|
|
Great Decisions 2011
GD_2011
Discussions to engage citizens in learning about the world
To reference the LWV-LPC 2008 - 2010 Great Decisions activities, click the Great Decisions Archive to your left.
Great Decisions 2011.
GD 2011 Reference Materials.
Past Events.
Great Decisions Series for 2011
*The 2011 Great Decisions series sponsored by the League of Women Voters of LaPlata County and the Durango Public Library has concluded on April 28.
Please plan to join us next year for Great Decisions
Discussion topics for 2011 will include
Great Decisions 2011 Reference Materials
*Session 8: Making Sense of Multilateralism, Tuesday April 26 and Thursday April 28, 11:45am to 1:45pm.
Session Leader: Kurt Johnson
- Making Sense of Multilateralism by David Shorr, Program Officer, Stanley Foundation in Muscatine IA.
- Ivory Coast Opposition Pounds at Strongman New Yor TImes, By ADAM NOSSITER
ACCRA, Ghana -- Opposition forces in Ivory Coast on Wednesday blasted away at the residence of the nation's strongman, Laurent Gbagbo, hoping to seize him alive for a possible trial after he refused French and United Nations demands to step down...
- Death toll from Japan's disasters over 8,000; more than 13,000 missing Washington Post, By David Nakamura and Joel Achenbach
TOKYO -- The combined toll of those dead and missing after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami surpassed 21,000 Sunday, and new food-contamination reports surfaced as workers continued to try to tame the radiation-spewing Fukushima Daiichi power plant...
- The colonel and the 'nice' son were an effective double act Alarabiya.net
For many in Europe, the most shocking images to emerge from Libya were not the piles of bodies of protesters, nor the chilling rant of Colonel Muammar Qaddafi as he pledged to cleanse Libya, house by house, of the "greasy rats" threatening his regime. He has been known for such language for decades.
What really struck home was the bizarre performance of Col Qaddafi's second son, Saif al Islam, who appeared on state television on Sunday night vowing that the family would fight "to the last man, woman and bullet" to stay in power...
*Session 7: The Caucasus Tuesday, April 12, 11:45am - 1:45pm and Thursday, April 14, 11:45am - 1:45pm
Session leader: Ed Villmoare
- The Caucasus by S.N. MacFarlane, Professor of International Relations, University of Oxford.
- Thousands overwhelm riot police in Armenia By Mariam Harutunian (AFP) + Mar 17, 2011, Google News "It's time for radical changes in Armenia," opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian, a former president who now heads the Armenian National Congress, told the rally.
"There is no point in pinning one's hopes on this government because it does not intend to give up a policy that robs our nation, while on the other hand it is unable to push the economy forward," Ter-Petrosian said.
The demonstration was the largest in Armenia since the protests in 2008 against the disputed election of current president Serzh Sarkisian, who the opposition accused of rigging polls in the small, isolated former Soviet republic.
- Iran, Armenia to boost industrial ties 11:07, March 21, 2011, English People's Daily Iran and Armenia called for further expansion of bilateral industrial ties when the two countries' officials met in Tehran, the local English language satellite Press TV reported on Sunday.
Iranian Deputy Minister of Industries and Mines Ahmad Khademolmelleh and Armenian Ambassador to Iran Grigor Arakelian on Sunday discussed the prospects for the two countries' industrial relations, the report said.
Khademolmelleh stressed both countries' potentials for bolstering cooperation in mines and industrial areas and called for organizing industrial tours for Armenian business owners in Iran, according to Press TV...
- I Do Not Want Independence, Newsweek 10/24/2010 In 2004, Chechnya's president, Ahkmad Kadyrov, the face of the Kremlin Chechenization project, was assassinated and his son Ramzan took power. Ramzan went much further than his father: human-rights groups have accused him of ordering torture, abductions, and killings, both inside Chechnya and on dissidents abroad. At the same time he has brought a brutal peace to his troubled republic, introducing morality police and strict Islamic dress codes. Kadyrov spoke to NEWSWEEK's Anna Nemtsova at his heavily fortified residence in Gudermes...
*Session 6: Sanctions and nonproliferation Tuesday, March 29, 11:45am - 1:45pm and Thursday, March 31, 11:45am - 1:45pm
Session leader: John Lyons
- Sanctions and nonproliferation by Ronald J. Bee, San Diego State University
- North Korea Seen Preparing For Possible Third Nuclear Test NTI:Global Security Newswire,2/22/11
North Korea is excavating new tunnels at the site where it previously carried out two nuclear test detonations, raising concerns that a third blast could be in the works, Reuters reported on Sunday...
- The Iran Primer The United States Institute of Peace
"The Iran Primer" brings together 50 top experts--both Western and Iranian--to offer comprehensive but concise overviews of Iran's politics, economy, military, foreign policy, and nuclear program...
- Engagement, Coercion, and Iran's Nuclear Challenge The Stimson Center, November 2010
US Iran policy has been long on the tactics and techniques of sanctions, and short on a clear, coherent, strategic vision of the kind of US-Iranian relationship Washington ultimately wants. Without defining that vision - and the most effective balance of incentives and punitive measures needed to get there - US policy toward Iran will continue to drift toward a choice between two unpalatable outcomes: the use of military force; or policies that seek to contain and deter Iran after it has succeeded in acquiring a nuclear weapons capability...
*Session 5: Germany's Ascendancy, Tuesday Mar 15 11:45am - 1:45pm and Thursday Mar 17 11:45am - 1:45pm
Session leader: Dr. Dennis Lum
- Germany's Ascendancy 2011 Edition by William Sweet who writes about energy and climate, arms control and geopolitics.
- Merkel fills defense minister void with trusted ally DW-World DE
German Chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed on Wednesday that Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere will succeed Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg as defense minister in the wake of a plagiarism scandal that led to Guttenberg's resignation...
- Why Budget Cuts Don't Bring Prosperity New York TImes By DAVID LEONHARDT
Remember the German economic boom of 2010?
Germany's economic growth surged in the middle of last year, causing commentators both there and here to proclaim that American stimulus had failed and German austerity had worked. Germany's announced budget cuts, the commentators said, had given private companies enough confidence in the government to begin spending their own money again.
Well, it turns out the German boom didn't last long...
- German Defense Minister Defies Calls to Quit Over Plagiarism New York TImes By JUDY DEMPSEY
BERLIN -- Defying calls by the opposition for his resignation, the German defense minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, said Tuesday that he would hold on to his job despite his admission that he had submitted a faulty dissertation for his doctoral degree.
"I made serious mistakes," he said Monday night at a campaign event for the Christian Democratic Union in Kelkheim, in the state of Hesse...
*Session 4: Banks, Governments and Debt Crises Tuesday Mar 1 11:45am - 1:45pm and Thursday Mar 3 11:45am - 1:45pm
Session leader: Glenn Rodey
- Banks, Governments and Debt Crises 2011 Edition by Anna Gilpern, Law Professor - American University, Washington College of Law
- Metropolitan Recovery and Spending Priorities Brookings Institute,
In Brief,
President Obama's FY 2010 budget will fundamentally reshape the nation's priorities over the next decade. Brookings experts analyze how the 2010 budget plan and stimulus affect the metropolitan drivers of national prosperity, including innovation, human capital, infrastructure and sustainable places...
- Secretary Geithner Testifies on the Administration's FY 2012 Budget U.S. Department of the Treasury
This week, Secretary Geithner testified before the House Ways and Means Committee, Senate Finance Committee, House Budget Committee and Senate Budget Committee on the Administration's FY 2012 Budget, which lays out a responsible plan that puts the nation on a path to live within our means so we can invest in our future + by cutting wasteful spending and making tough choices on programs we cannot afford, while making the investments we need to grow the economy and create jobs....
- The Barnard Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis is the economic policy research arm of the New School for Social Research Department of Economics. SCEPA focuses on the U.S. economy, with an awareness of the global context of domestic economic developments.
*Session 3: The Horn of Africa Tuesday Feb 15 11:45am - 1:45pm and Thursday Feb 17 11:45am - 1:45pm
Session leader: Pat Chatfield & Ross Park
- The Horn of Africa Great Decisions 2011 Edition by Charles F. Dunbar, Boston University
- Is Yemen Better Suited for Reform Than Egypt or Tunisia? The Atlantic Magazine, by Joshua Foust - a fellow at the American Security Project and a columnist for PBS Need to Know.
- Somalia: Puntland Bans TFG Officials, Dispute Escalates allafrica.com
- CIA coup in Somalia By Gerard Prunier Le Monde Diplomatique
*Session 2: American National Security since 9/11 Tuesday Feb 1 11:45am - 1:45pm and Thursday Feb 3 12:30pm - 2:30pm
Session leader: Gail Harris
*Session 1: Rebuilding Haiti Tuesday Jan 18 11:45am - 1:45pm and Thursday Jan 20 12:30pm - 2:30pm
Session leader: Curt Johnson
Past Events
Comments, suggestions, questions? Contact our
webmaster.
Last revised: February 3, 2012 11:27 PST.
© Copyright
League of Women Voters of La Plata County, Colorado. All rights reserved.
|
![[LWV]](images/lwv76.gif)
