Welcome to the AIIA NSW

The AIIA NSW is an independent, non-profit organisation, committed to the promotion of informed discussion among the Australian public on international issues and their impact on Australia. Members and visitors hear well informed speakers discuss international issues in an informal environment at the historic Glover Cottages, at 124 Kent St, Millers Point, Sydney.  

Israel's countdown to a Nuclear Iran

Can and will Jerusalem strike?

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Hosted by: Australian Institute of International Affairs, Sydney

The event will start on: Wednesday, 14 March 2012 6:00 PM

And will end on: Wednesday, 14 March 2012 7:30 PM

At The Glover Cottages, Sydney

124 Kent Street , Sydney NSW

    nsw.branch@aiia.asn.au

Posted by: nsw   

There is no international consensus on how close Iran is to having a usable nuclear weapon. Attempts by the IAEA inspectors to visit a key site in Iran recently were re-buffed again, leaving the inspectors disappointed and unclear on Iran's capability.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his defence minister, Ehud Barak, a former prime minister, believe the time for action is almost nigh. A view Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, has done nothing to detract from.

Contrary to this, former Mossad chief Meir Dagan and former chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi assert that the threat is not as immediate. Independent commentators, like Stratfor’s George Friedman, argue that Iran does not yet have a nuclear weapon, but even without one, the country is moving to a situation where it is the strongest power in the Persian Gulf. Dr Friedman and Stratfor chief analyst Robert Kaplan discuss the prospects of an attack with NSW president Colin Chapman in a special video.

But Mr Barak recently told the New York Times, “this is not about some abstract concept, but a genuine concern. The Iranians are, after all, a nation whose leaders have set themselves a strategic goal of wiping Israel off the map”.

The New York Times magazine published a seminal article Israel v Iran, posing the question: “Will Israel attack Iran?”

The Financial Times columnist Philip Stephens has urged all sides not to 'play politics with the bomb'

To discuss this timely and controversial issue we will welcome an authority on the Israeli-Iran dispute. Dr Emanuele Ottolenghi is a senior fellow of the US-based Foundation for the Defence of Democracies, and has earned a reputation for his work on Iran.  He has advised several foreign ministries in Europe, and testified before the Canadian and European parliaments. This is the first of two evenings on the growing power of Iran. This week we focus on the nuclear issue; next week our attention shifts to Tehran's potential hegemony in the Persian Gulf.

Dr Ottolenghi’s areas of expertise are: Israel (domestic politics, constitutional issues, political trends, elections), the Arab-Israeli conflict, Iran, terrorism and security issues, EU Middle East foreign policy and Transatlantic relations. He has done extensive research exposing the connections between Iran’s energy companies and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Dr Ottolenghi has published The Pasdaran: Inside Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and is author ofIran: The Looming Crisis – Can the West Live with Iran’s Nuclear Threat? Dr Ottolenghi has written widely in the international media, including The Wall Street Journal, Newsday, Foreign Affairs, Commentary, and The Guardian. Previously, he headed the Transatlantic Institute in Brussels, where he lives and has attained his Ph.D. in political theory at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

PLEASE NOTE THIS MEETING IS ON A WEDNESDAY. PLEASE BOOK EARLY.

Entry:  AIIA members $15; senior / student members $10; visitors $20 senior visitors $15.00


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AIIANSW starts new blog, posts videos

The AIIA in NSW has started a new blog to provide its members with more news and pictures about its activities, including videos of most of its meetings, as well as comments about about major foreign policy issues. 

Called the Glover Cottages Portal - after the name of its historic Sydney headquarters - it will provide comment and analysis as well as liove links to specific web pages of media that cover intern ational issues well, such as ABC's Lateline, the Financial Times and the New York Times. 

Edited by AIIANSW council member Shannon Barnes, the Glover Cottages Portal is open to anyone with a positive interest in international affairs. 

AIIA NSW hosts senior Chinese delegation

 

A delegation from China's State Council Information Office in Beijing, headed by Dong Yunhu, the deputy director, visited the AIIA at the Glover Cottages on December 16 for an exchange of views on journalism and media developments in Asia.
Mr Dong and his team of six had come to Sydney from Indonesia, where he delivered a speech at the 4th Bali Democracy Forum. He is an author and former secretary-general of the China Society for Human Rights Studies.

Colin Chapman, AIIA NSW president, opened the meeting with an overview of the Australian media, noting that only one national newspaper and three metropolitan dailies took international affairs seriously, while only one broadcaster, the ABC, supported a correspondent in Beijing, though there were a number of internet entities that provided analysis and comment.
Louisa Graham, general manager of the Walkleys Foundation, and a former AIIA NSW vice-president, told the visitors that one good reason why the Australian press had not been dragged into scandals like the one in Britain, which is currently the subject to a major investigation, was because Australian journalists were bound by a code of ethics. Mr Dong asked for - and was given a copy of the code. 

In his remarks he made it clear he favoured an open press, while also adding the caveat that in China journalists were obliged to consider also their responsibilities to society. Mr Dong said China is struggling with the rapidity at which communications are developing through the use of internet and electronic means. This was highlighted in a question by William Hobart who asked how the SCIO felt about the micro blogging surge in China. He stressed that media freedom is very important, but defined freedom as the ability to “act within the law,” and emphasised that as the media grows in importance and reach so too does its responsibilities, such as not to undermine public order or security.

The two sides agreed to continue their dialogue, possibly by holding a conference on journalistic principles and standards. The China State Council also agreed to investigate an AIIA request to provide more information on the problems and challenges China faces in addressing climate change. 


 


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