Japan Week in Washington, Febuary 24-28, 2014

ATOMS FOR DREAM: HOLDING THE AMERICAN UMBRELLA IN THE ATOMIC DRIVING RAIN. 2/24, 10:00-11:30am, Washington, DC. Sponsor: US-Japan Research Institute (USJI). Speakers: Masako Egawa, Executive Vice President, University of Tokyo; Shunya Yoshimi, Vice President, University of Tokyo; Jordan Sand, Associate Professor, Georgetown University. 
WORSENING SINO-JAPANESE RELATIONS AND THE US. 2/24, 1:00-2:30pm. Sponsor: US-Japan Research Institute (USJI). Speakers: Sachio Nakato, Professor, Ritsumeikan University; David Arase, Resident Professor, Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies; Quansheng Zhao, Professor, American University; Thomas French, Associate Professor, Ritsumeikan University. 

SOCIAL INNOVATION: US-JAPAN COMPARISON STUDIES IN THIS NEW EMERGING NEW TREND IN INNOVATION. 2/24, 3:00-4:30pm. Sponsor: USJI. Speakers: Yaeko Mitsumori, Associate Professor, University of Tsukuba; Gabriel Brodbar, Executive Director, NYU Reynolds Program in Social Sciences; Greg Van Kirk, Fellow, Ashoka. 

“ABENOMICS” AND US-JAPAN RELATIONSHIP. 2/25, 10:00am-Noon, Washington, DC. Sponsor: USJI. Speakers: Fumiaki Kubo, Director, USJI; Takatoshi Ito, Professor, University of Tokyo; Michael Auslin, Resident Scholar, AEI; Stephan Danninger, Senior Economist, IMF.

TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AND EXPANSION OF THE ASIA-PACIFIC. 2/25, 2:00-3:30pm, Washington, DC. Sponsor: USJI. Speakers: Toru Oga, Professor, Kyushu University; Munehiro Miwa, Professor, Kyushu University; Yuki Ooi, Associate Professor, Nanzan University; David Painter, Associate Professor, Georgetown University; Daqing Yang, Associate Professor, GWU.

INTERNET GOVERNANCE IN ASIA: A NEW FOCUS FOR US-JAPAN COOPERATION? 2/26, 10:00-11:30am, Washington, DC. Sponsor: USJI. Speakers: James Foster, Professor, Keio University; Jiro Kokuryo, Vice-President, Keio University.

POSSIBILITIES AND ISSUES OF GLOBALIZED AND OPEN HIGHER EDUCATION FOR JAPAN AND US UNIVERSITIES. 2/26, 2:00-3:30pm, Washington, DC. Sponsor: USJI. Speakers: Stephen Ehrmann, Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning, GWU; Vijay Kumar, Director, MIT.

TRANSFORMATION OF THE US-JAPANESE RELATIONS IN GLOBAL GOVERNANCE. 2/26, 10:00-11:30am, Washington, DC. Sponsor: USJI. Speakers: Toru Oga, Professor, Kyushu University; Kyushu University students, Sena Murayama, Minami Nomaguchi, Shunsuke Oda, Natsumi Shibata, Ayumi Torii. Note: Students only.

ABENOMICS: THE MISSING ARROW - REFORE OF JAPAN'S ICT SECTOR. 2/27, 4:30-6:00pm, Washington, DC. Sponsor: Reisaucher Center, Johns Hopkins, SAIS. Speaker: James Foster, Professor, Keio University; Jiro Kokuryo, Vice-President, Keio University.

SINO-JAPAN DYNAMICS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE U.S.-JAPAN ALLIANCE. 2/27, 6:00-7:30pm, Washington, DC. Sponsor: USJI. Speakers: Speakers: Abraham M. Denmark,Vice President for Political and Security Affairs, The National Bureau of Asian Research; Hon. Richard L. Armitage, President, Armitage International L.C. / Former Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of State; Fumiaki Kubo, Director, U.S.-Japan Research Institute / Professor, The University of Tokyo / Japan Scholar, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; David M. Lampton, George and Sadie Hyman Professor of China Studies, The Johns Hopkins University.

BUILDING THE TOMODACHI GENERATION: ENGAGING US AND JAPANESE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN SOCIAL PROBLEM-SOLVING. 2/28, 10:00am-Noon, Washington, DC. Sponsors: USJI; US-Japan Council; Washington Center. Presentations by international teams of Japanese and American participants of the Building the TOMODACHI Generation program. Teams will propose civil-society based projects to address the challenges faced in the Tohoku Region. Winning project teams will travel to Japan to continue their partnership with a service project in Tohoku. This program is generously supported by the TOMODACHI Fund for Exchanges donors, Mitsubishi Corporation, Toyota Motor Corporation, and Hitachi Ltd., as well as Morgan Stanley.

The illogical politics of Japanese security policy

Abe and Yasukuni: the illogical politics of Japanese security policy

Shinzō Abe’s recent visit to the Yasukuni Shrine could jeopardise Japan’s strategic interests. 

By Rikki Kersten, Murdoch University  and APP member

first appeared in Asian Currents, The Asian Studies Association of Australia, February 2014.

When Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzō Abe visited the Yasukuni Shrine on 26 December last year, it predictably caused outrage across the region. Many commentators described the visit as an act of provocation on the part of a diehard nationalist who was thumbing his nose at nations that had suffered Japanese invasion and atrocities during the Asia–Pacific war. Observers assumed that there was a direct connection between Abe’s unrepentant revisionism, and his intention to force Japan’s defence and security policy in the direction of a more ‘normal’, full-fledged capability. 

It is understandable to feel trepidation at the thought of what appears to be an unreconstructed militarist being in charge of creating a more assertive defence posture. This is especially unnerving when Japanese and Chinese paramilitary forces are engaged in cat-and-mouse manoeuvres in the East China Sea. 

But are we correct in assuming that revisionism and ‘normalisation’ are entwined in this way in contemporary Japanese security policy? Where does the Yasukuni visit fit in Abe’s elaboration of his security policy objectives? While Abe’s pursuit of security policy development has been 

dogged and consistent, it also features an undercurrent of political illogic that interferes with the linear association of revisionism and ‘normalisation’. The domestic political imperatives driving Abe’s visit to the contentious Yasukuni Shrine as a serving prime minister are quite clear. Abe is at the beginning of the second year of a four-year term. This means that, given the electoral cycle, he does not have to face the voters now for another three years. In other words: he can afford to do what is difficult or unpopular now because he has time before the electorate can exact its revenge. The advent of an untimely election for the governor of Tokyo on 9 February (following the disgrace of former incumbent Inose) has messed with this situation, as Tokyo elections engage roughly 10 per cent of Japan’s population and usually feature issues of national rather than purely local importance. But it seems that nuclear energy and social welfare are the frontrunner issues in 

that race. 

Despite Abe’s bluster of possessing a mandate to engage in what amounts to a normalisation agenda, security policy did not feature in his December 2012 electoral platform. Moreover, the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) landslide victory was more a product of opposition parties 

cancelling each other out, plus a healthy desire by voters to slap the Democratic Party of Japan for incompetence, rather than a resounding endorsement of Abe’s LDP. 

To put it another way: Abe’s security policy objectives in the domestic arena are clear, but they cannot be described as representative or popular. Even the LDP’s own coalition partner, the Komeito, has reservations about revising interpretations of the pacifist clause in the 1947 constitution.

Another domestic political imperative is the sequence of institutional reforms that Abe commenced in his first term in office in 2006–07 has continued with gusto as he enters the second year in his second administration.

Having set in place the legislative foundation for holding a referendum on constitutional revision in his first term, Abe has now put his foot down hard on the accelerator when it comes to institutionalising changes in Japan’s security policy. The pace has been breathtaking: the National Defence Program Guidelines withdrawn and revised; a Secrets Bill forced through parliament in December 2013 in a manner reminiscent of the 1960 Security Treaty Crisis; formation of a National Security Council centred on the prime minister’s office; a new National Security Strategy that repurposes Japan's forces and hardware capabilities towards remote island defence and enhanced surveillance; and a clear declaration to revise interpretation of the constitution to allow Japan to participate in collective self-defence.

Buried within this plethora of security policy elaboration is something quite new for postwar Japan: securing greater offensive capability. This appears in the form of Japan creating its own marines, and considering the acquisition of cruise missile capability as a pre-emptive measure. Never has the line between defensive and offensive capability been so thin.

In the wake of the LDP’s success in the 2013 half upper-house election, Abe can enact his policy agenda without fear of being blocked in that chamber. We know that the Komeito is not fully on board with Abe’s entire suite of policy reforms, but Abe has already signalled in his January 2014 policy speech to parliament that he is willing to work with ‘responsible opposition parties’(meaning Your Party and the Restoration Party) to secure political legitimacy for reinterpretation of the constitution.

He appears willing to risk the relationship with the LDP’s coalition partner in order to get his way.

Despite Abe’s long-cherished goal of full legitimacy for a ‘more normal’ defence capability for Japan that is underscored by constitutional revision and patriotic affirmation from society at large, it seems he has accepted the lesser option of constitutional revision by interpretation without popular support. This is because he knows that public opinion and political interests will not support constitutional revision via the parliamentary and referendum route for the foreseeable future.

But while the political logic driving Abe at home seems clear enough, the picture blurs when we turn to the strategic consequences of his Yasukuni visit. In contemporary Northeast Asia, Japan requires two things:a firm ongoing commitment from the United States as Japan’s primary security guarantor, and positive relations with regional nations in order to counterbalance China’s growing weight in the region. Abe hopes to secure more autonomy for Japan as a security actor within the context of the US alliance system, but giving the United States reason to be disaffected with its ally Japan is surely not part of this picture.

Through the toxic combination of a revisionist questioning of Japan’s wartime atrocities and a visit to a place that enshrines A-class war criminals and promotes an unrepentant version of war history in its museum, Abe has undermined his own strategic objectives. His Yasukuni visit has led to what Kazuhiko Togo describes as the encirclement of Japan by disaffected nations ‘with China at the head of that queue’.1

At the same time, he has given the United States cause to regard its primary Asian ally as a security liability. The United States needs Japan to help manage China’s rise and contribute to power balancing, not provide China with cause to raise tensions even further.

And when we consider Abe’s companion objective of legitimising patriotism in contemporary Japan, Abe must accept that in Japan today most citizens want Japan to be a peace-building nation.

At the same time, many defence officials are running out of patience with the self-imposed restraints that prevent Japan from operating freely and responsibly in a difficult and responsibly in a difficult and threatening environment. This is particularly galling because no one can dispute, Japan has been an exemplary contributor to world peace and stability since 1945

Normalising Japan’s defence capability should mean enhanced security for Japan and the international community. But the linear trajectory of Abe’s revisionism as exemplified by his Yasukuni Shrine visit leads to isolationism and insecurity, which compromises the
objective of normalisation. Nothing could be less in Japan’s interests than this.

Reference
1. Togo Kazuhiko, ‘Abe shusho no Yasukuni sanpai de sai-fujo shita sengo Nihon no “nejire” wo kaijo saseyo’ (Let’s eliminate the contortions of postwar Japan that have resurfaced with Abe’s Yasukuni Shrine visit), NEOS, February 2014, p.57.

Rikki Kersten is Dean of the School of Arts at Murdoch University in Western Australia, and a specialist in Modern Japanese political history and security policy.

Prime Minister of Japan's Schedule February 3-9 2014

Monday, February 3, 2014

AM
07:00 Departure from private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo
07:12 Arrive at office
07:13 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato Katsunobu
08:50 End meeting with Mr. Kato
08:54 Depart from office
08:55 Arrive at Diet
08:57 Arrive at Lower House 1st Committee Members’ Room
09:00 Lower House Budget Committee commences

PM
12:01 Budget Committee recess
12:02 Depart from Lower House 1st Committee Members’ Room
12:04 Depart from Diet
12:05 Return to office
12:20 Ruling Party [LDP] Liaison Conference
12:36 Conference end
12:54 Depart from office
12:56 Return to Diet
12:58 Return to Lower House 1st Committee Members’ Room
01:00 Budget Committee reconvenes
05:01 Budget Committee adjourns
05:02 Depart from Lower House 1st Committee Members’ Room
05:04 Arrive at LDP President’s Room
05:05 LDP Officers Meeting
05:17 Meeting end
05:28 Depart from President’s Room
05:30 Departure from Diet
05:31 Return to office
05:48 Meet Minister of Defense Onodera Itsunori
06:10 Meeting ends
06:12 Meet with Admiral Samuel Locklear, Commander, US Pacific Command
06:32 Meeting end
06:40 Meet with Spanish Speaker of the Congress of Deputies Jesús Posada Moreno
06:51 Meeting ends
07:00 Departure from office
07:05 Arrive at Japanese restaurant in Hirakawa, Tokyo 「下関春帆楼　東京店」 [Shunpanro], dinner meeting with Mainichi Shimbun President Asahina Yutaka
09:59 Departure from Shunparo
10:03 Arrive at Prime Minister’s private residence

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

AM
07:15 Departure from Prime Minister’s official residence
07:17 Arrive at office
07:18 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato Katsunobu
08:21 Meeting end
08:23 Cabinet meeting
08:30 Meeting end
08:54 Depart from office
08:55 Arrive at Diet
08:57 Enter Lower House 1st Committee Members’ Room
08:58 Meet with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro and Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Shimomura Hakubun
08:59 Meeting end
09:00 Lower House Budget Committee commences

PM
12:03 Budget Committee adjourns
12:04 Leave room
12:05 Meet with LDP member of the Lower House Nakayama Yasuhide
12:06 Depart from Diet
12:07 Return to office
12:54 Depart from office
12:56 Return to Diet
12:57 Enter Lower House 1st Committee Members’ Room
01:00 Lower House Budget Committee recommences
03:34 Budget Committee adjourns
03:35 Leave room
03:36 Depart from Diet
03:39 Return to office
04:07 Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka enters office
04:37 Foreign Minister Kishida Fumio, Deputy Minister Sugiyama Shinsuke, and European Affairs Bureau Director-General Kozuki Toyohisa also enter office
05:05 All visitors leave
05:06 NSC Director Yachi Shotaro, Cabinet Intelligence Director Kitamura Shigeru, and Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center Director Shimohira Koji enter office
05:16 Mr. Yachi and Mr. Shimohira leave
05:29 Mr. Kitamura leaves
05:51 Depart from office
05:53 Return to Diet
05:54 Enter Lower House 1st Committee Members’ Room
06:00 Leave room and enter Lower House Plenary Meeting Hall
06:02 Lower House Plenary Session commences
06:56 Plenary Session adjourns
06:57 Leave hall and enter Lower House 1st Committee Members’ Room
06:58 Greet Lower House Chairman Ibuki Bunmei
06:59 Leave room
07:03 Return to office
07:09 Group on Restructuring Legal Basis of Security meeting
07:13 Meeting end
07:15 Departure from office
07:27 Dinner with Lower House lawmakers at French restaurant À Nu, Retrouvez-vous in Hiroo, Tokyo, President and CEO of ItoEn, ltd. Honjo Hachiro, Mr. Honjo’s wife, LDP Lower House member Yamamoto Yuji, and Abe Akie attended
09:11 Departure from À Nu, Retrouvez-vous
09:20 Arrive at Prime Minister’s official residence

Wednesday February 5, 2014

AM
12:00 At Prime Minister’s official residence (no visitors)
07:18 Departure from official residence
07:19 Arrive at office
07:20 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige
08:28 Meeting end
08:43 Meet with Cabinet Intelligence Director Kitamura Shigeru
08:49 Meeting end
08:53 Depart from office
08:54 Arrive at Diet
08:56 Enter Lower House 1st Committee Members’ Room
08:57 Meet with Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ohta Akihiro
08:58 Meeting ends
08:59 Meet with Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Shimomura Hakubun
09:00 Meeting end
09:01 Upper House Budget Committee commences
11:54 Budget Committee recess, leave room
11:57 Depart from Diet
11:59 Return to office

PM
12:53 Departs from office
12:55 Return to Diet
12:57 Enter Lower House 1st Committee Members’ Room
01:00 Upper House Budget Committee recommences
05:55 Upper House Budget Committee adjourns
05:57 Leave room
05:58 Depart from Diet
06:05 Attend Sochi Winter Paralympics Send-off Event for Japanese representative teams, greet them, in Fuyo Banquet Hall, Hotel New Otani, Kioi, Tokyo
06:13 Departure from hotel
06:18 Return to office
06:56 Summit Conference with Swiss Confederation President Didier Burkhalter
07:31 Conference end
07:33 Signing Ceremony and Joint Press Announcement
07:46 Announcement end
07:47 Departure from office
07:48 Arrive at Prime Minister’s official residence, dinner meeting hosted by PM Abe and his wife Akie
08:52 Bid farewell to President Burkhalter

Thursday February 6, 2014

AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
07:16 Departure from official residence
07:17 Arrive at office
07:18 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige
07:20 Meeting end
08:54 Depart from office
08:56 Arrive at Diet
08:58 Enter Lower House 1st Committee Members’ Room
09:00 Upper House Budget Committee commences
11:51 Budget Committee recess
11:52 Leave room
11:54 Depart from Diet
11:56 Return to office
11:57 Meet with Fukuoka Prefecture’s Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine’s 3-person “Plum Mission,” Nishitakatsuji Nobuyoshi, and shrine maidens Ms. Fukuda and Ms. Imamura. LDP Lower House member Harada Yoshiaki sat with them

PM
12:03 Meeting ends
12:52 Depart from office
12:54 Arrive at Diet
12:55 Enter Lower House 1st Committee Members’ Room
01:00 Upper House Budget Committee recommences
05:05 Budget Committee adjourns, leave room
05:07 Depart from Diet
05:09 Return to office
05:52 Depart from office
05:54 Return to Diet
05:55 Enter Upper House Chairman’s Reception Room
05:57 Leave room and enter Upper House Plenary Meeting Hall
06:01 Upper House Plenary Session commences
06:47 Plenary Session adjourns
06:48 Leave room
06:49 Meet with Upper House President Yamazaki Masaaki, Vice-President Koshiishi Azuma, House Standing Committee on Rules and Administration Chairman Iwaki Mitsuhide, between political parties exchanged greetings. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro, Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige accompanied
06:57 Meeting end
06:59 Departure from Diet
07:00 Return to office
07:01 Press conference open to all media: When asked about the “adoption of revised supplementary budget being stopped,” Abe answered, “If the supplementary budget is adopted quickly, it will be good. I want to give my thanks to everyone who cooperated with us.”
07:02 Interview end
08:42 Departure from office
08:58 Return to private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo

Friday February 7, 2014

AM
12:00 At private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo (no visitors)
07:31 Departure from private residence
07:40 Arrive at office
07:41 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige
08:14 Meeting end
08:17 Cabinet meeting
08:37 Meeting end
08:38 Meet with Mr. Seko
08:48 Meeting end
08:54 Depart from office
08:55 Arrive at Diet
08:57 Enter Upper House 1st Committee Members’ Room
09:00 Upper House Budget Committee commences
11:49 Budget Committee recess
11:50 Leave room
11:51 Departure from Diet
11:52 Arrive at office
11:57 Departure from office
11:59 Arrive at Tokyo Metropolitan Hibiya Public Hall, attend National Convention requesting the return of the Northern Territories and greet assembly

PM
12:15 Departure from public hall
12:35 Arrive at Haneda Airport
12:40 Press conference open to all media: When asked: “You will attend the Sochi Olympics Opening Ceremony, but what kind of efforts do you expect of the Japanese competitors?” Abe answered: “As much as you can think, we want to display our strength, and to have the chance to be recognized for our dreams, aspirations, and courage.”
01:14 Departure from airport by private government aircraft to Russia for the Opening Ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics
(evening, unspecified hour) Arrive at Sochi International Airport Russia
(evening, unspecified hour) Attend Opening Ceremony of Sochi Winter Olympics at Sochi’s Olympic Stadium, stay night at Dagomys Hotel

Saturday February 8, 2014

AM
Encourage Japanese teams at Olympic Village

PM
Summit meeting with President Vladimir Putin at President’s official residence (Grand Kremlin Palace), attend lunch meeting hosted by the President
Domestic and foreign press conference at Dagomys Hotel
Watch women’s short program team competition at Sochi, Russia’s figure skating rink. Departure from Sochi International Airport by private government aircraft. Stop to refuel at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, Turkey

Sunday February 9, 2014

AM
Departure from Ataturk International Airport

PM
06:42 Having completed attendance of Sochi Olympics Opening Ceremony, arrive from Russia at Haneda Airport
06:52 Departure from airport
07:19 Arrive at private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo

Monday in Washington, Febuary 10, 2014

FRONTIER ISSUES IN ECONOMIC GROWTH. 2/10, 9:00am-5:30pm. Sponsor: Elliott School, George Washington University. Speakers: TBA.

CRUDE OIL EXPORTS: MARKET DRIVERS AND NEAR-TERM IMPLICATIONS. 2/10, 9:30-11:30am. Sponsor: Energy and National Security Program, CSIS. Speakers: Roger Diwan, Senior Director, IHS Energy Insight; Ed Morse, Global Head, Commodities, Citi Research; Kevin Book, Managing Director, ClearView Energy Partners; Michael Cohen, Vice President and Lead Oil Market Analyst, Americas, Barclays.

IRAN'S TUMULTUOUS REVOLUTION: 35 YEARS LATER. 2/10, 11:00am-12:30pm. Sponsors: Middle East Program, Wilson Center; Carnegie Endowment. Speakers: Shaul Bakhash, Professor of History, George Mason University; Mehdi Khalaji, Senior Fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy; John Limbert, Professor of International Affairs, US Naval Academy; Karim Sadjadpour, Senior Associate, Middle East Program, Carnegie.

BOOM OR BUST? HOW EXPORT RESTRICTIONS IMPERIL AMERICA'S OIL AND GAS BONANZA. 2/10, 11:30am-1:00pm. Sponsor: CATO Institute. Speakers: James Bacchus, Former Appellate Body Jurist, WTO; Scott Lincicome, Adjunct Scholar, CATO; Mark Perry, Professor of Economics, University of Michigan.

DO POLITICIANS' RELATIVES GET BETTER JOBS? EVIDENCE FROM MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES. 2/10, Noon-1:00pm. Sponsor: Center for Global Development (CGD). Speaker: Julien Labonne, Research Fellow, Oxford University.

SHADOW FINANCIAL REGULATORY COMMITTEE. 2/10, Noon-1:30pm. Sponsor: American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Speakers: George Kaufman, Co-Chairman, Loyola University Chicago; Kenneth Dam, University of Chicago and Brookings; Robert Eisenbeis, Cumberland Advisors; Edward Kane, Boston College; Kenneth Scott, Stanford Law School.

AFGHANISTAN DEVELOPMENT GOALS: 2014 AND BEYOND. 2/10, 12:15-1:45pm. Sponsor: New American Foundation. Speakers: Donald Sampler Jr., Assistant to the Administrator, Office of Afghanistan and Pakistan Affairs, US Agency for International Development; Jarrett Blanc, Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, US Department of State.

CRISIS RESPONSE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA. 2/10, 2:00-3:30pm. Sponsor: Atlantic Council. Speaker: Scott Benedict, Commander, Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force-Crisis Response.

THE FUTURE OF A POST-PAX AMERICANA MIDDLE EAST? 2/10, 4:15pm. Sponsor: Atlantic Council. Speaker: Michael Oren, Ambassador-in-Residence, Atlantic Council.