Big Questions

At the end, did the U.S. “forever war” in Afghanistan do more harm than good?

• What are the Lessons of History?

Is protecting humanity’s future from existential risks the central challenge of our time?

• getting people to act: Existential Does Not Touch Us (sp)
• global cooperation:
  • Global Catastrophic Risk Institute
  • Uniting the Techno-Democracies to Build Digital Cooperation
• nuclear war:
  • Iran Nuclear Deal: Losing an Enemy by Trita Parsi
  • The Bomb by Fred Kaplan
• on the edge of the burning platform: The Precipice by Toby Ord
• leadership during crisis: The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
• middle east unraveling: Black Wave by Kim Ghattas

By returning and renegotiating the Nuclear Deal with Iran, can we

• avert the threat of war with Iran, and
• prevent the possibility of an Iranian nuclear bomb?

Big Picture

Big Picture / History / World Since 1920

Intl. Movements, Diplomacy, War Since 1920

• Period between World Wars 1920-39
• World War II, 1939-1945
• International Relations
• Economic developments from 1940
  • World Economic Forum (Davos)

Europe Since 1920

• Western Europe
• Eastern Europe
  • Soviet Union > Russia
  • Ukraine
  • Belarus
  • Transcaucasia: Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia
• Central Europe

United States since 1920

Canada Since 1920

Latin-American & Caribbean Nations

East Asia in the 20th century

• China since 1912
• Japan since 1910
  • 2021 Tokyo: everyday stories (documentary films)
• Korea since 1910
  • North Korea
  • South Korea

S. & S.E. Asia since 1920

• India:
  • love story: A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
  • quirky romance: Photograph
• Pakistan
  • blasphemy: rule by the muslim mob
• Bangladesh
• Ceylon
• Tibet
• Nepal
• Mainland Southeast Asia
• Indonesia
• Philippines

Australia and Oceania Since 1920

Southwest Asia and Africa since 1920

After 20 years in Afghanistan, “Americans should admit that today’s terrorists do not need physical sanctuary, so trying to control every isolated patch of territory on earth is not worth the cost even if it could be done.”

Steven Metz

• Turkey
• Cyprus
• Arab states
• Israel
• Iran
• Afghanistan
  • The American War in Afghanistan by Carter Malkasian
  • What We Need to Learn: Lessons from Twenty Years of Afghanistan Reconstruction
  • Chronicle of a Defeat Foretold: Why America Failed in Afghanistan By Christina Lamb
• Central Asia
• North Africa
• European colonial system & nationalist movements in Sub-Saharan Africa

also

Existential Risk Does Not Touch Us