Let's talk about war
The U.S. invasion of Iraq seems imminent. Yet a war in the Persian Gulf leaves many unanswered questions. That's why a group of scholars from McGill University and l'Université de Montréal are getting together to address an army of war-related questions. During a new weekly series, called the McGill Gulf Conflict Briefing Project, the academics will monitor and discuss the Persian Gulf conflict. All discussions will be open to the media, public and McGill community. If war against Iraq does proceed, briefings may increase to two or three times per week. Each one-hour discussion will consist of summary and analysis, as well as a question and answer period. The first briefing takes place on:
Monday, February 17, 10:30 am
Room 232, Leacock Bldg. (855 Sherbrooke St. W.)
Please note area parking is restricted. Free parking, if available, will be provided on McGill's campus to media, upon presentation of this press release.
Future briefings will be scheduled as events in Iraq and the Gulf region develop. Notices will be faxed or available on the GulfWatch 2003 website.
Biographies of panel experts
Rex Brynen (professor, Department of Political Science). Prof. Brynen is author, editor, or coeditor of six books dealing with regional security, peace, conflict, and democratization in the Middle East. He has served as a member of the Political and Security Policy Staff of Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, as a member of the Interdepartmental Experts Group on Middle East Intelligence, and as a consultant to aid agencies, the United Nations, and World Bank.
James Devine (sessional lecturer, Political Science). Prof. Devine specializes in the politics of Iran, the international relations of the Gulf region and Middle East foreign policy.
Catherine Lu (assistant professor, Political Science). Prof. Lu is an expert in international ethics, specifically on the moral and legal aspects of the use of force in international society, and the problems of justice and reconciliation in the aftermath of violence and war.
Paul Noble (associate professor, Political Science). Professor Noble is director of the Montreal-based Interuniversity Consortium for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies (ICAMES). He has written widely on the Middle East regional system, Arab foreign policies, and regional security issues.
David Romano (sessional lecturer, Political Science). Prof. Romano is an expert on Kurdish nationalism. He has spent more than 18 months conducting fieldwork in the Kurdish regions of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. His research and publications centre around the Kurdish issue, rebellions against state authority, social movements and politicized ethnicity.
Steve Saideman (associate professor, Political Science). Prof. Saideman is McGill's Canada Research Chair in International Security and Ethnic Conflict. He is an expert in U.S. foreign policy and the international politics of ethnic conflict. He spent the last year working at the Pentagon with the Strategic Planning and Policy Directorate of the US Joint Staff.
Marie-Joelle Zahar (assistant professor, Département de science politique, Université de Montréal). Prof. Zahar is a specialist of conflict resolution with a regional expertise in the Balkans and the Middle East. Her research focuses on the role of the international community in rebuilding state institutions in the post-conflict reconstruction phase.
Gulfwatch 2003 is being cosponsored by McGill's Department of Political Science, the Middle East Studies Program, the Marrett Memorial Seminar Series on Terrorism and Political Violence, and the Interuniversity Consortium for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies (ICAMES).
