Lecture and discussion with Jonathan Paris

  April 25, 2013, 12.15 p.m.
Allianz-Forum, Berlin
An event for members of the parliament  Introductory remarks by  Bettina Kudla, Member of the German Parliament/Christian Democrats Michael Spaney, Executive Director Mideast Freedom Forum Berlin. Keynote Speaker: Jonathan Paris, Non – Resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council of the United States. The event will be moderated by Saba Farzan, German – Iranian journalist, Senior Fellow and Head of Iran Research at Mideast Freedom Forum Berlin.   For an entire decade the United States and democratic nations have been visibly preoccupied with Iran’s nuclear threat. The roots of the conflict date back to the mid-1990s, and go to the very core of Iran’s regime. Even without nuclear weapons, the Iranian dictatorship has been the most dangerous sponsor of terrorism, Islamist radicalism and severe human rights violations towards its own people. Where does transatlantic Iran policy stand at this moment? And more importantly where is it heading? What are the timelines and red lines that American, Israeli and European perspectives look at in this crisis? What options exist to find a solution to this conflict? Jonathan Paris is a London-based analyst with wide research interests that include Europe and transatlantic relations, the Middle East and North Africa, Africa, Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia, international security, demography and economic development. Since 2002, he has written several “futures” studies for the US government. Since 2008, he has been an outside associate at the US NIC, where he has participated actively in the recent NIC Global Trends 2030 Report. Jonathan is a Non-resident Senior Fellow with the Atlantic Council, Senior Advisor to the Chertoff Group, and Associate Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization (ICSR) at King’s College London. Prior to moving to London in 2001, he was a Middle East Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations from 1995-2000. In 2011 Jonathan wrote an extensive Iran study for Legatum Institute, a London based think tank.