IU DELIVERS — The Weekly Opine

“America’s Role in the World” was an extraordinary conference last week at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

A stellar conference in the heartland

Waiting in line last Friday morning, hoping for a seat in the Shreve Auditorium at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School, a familiar face stood in a room to my left. She was talking to a group of women. I did a double take.

It was former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, a star witness during the impeachment trial of Donald Trump.

Moments later, Ambassador Yovanovitch began exiting the room, walking toward me. I snapped a quick picture. The combination of the ambassador’s motion and my unsteady hands resulted in a not quite sharp photo. Neither of which undid the radiant smile on her face. I said, “Good morning!” and she replied, “Good morning!”

The auditorium was standing room only. I headed to the overflow room, after having been spoiled sitting in the auditorium all day on Thursday.

Big time

The Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, aka Hamilton Lugar School or HLS, is named after arguably Indiana’s most distinguished politicians. Former U.S. Representative (D) Lee Hamilton and former U.S. Senator (R) the late Richard Lugar served concurrently at the U.S. Capitol from the late-1970s through the late-1990s. Hamilton and Lugar “never disagreed” says Hamilton and collaborated using the advantage of bi-partisan cooperation.

Last week HLS hosted their fifth annual “America’s Role in the World” conference. This was my first time attending the non-partisan event. Several annual attendees said it’s always outstanding, but the 2020 edition was the best so far.

It was an amazing two days, capped off by Ambassador Yovanovitch, an alumna of the Hamilton Lugar School’s Summer Language Workshop, receiving the inaugural Richard G. Lugar Award.

Rep. Lee Hamilton gives remarks as he introduces Ambassador William Burns. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

An All-Star lineup

(What follows are summaries of panel discussions based on my notes.)

Thursday, the ARW conference opening panel session was “Climate Change and the American Public.”

A memorable comment came from teenage panelist Isabella Fallahi of Youth Climate Strike. Fallahi said, “I’m not passionate about climate change, I’m terrified of it.”

Janet McCabe, director of IU’s Environmental Resilience Institute, said in addition to global pacts like the Paris accord, there must be grass roots efforts. For example, tell small town residents that next summer they’ll experience three days of 95 degrees. Then explain that, in 30 years, they will endure 45 days that reach 95 degrees.

Retired Navy Vice Admiral Lee Gunn noted the U.S. military is America’s biggest polluter. An interesting discussion involved who is liable for pollution generated by the military when they are on foreign soil. Should it count against America or the country where the base is? The answer may be, since the U.S. is protecting American interests, it counts against the U.S.

Giving rise to optimism, at the recent conservative CPAC gathering, young conservatives demanded Republicans take the lead and act on reducing carbon fossil fuels. Whoa!

Session Two was “National Security Challenges in the 2020s” and was sobering, relative to how unsecure America is under the Trump administration.

Trash the U.S./Obama-led Iran nuclear deal – the one the State Department said was successfully keeping nukes away from Tehran - in favor of Trump’s maximum pressure campaign? Iran now has enough enriched uranium to build a nuclear bomb.

Play footsie with Kim Jong Un to secure meaningless photo ops? OK, but North Korea is still testing missiles, as if Trump doesn’t exist. The panel agreed North Korea views nukes “as the only assurance they will survive.”

Like all of the panels, the panel discussing national security was on top of their game. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

Russia, with gross domestic product less than Texas, is relevant insofar as they have nukes.

There is a growing crisis, as 71 million displaced people around the world (the most since 1945) seek refugee status. One million Syrian refugees are on the Turkish border. Turkey may open its borders to allow refugees to pass through to Europe.

Another concern is, as the U.S. shows the world it cannot solve its own problems, problems other countries long ago solved, e.g. healthcare, our leadership decays. Our loss of traditional values and weakening our internal institutions and alliances puts U.S. global leadership at risk.

Coronavirus brings the challenge of keeping troops safe here and abroad.

A key component missing from Trump’s space military initiative is diplomacy. U.S. satellites provide security. They track, target, and destroy targets. Russia and China know the U.S. is vulnerable, partly due to satellite clusters.

The panel concluded saying that depleting our network of alliances is a strategic risk. Rather than static, our approach to alliances must be modernized.

Session Three was “U.S.-China Relations.” Daniel Twining of the International Republican Institute reinforced there are “two components to China; the Chinese government and the Chinese people.” The global contest is now between U.S. democracy versus Chinese authoritarianism.

Regarding Trump’s tariffs, the U.S. has a $350 billion trade deficit with China. To offset this, China agreed to buy $200 billion worth of U.S. goods over a three-year timeframe. But will the Chinese follow through? What if China’s economy sputters?

The panel said the U.S. should stop sanctioning our allies, e.g. Canada and Mexico, with marginal trade deals. The U.S. government creates trade conditions that are unfavorable for stout allies. The panel believes the U.S. should do a Trans-Pacific Partnership-type deal that includes European allies and Asia.

During an earlier panel, Frank Rose, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute, made the point that China is “no longer just copying” the U.S. but is now innovating. Chinese technology stalwart Huawei is ahead on 5G. And key U.S. allies, like Great Britain, prepare to do long-term business deals with Huawei.

The world is frustrated with China’s cover-up of coronavirus which allowed it to quickly spread.

Twining said the U.S. must approach China using four D’s: defense; development tools; diplomacy; and democracy.

Two days of standing room only crowds at Shreve Auditorium. Two overflow rooms were packed, too. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

Session Four was a “Conversation with Ambassador William Burns.” The ambassador is now president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Ambassador Burns said at one time there were 28 career ambassadors in the State Department. Now there is one. The rest are political appointees.

Applications from college graduates, seeking entry-level positions at the State Department, are down 40-percent. According to the Brookings Institute, 82% of Trump’s top staff have turned over.

Burns said, “our allies are among our greatest assets” yet it’s not surprising they are skeptical of the Trump administration. Not a coincidence, our adversaries feel emboldened.

Ambassador Burns believes we should emphasize diplomacy in the Middle East, not confrontation. We should ramp up diplomatic efforts in Asia. He said Russia will become China’s junior partner, just as the Soviet Union became America’s junior partner after the Cold War.

Africa presents an enormous migration challenge. Africa’s population will double by mid-century. Food insecurity, water shortages, weak infrastructure and internal strife “will cause migration that Europe is not prepared for” said Ambassador Burns.

I missed Session Five, featuring Indiana Senator (R) Todd Young. But according to those present, Young did not allow Q & A, the only session to decline questions.

CBS 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker participated on the panel discussing presidential elections and foreign policy. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

Session Six was “Presidential Elections & U.S. Foreign Policy.” Acknowledging Trump’s stunning rise to the presidency, the panel agreed American’s mindset changed during the past decade. For years, the middle-class trusted political and private sector elites to do the right thing.

Government once was viewed as doing right by America. Now, officials leave government jobs and take higher paying lobbying jobs, using their influence to benefit elites. Consequently, the American public no longer trusts elites. Elites are perceived as only helping elites. We are in an anti-elitist moment, which fuels populism. (Which makes you wonder if swaths of BernieBros and YangsGang will stay home in November.)

Democratic candidates must contrast how they’d respond during a crisis with Trump’s bungling of the government’s response to coronavirus.

Panelist Bill Whitaker, a correspondent on CBS’s 60 Minutes, said three things cause Americans to care about foreign affairs: personal security; economic/job security; and health security.

Republicans top global issue is terrorism. Democrats top global issue is climate change.

The panel said after World War II the U.S. arranged the world order to benefit America. It created enormous wealth for the U.S., especially for elites. Trump doesn’t understand this and is trying to undo much of it.

A heroic American, Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch exudes integrity. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

Marie’s Big Three

Ambassador Yovanovitch spoke with commanding depth-of-knowledge. Listening to her reinforced how shameful it is that patriotic, career diplomats have been forced out by Trump’s corrupt, incompetent administration.

Ambassador Yovanovitch’s top three strategic challenges facing the U.S. are: nuclear weapons; climate change; and poverty.

Ambassador Yovanovitch concluded saying the impact of Trump on foreign policy is that allies and adversaries don’t know if they can trust U.S. diplomats. Do diplomats speak for the administration? Should foreign nations hire lobbyists and circumvent diplomats to deal directly with the administration?

Students first

A unique aspect of the conference is students ask the questions during Q & A. They were poised and asked smart questions. Very impressive.

Thursday morning, an IU freshman from China settled into the seat next to me. We chatted a bit before and after each session. He was knowledgeable and engaging. On Friday, I conversed with a senior from Indy. She was focused and confident.

The audience at the conference was a blend of students, alumni and faculty. The positive vibe was excellent. The moderators and panelists were top-notch experts. Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School delivered an extraordinary experience.

I cannot wait to attend next year.

(For more “IU Delivers” photos, click “Events” on theweeklyopine.com home page and scroll to the bottom of the page.)