On Saturday, August 22, 2020, from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM (Eastern Time, US), Professor Albert Chapman addressed the Mackinder Forum Seminar on “Urban Warfare: An Emerging Geopolitical Conundrum.” Professor Chapman is a librarian at Purdue University. He is the author of several studies, most notably: Global Defence Procurement and… Read more »
On Saturday, August 15, 2020, from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM (Eastern Time, US), Professor Ofira Seliktar presented a broad ranging talk devoted to “Iran’s Proxy Wars: Limits to A Successful Strategy?” Professor Seliktar is Professor Emerita at Gratz College. She has written extensively on predictive failures in intelligence and… Read more »
Members of the seminar recommended the continuation of the conversation initiated by Professor Sally Paine. The following readings were recommended for discussion on Sunday, August 9, 2020, 1:30-3:00 PM (Eastern Time, US.): (1) https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2020/08/04/chinas_rise_is_macarthurs_vindication_115517.html; (2) https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/china-middle-eastern-kingdom; (3) https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/08/china-rising-superpower-crumbling-totalitarian-machine/; and (4) https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/industry-and-energy/2020/08/container-china-arrives-narvik-it-could-pave-way-new-transport-route.
Professor Sally Paine of the Naval War College presented an hour-long talk on “The Geopolitics of Maritime and Continental Powers: China, Russia, and the United States.” A discussion will follow. This seminar was held on Saturday, August 1st, NOON-2 p.m. (Eastern Time, US). According to Professor Paine, readings for this… Read more »
Admiral Chris Parry delivered a presentation titled “Economic Infiltration: Lessons from the United Kingdom.” This seminar was held on Sunday, July 26, 2020, 1:30-3:00 PM (Eastern Time, US.) Admiral Parry is well known to the Mackinder Forum, having presented several times to our Seminar and annual meetings. A reading was… Read more »
Professor Jeannie Johnson (Director, Center for Anticipatory Intelligence, Utah State University) presented a talk on “Strategic Culture for Intelligence Analysis” on July 11, 2020, noon-2:00 p.m. (Eastern time, US.) Two papers were circulated in advance: Jeannie L. Johnson and Matthew T. Berrett, “Cultural Topography: A New Research Tool for Intelligence… Read more »
Professor Caroline Kennedy Pipe (Loughborough University, UK) presented a talk to the Mackinder Forum Seminar on Saturday, June 20, 2020, Noon-1:30 p.m. (Eastern time, US). Two papers were circulated in advance: Caroline Kennedy-Pipe & Nicholas Rengger, “Apocalypse Now? Continuities or Disjunctions in World Politics after 9/11,” International Affairs 82, 3 (2006),… Read more »
June 7, 2020 Professor Paul Rahe (Hillsdale College) led our fifth Mackinder Forum Seminar; he discussed “The Enduring Geopolitical Lessons of the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars.” A discussion followed. The Coordinator of the Mackinder Forum-US circulated two readings by Professor Rahe: (1) “The Primacy of Domestic Politics,” a expanded version… Read more »
May 24, 2020 The participants in the fourth Mackinder Forum Seminar decided to extend the conversation concerning the nature and utility of grand strategy by asking the participants to address explicitly the arguments in the following two articles: Richard Haass, “A Cold War With China Would Be a Mistake,” The… Read more »
May 17, 2020Our third seminar, devoted to “The Nature & Utility of Grand Strategy,” addressed several questions: (1) What is grand strategy? (2) Is grand strategy now possible in the US? (3) In the presence of the Chinese challenge, is a US grand strategy necessary? (4) If necessary, but not… Read more »
