A World of Trouble

Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum invites you to explore "A World of Trouble" with a panel of experts moderated by retired DC journalist and political commentator Mort Kondracke.

In the West, the US faces political polarization, while Russia’s aggression continues, driven by Putin’s dictatorship. In China there’s military buildup and economic and technology challenges. Meanwhile in the Middle East, the threat of Iran's development of nuclear weapons grows, much like Israel’s internal division, while Saudi Arabia hedges its  bets.

Joining Mort on the panel are  University of Washington Prof. Resat Kasaba, former President of The US-China Business Council Dr. Robert Kapp,  former senior international affairs writer for the LA Times Carol J. Williams,  and former U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus John Koenig.

Dr. Robert A. Kapp is former President of The US-China Business Council Robert A. Kapp & Associates, a private consulting firm. Dr. Kapp is Special Advisor, Planning and Publication for the US-China Education Trust (Washington, D.C.), a nonprofit, non-governmental organization conducting extensive bilateral cooperative programs in education and Sino-American communication.

Resat Kasaba  is the former Director of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, the Stanley D. Golub Chair of International Studies, and a Professor. Over the last three decades, his research and publications on the Ottoman Empire, Middle East, and Turkey have covered economic history, state-society relations, migration, ethnicity and nationalism, modernity and urban history.  Recently, he has started researching the role of education in the formation of modern Turkish identity in the twentieth century.  He teaches courses on the modern Middle East as well as on world history in the modern era.

John Koenig retired in 2015 after more than three decades in the U.S. Foreign Service. His last post was as U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus, where he brokered the agreement to launch the latest round of UN-sponsored settlement negotiations. He previously served as Political Advisor to the NATO Joint Forces Command in Naples, Italy; as Deputy Chief of Mission in Berlin, Germany; and as Deputy Permanent Representative to the U.S. Mission at NATO. In 2011, he received the Presidential Distinguished Service Award in recognition of the policy and leadership roles he played in Berlin and at USNATO.

Carol J. Williams is former senior international affairs writer for the Los Angeles Times. A foreign correspondent for 25 years, she has won five Overseas Press Club awards, two Sigma Delta Chi citations and was a 1993 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in international reporting. She has served as Times bureau chief in Budapest, Vienna, Moscow, Berlin and the Caribbean. A native of Rhode Island and irrepressible Red Sox fan, Williams speaks Russian, German, French and Spanish, and has reported from more than 80 countries. She left The Times in 2015.