Programs/Events
Below is a chronological listing of upcoming programs and events. To see programs/events of a specific type, click on the sub-menu item to the left.
Below is a chronological listing of upcoming programs and events. To see programs/events of a specific type, click on the sub-menu item to the left.
When: August 14, 2010
From: 01:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Where: Eldorado Community CenterIt’s time again for CIR’s annual potluck picnic! And this year we will be convening at a new location – the patio of the Eldorado Community Center (directions below).
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As usual, CIR will provide plates, forks, spoons, knives, napkins, plastic glasses and bottled water. You will pack a personal picnic for yourself, and if you’d like, bring a dish to share with others. (If you have prepared a dish to share, please bring a serving dish and utensil for it.) Alcohol is permitted. You may bring your own preferred beverages (with openers).
RESERVATIONS: This is a free event, but we still need to know who is coming and how many so we can provide nametags, adequate table service, etc. So, please let the CIR office know if you are planning to attend by calling 982-4931 or email: sfcir@newmexico.com.
DIRECTIONS: The Eldorado Community Center is 15 minutes from downtown Santa Fe. From I-25, take the Hwy 285 Exit #290 going South towards Clines Corners. Immediately after exiting the freeway, turn right at the first light onto Avenida Amistad. Follow Avenida Amistad until you arrive at La Hacienda Loop on your right. Parking is in front of the Community Center, the picnic will be on the patio at the back of the building.
When: August 28, 2010
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Rogues and Rogue Nations is the topic of the Fall 2010 International Lecture Series. The series of three lectures focus on individuals and nations that are perceived as having failed to abide by or deliberately flouted international standards of conduct. Two prime examples are Iran and North Korea, both of which appear determined to develop and deploy nuclear weapons as key elements in their military arsenals. The United Nations has approved a number of economic sanctions and urged its members to impose them on these “rogue” nations. Although Venezuela has so far avoided such sanctions, at least from the American point of view, it is a less than desirable hemispheric neighbor. Our speakers are experts on these three nations and on the leaders who currently cause considerable alarm not only in the United States but in many other parts of the world.
As with previous International Lecture Series, Members can save money by advance purchase of tickets to all three lectures. See detail in the posting below.
When: August 28, 2010
From: 03:00 PM - 05:00 AM
Subject: Iran under Mahmoud AhmadinejadProfessor Bahman Baktiari is an associate professor at the University of Utah where he serves as Director of its Middle East Center. He received his Ph.D. from the Woodrow Wilson Department of Government and Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia. Before moving to University of Utah in 2009, he was the Director of the School of Policy and International Affairs (SPIA) at University of Maine. Earlier he served as Director of Research for the William S. Cohen Center for International Policy and Commerce. He recently published “Iranian Society 30 Years after the Revolution: A Surprising Picture” in the Spring 2009 special issue of The Middle East Journal.
When: September 7, 2010
From: 05:30 PM - 07:00 PM

Bradley seeks to explore the origins of America’s bloody 20th-century history. Operating as a two-man diplomatic tag team, President Teddy Roosevelt and Secretary of War William Taft would green-light secret treaties that would negatively impact future generations and are still adversely influencing our foreign policy.
Estancia Primera Club House is located at 450 Avenida Primera South off of Hyde Park Road.
When: September 8, 2010
From: 11:30 AM - 01:30 PM
As attention shifts away from Iraq to focus further east on Pakistan and Afghanistan, there is little discussion in the U.S. media of the situation on the ground. In particular, the press and political commentators largely ignore the landmark strides toward democracy and economic development in the Iraqi Kurdistan area in the north of the country. Qubad Talabani, as Representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to the United States, will describe those strides and how they will shape the future of the Iraq and Kurdistan Region.
Talabani, son of Jalal Talabani, President of the Republic of Iraq, served as Senior Foreign Relations officer for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) (one of the leading Kurdish political parties in Iraq), He worked closely with the U.S-led Coalition Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA), and was PUK’s top liaison to the Coalition after it became the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and to US forces in Iraq. He was also a key negotiator in drafting the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL), Iraq’s first post-Saddam constitution.
During the period 2001 – 2003, Mr. Talabani served first as a Special Assistant to the then PUK Representative in Washington and then later he served as the Deputy PUK Representative in Washington D.C.
When: September 16, 2010
From: 05:30 PM - 07:00 PM
Subject: Energizing America:Rayola Dougher is a senior economic advisor in the American Petroleum Institute’s Office of the Chief Economist. She currently is one of API’s principal spokespersons. Her efforts focus on informing policymakers, the news media, and the public on energy market issues and trends.
As a senior economic advisor, Dougher analyses information, manages projects and develops briefing materials on energy markets and oil industry policy issues. She authors and co-authors economic research studies covering a diverse range of topics including crude oil and petroleum product markets, gasoline taxes, energy conservation, and competition in retail markets. In addition to testifying before federal and state legislators, she has participated in numerous newspaper, radio and television interviews on a wide range of issues affecting the oil industry, including crude oil and gasoline prices, industry taxes and earnings, exploration and production, and refining and marketing topics.
Prior to joining API, Dougher worked at the Institute for Energy Analysis where her research focused on carbon dioxide related issues and international energy demand and supply forecasts.
Dougher holds a master’s degree in economic development and East Asian studies from American University and a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from the State University of New York at Brockport.
Purchase your tickets by calling the Office or by using this secure website. (Note that, if purchasing tickets here, you will need to return to this page or the calendar multiple times to add tickets with differing Fee Types to your shopping cart.)
When: September 18, 2010
From: 03:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Subject: Venezuela under Hugo ChavezBrian A. Nelson earned an MFA from the University of Arizona as well as degrees in International Studies and Economics. He first arrived in Venezuela in 1988 as an AFS high school exchange student and has lived there for many years. In 2002 he received a Fulbright grant to study Venezuela’s cultural transformation under Hugo Chávez. He currently teaches at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and, in the summers, at Johns Hopkins University. His most recent publication is The Silence and the Scorpion: The Coup Against Chavez and the Making of Modern Venezuela (Nation Books, May 2009) about the 2002 coup. It was named one of the Best Books of 2009 by The Economist.
When: October 7, 2010
From: 05:00 PM - 07:00 PM
Subject: North Korea under Kim Jong-ilBruce Cumings is a Professor of History and Department Chair at The University of Chicago. He earned his doctorate at Columbia University and is a recognized expert on Korean history. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1999, and is the recipient of fellowships from the Ford Foundation, NEH, the MacArthur Foundation, the Center for Advanced Study at Stanford, and the Abe Fellowship Program of the Social Science Research Council. He has published several books and numerous articles on various aspects of Korea. His most recent book is Dominion From Sea to Sea: Pacific Ascendancy and American Power (Yale University Press, forthcoming.)
When: December 31, 2010