interviews the biggest names in Canadian and international politics. Stephenson has covered major political and leadership conventions and scandals, provided her expertise from around the world while reporting from locales such as Latvia, France, Washington – travelling with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on his inaugural visit to the Trump White House, Afghanistan and Niger – where she was the first television reporter ever embedded with the Canadian Special Operations Forces. Stephenson holds a master’s degree in Strategic Studies from the University of Calgary where her thesis focused on information operations in Afghanistan. She also studied political journalism at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., interned at the Pentagon and studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for International Studies.

Secretary General and Co-Founder, Mubadara
Dr. Mustafa Barghouti

Dr. Mustafa Barghouti

Mustafa Barghouti is a Member of the Palestinian parliament, a 2005 presidential candidate, and General Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative. He is also the former Minister of Information under the first National Unity Government in Palestinian history, a physician, and a social, political, human rights and peace activist. He is regarded as one of the most active grassroots leaders in Palestine. He is a campaigner for the development of Palestinian civil society and grassroots democracy, an outspoken advocate of internal reform, an international spokesperson for the Palestinian cause, and a leading figure in the non-violent, peaceful struggle against the Occupation. As an organizer of international solidarity, Mustafa Barghouthi has made an extraordinary contribution to initiatives to peacefully challenge the ongoing Israeli Occupation of Palestine and bring it to end, as well as efforts to build the institutional framework of Palestinian civil society and promote the principles of internal democracy and good governance. He writes extensively for local and international audiences on civil society and democracy issues and the political situation in Palestine, as well as on health development policy in Palestine.

Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations, Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations
Ambassador Marc-André Blanchard

Ambassador Marc-André Blanchard

Marc-André Blanchard was appointed as Canada’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York in 2016. In 2017, he was named as a member of Canada’s North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Council. From 2010-2016 he was Chairman and CEO of McCarthy Tétrault, one of Canada’s national law firms. From 2003 to 2010, he was the Quebec Managing Partner for McCarthy Tétrault while practicing as a litigator and advising companies on strategic issues. He has been involved in some of Canada’s landmark cases and transactions. During his tenure as President and CEO, McCarthy Tétrault was named the most innovative law firm in Canada and one of the most innovative in North America by the Financial Times. Canadian Business identified Mr. Blanchard amongst Canada’s top 50 most powerful business leaders for 2016. In 2013, Mr. Blanchard was named among the 25 most influential lawyers in Canada by Canadian Lawyer Magazine, and Catalyst Canada awarded him the CEO Recognition Award for his leadership in gender diversity. In 2016, he was awarded the distinction of Advocatus Emeritus by the Quebec Bar Association. Mr. Blanchard is a graduate of the Université de Montréal, the London School of Economics and Columbia University.

Deputy Secretary General, North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Ms. Rose Gottemoeller

Ms. Rose Gottemoeller

Rose Gottemoeller is the Deputy Secretary General of NATO and was appointed in October 2016. Previously, she served as Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security at the U.S. Department of State. Prior to her formal appointment, she acted in this position from 2012 to 2014, while serving as Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance (2009-2014). In this capacity, she was the chief U.S. negotiator of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with the Russian Federation. Gottemoeller earlier served at the US Department of Energy and on the National Security Council. She has also held positions at think tanks such as Director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, Deputy Director of IISS in London, and as a scholar at RAND. She is fluent in Russian. Gottemoeller was born in Columbus, Ohio. She received a B.S. from Georgetown University, and an M.A. from George Washington University.

Ambassador and Permanent Representative of France, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
Ambassador Veronique Roger-Lacan

Ambassador Veronique Roger-Lacan

Ambassador Véronique Roger-Lacan has been France’s Permanent representative to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe since September 2015. She has held numerous positions in the French Foreign Affairs and Defense Ministries, including Special Representative for the fight against maritime piracy in the Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Guinea and Malacca Strait, and Head of the Mali-Sahel inter-agency unit at the time of the French military operation Serval. From 2011 to 2013 she served as Head of the Inter-Agency team for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and, prior to that, worked as a Strategic Affairs Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Additionally, she spent two years in the cabinet of the French Minister for Humanitarian affairs, and nine years in the Ministry of Defense as Deputy Policy Director in charge of crisis management and European Affairs. Ambassador Roger-Lacan has also worked at the NATO International Secretariat’s Defense Planning and Operations Divisions and at the United High Commissioner for Refugees’ regional offices in South East Asia (Bangkok) and the BeNeLux (Brussels). Ambassador Roger-Lacan is the Founder of the program “Encourage Excellencies” connecting interested diplomats with young, female students in the Balkans, Central Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, to offer guidance and thereby encouraging them to enter the diplomatic field.

The security challenges the world is facing today are radically different than those in the past. How well can our existing institutions, especially the UN, adapt to these new realities and serve as an effective instrument towards accomplishing global security? This was the central question surrounding this year’s seventh plenary event: UN-specific: Aging Institutions, Modern Solutions.

This panel included a range of perspectives from leaders of some of the world’s foremost multilateral institutions and civil society organizations. Marc-André Blanchard, Canada’s Permanent Representative to the UN, spoke about how the UN continues to be the most important multilateral institution in the world. Despite facing challenges in leadership and organizational structure, it is constantly finding new ways to adapt and has had recent successes, including Agenda 2030 and the Paris Agreement. Veronique Roger-Lacan, the French Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and Ms. Rose Goettemoller, the Deputy Secretary General of NATO, both spoke to the continued effectiveness of the Western Alliance for collective defense, and the shared benefit of Europe taking greater responsibility for its own security. A consistent message from all speakers was that interconnectedness of the modern world requires states to remain engaged globally and committed to multilateralism.

“I believe that the issue of corruption needs to be addressed within the context of being loyal to the values of democratic and human rights.”

— Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary General and Co-Founder, Mubadara

“We need to work differently within the UN. The Western bloc needs to be more open to partnerships around the world.”

— Ambassador Marc-Andre Blanchard, Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations

“So much of what we are facing as a defense alliance is not outright kinetic threats towards our alliance, but the gray zone.”

— Ms. Rose Gottemoeller, Deputy Secretary General, North Atlantic Treaty Organization

“There has been lots of controversy around the idea of a European army…Europeans taking responsibility for their security is not an act of aggression.”

— Ambassador Veronique Roger-Lacan, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of France, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

“You no longer need states to contact people from around the world.”

— Mercedes Stephenson, Host, The West Block, Global News

11:30-12:00

Coffee Break

12:00-13:00

Plenary 8: Future Tense: Our World in Ten On the record

Speakers

Global Editor, POLITICO
Moderator
Mr. Matthew Kaminski

Mr. Matthew Kaminski

Mr. Matthew Kaminski is Global Editor of POLITICO and the founding editor of POLITICO Europe, which launched in 2015. Starting as a freelancer from Eastern Europe before his senior year in college, Matt has reported on foreign affairs for the past quarter century. In 1997 he joined the Wall Street Journal in Brussels as a correspondent, heheld various roles with the Journal in Paris and New York. From 1994 to 1997, he covered the former Soviet Union for the Financial Times and Economist. His coverage of the Ukrainian crisis won an Overseas Press Club prize in 2015. He was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary that year. In 2004, Matt was awarded the Peter Weitz Prize by the German Marshall Fund for a series of columns about the European Union. Born in 1971 in Poland, Matt emigrated to the United States in 1980 and grew up in Washington, D.C. He holds degrees from Yale College and the Free University of Brussels and lives in Washington DC with his wife, Alexandra Geneste, and their two children.

Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics, Harvard Kennedy School
Professor R. Nicholas Burns

Professor R. Nicholas Burns

Ambassador (Ret.) Nicholas Burns is the Roy and Barbara Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is Faculty Chair of the Future of Diplomacy Project and the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship. He is Director of the Aspen Strategy Group and a Senior Counselor at the Cohen Group. From 2014-2016, he was a member of Secretary of State John Kerry’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board at the U.S. Department of State. He served in the United States Foreign Service for twenty-seven years until his retirement in April 2008. He was Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 2005 to 2008. Prior to that, he was Ambassador to NATO (2001-2005), Ambassador to Greece (1997-2001), and State Department Spokesman (1995-1997). He worked on the National Security Council staff where he was Senior Director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia Affairs and Special Assistant to President Clinton and, before that, Director for Soviet Affairs for President George H.W. Bush. Earlier in his career, he worked at the American Consulate General in Jerusalem and in the American Embassies in Egypt and Mauritania. He serves on the Board of several corporate and non-profit organizations.

Executive Director, Women without Walls Initiative, Pastor, Jos Christian Missions International
Pastor Esther Ibanga

Pastor Esther Ibanga

Esther Ibanga is founder of Women Without Walls Initiative (WOWWI) and Senior Pastor of Jos Christian Missions International. A former banker of Central Bank of Nigeria, Pastor Ibanga delved into development work in 2010 in response to the almost two-decade long ethno-religious conflict in Plateau State Nigeria. She formed Women Without Walls Initiative, an all-inclusive interfaith women’s group made up of women from both religions and different ethnicities at conflict to address the crisis in the state. The organization has been involved in mediation, conflict resolution and peace building in volatile and crisis prone Communities. In addition, WOWWI has undertaken developmental projects in underprivileged communities to address grievances that became drivers of violence. Through Pastor Ibanga’s leadership WOWWI has also made accomplishments in women and youth empowerment as well as achieved tremendous progress in restoring peace between the Christian and Muslim communities especially in Jos North – a flash-point and volatile community within Plateau State, Nigeria. She is a recipient of many peace awards including the Niwano Peace Prize 2015.

Vice Chairman, Open Russia
Mr. Vladimir Kara-Murza

Mr. Vladimir Kara-Murza

Mr. Vladimir Kara-Murza is Vice Chairman of Open Russia movement and, as a longtime colleague of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, chairman of the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom. Mr. Kara-Murza is also a former deputy leader of the People’s Freedom Party and was a candidate for the Russian State Duma. He has testified before parliaments in Europe and North America, and played a key role in the passage of Magnitsky Laws that imposed targeted sanctions on Russian human rights violators in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, and other Western countries. Twice, in 2015 and 2017, he was poisoned with an unknown substance and left in a coma; the attempts on his life were widely viewed as politically motivated. Mr. Kara-Murza is a contributing writer for the Washington Post, and previously worked as a journalist for Russian broadcast and print media, including Ekho Moskvy and Kommersant. He has led international efforts to commemorate Nemtsov, including with the designations of Boris Nemtsov Plaza in Washington D.C. and Boris Nemtsov Square in Vilnius, Lithuania. Kara-Murza is a recipient of the Magnitsky Human Rights Award, the Sakharov Prize for Journalism as an Act of Conscience, and the Geneva Summit Courage Award.

Executive Director, Institute for National Security Studies
General (Ret.) Amos Yadlin

General (Ret.) Amos Yadlin

Major General (ret.) Amos Yadlin has been the Director of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), Israel’s leading strategic Think Tank, since November 2011. He was designated Minister of Defense of the Zionist Union Party in the March 2015 elections. Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yadlin served for over 40 years in the Israel Defense Forces, nine of which as a member of the IDF General Staff. From 2006-2010, Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yadlin served as the IDF’s Chief of Defense Intelligence. From 2004-2006, he served as the IDF attaché to the United States. Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yadlin, a former deputy commander of the Israel Air Force, accumulated about 5,000 flight hours and flew more than 250 combat missions behind enemy lines. He participated in the Yom Kippur War (1973), Operation Peace for Galilee (1982) and Operation Tamuz – the destruction of the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq (1981).

This year’s Halifax International Security Forum paid respect to the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One, but in its final plenary session, Present Tense: Our World in Ten, the attention shifted to the future. How will the issues discussed throughout this year’s Forum play out over the next decade? Will democratic states be able to defend their values and institutions from growing threats like great power politics and cyber-warfare? This diverse set of panelists spoke confidently and optimistically about the resilience of democracies to withstand this challenge.

Former Ambassador to NATO, R. Nicholas Burns, Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School spoke about the need for democratic states to preserve their collective self-confidence, and their values and institutions, in the face of rising authoritarianism from China and Russia. Mr. Vladimir Kara-Murza, Vice Chairman of Open Russia, urged participants to challenge the perception of President Vladimir Putin’s invincibility within Russia, citing examples from Russian history that demonstrate the country’s capacity for and inclination towards leadership change. Pastor Esther Ibanga, Executive Director of Women Without Walls Initiative and General (Ret) Amos Yadlin, Executive Director of the Institute for National Security Studies, provided sobering outlooks on Africa and the Middle East respectively, but both pointed to the passion and potential of the coming generation to serve as a catalyst for positive change in these regions in the future. The plenary provided participants with important questions to reflect upon as they leave Halifax, and a path towards achieving the goals set out at this year’s Forum of ensuring the strength and prosperity of liberal values and democracy.

“We are seeing consistent repetition of ethnic and religious violence destroying the whole of Africa and stunting our growth and potential. I always feel that Africa is better than that.”

— Pastor Esther Ibanga, Executive Director, Women Without Walls Initiative, Pastor, Jos Christian Missions International

“How do we organize the world to defend against the major global challenges? We are going to create coalitions…and right now, that is a fitful process if the largest global economy, the United States, is looking inwards.”

— Professor R. Nicholas Burns, Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics, Harvard Kennedy School

“Those people who say that Putin’s regime is stable, entrenched and will be there for a long time, would benefit from looking at the history of Russia.”

— Mr. Vladimir Kara-Murza, Vice Chairman, Open Russia

“When every bodybag is seen everywhere, on social media, the price of war is very high.”

— - General (Ret.) Amos Yadlin, Institute for National Security Studies

“There seems to be a loss of commonality.”

— Mr. Matthew Kaminski, Global Editor, POLITICO

13:00-14:00

Closing Lunch

LOCATION: Atlantic Ballroom

Clippings

Pence: US is 'not going to stand' for Khashoggi killing
Bianca Britton

“Speaking at the Halifax International Security Forum in Canada, the Turkish minister, Hulusi Akar, said that an 18-strong “kill team” from Saudi Arabia carried out the murder of Khashoggi and could have smuggled his body parts out of the country thanks to their diplomatic status.”

Dunford Reiterates that Reconciliation is Only Viable Path in Afghanistan
Jim Garamone

“Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford reiterated yesterday that reconciliation is the only way forward in Afghanistan and that political, economic, religious and military pressure must be maintained on the group. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff emphasized to Yalda Hakim, a foreign correspondent of BBC World News, that there is no military solution in Afghanistan and that the struggle in that country will require all aspects of government. The chairman was participating in a Halifax Chat as part of the 10th annual International Security Forum here.”

With F-16 buy, Slovakia ‘cutting off’ Russian hardware
Joe Gould

“A top official in Afghanistan’s government says the Taliban – Islamic extremists who have waged a deadly war in that country – should take part in peace talks when the opportunity arises. Abdullah Abdullah, the chief executive of Afghanistan who is governing in tandem with President Ashraf Ghani, visited Halifax this weekend for the annual Halifax International Security Forum.”

APEC summit wraps with no joint statement amid US-China discord
Brad Lendon

“What was a ‘Great Wall of Sand’ just three years ago is now a ‘Great Wall of SAMs’ (surface-to-air missiles) in the South China Sea,” Adm. Phil Davidson told the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia. Davidson said the islands and the armaments on them give Beijing “the potential to exert national control over international waters and airspace through which over $3 trillion in goods travel every year, along with commercial air traffic.”

Ukrainian FM Klimkin: Russia loses war in Ukraine

“Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said Russia lost the war in Ukraine since it lost Ukrainians in the context of any effective cooperation. Speaking at the Halifax International Security Forum in Canada, he said Putin had allowed a full reshuffle of the Ukrainian society, according to the Ukrainian National News (UNN) outlet.”

State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence visits Canada
Alexandra Bednárová

“The State Secretary of the Ministry of Defense Róbert Ondrejcsák visited Canada on 14-18 November, where he had a series of bilateral negotiations. He also participated in the 10th International Halifax International Security Forum. TASR informed the former minister of international relations of the Slovak Republic and the participant of the forum Pavol Demeš.”

More News & Press

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