Kansas Senators Urge Action Against Bird Flu Threat
Kansas Senators Patrick Schmidt, William Clifford, and Jeff Klemp are calling for urgent measures to combat the growing threat of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). With millions of birds already culled and rising concerns about potential livestock infections, the senators stress the need for increased funding, enhanced biosecurity, and accelerated vaccine development. They warn that without immediate action, food shortages and economic instability may worsen.
LTC Shanzhi Thia Recognized for Outstanding Academic Achievement and Maritime Research
LTC Shanzhi Thia was recently honored with two prestigious awards at the U.S. Naval War College.
LTC Thia (left) is seen receiving the esteemed Admiral Arleigh A. Burke Award from the President of the Naval War College, Rear Adm. Peter Garvin (right). The Admiral Arleigh A. Burke Award is presented to the International Student with the best academic performance across both intermediate and senior classes — a testament to LTC Thia's exceptional dedication and intellectual rigor.
In addition to this achievement, LTC Thia was also recognized with the Naval Submarine League Award, awarded for the best paper on a subject related to submarine warfare. His insightful essay, "Promises and Pitfalls: Prospects for Submarine Rescue Cooperation between the United States, and Russia and China, in the Indo-Pacific," stood out for its depth of research and strategic analysis.
LTC Thia's unwavering commitment to academic excellence and his invaluable contributions to maritime security studies continue to inspire and demonstrate the highest standards of scholarship and service.
Sai University Graduation Ceremony
A Letter from My Sai University Students:
Just wanted to take a moment to share some snapshots from the graduation ceremony with you. It was a truly special day, and we wanted to express my gratitude for all the guidance and support you provided throughout our academic journey.
On a side note, I was honored to receive the gold medal for securing the highest GPA in my cohort. Your mentorship and the knowledge I gained from your classes played a significant role in this achievement, and I sincerely appreciate all your encouragement.
Thank you once again for your invaluable support. We hope to stay in touch!
Regards,
Abhi, Dakshajaa and Veda
Meeting with Seth Karamage
Meeting with my dear Rwandan friend Seth. I'm advising him on his UMASS Boston political science PhD thesis on civil-military relations in Africa; coups and democracy.
Could the Israel/Hamas ceasefire lead to lasting peace?
NEW PODCAST EPISODE:
Could the Israel/Hamas ceasefire lead to lasting peace?
We should report the reality, which is complex and painful sometimes. But it's very difficult to do that when you are in specific system in your media outlet. You are a reporter, but you're also an Israeli or a Palestinian, a Gazan or a Tel Avivan. You report about what hurts you the most, and you tend to be oblivious to the suffering of the other. It's very human, but it's also very wrong."
— Ksenia Svetlova
Political analyst and peacebuilder Ksenia Svetlova has her finger on the pulse of Middle East politics and media — and a mission to build a peaceful, integrated region.
Israel and Hamas are just over two weeks into a ceasefire agreement after fifteen months of fighting.This is a paradoxical moment to talk about long-term peace. The horrific October 7th attacks and the near-destruction of Gaza that followed served to amplify already high levels of distrust, hate, and trauma. At the same time, the war has demonstrated to Gazans that their government placed conflict with Israel above their own survival. And it has shown Israelis that an indefinite blockade of Gaza doesn’t ensure their security.
Yet with all it's complications, the cessation of hostilities does offer an opportunity to envision a way out of this seemingly endless conflict.
Our guest for this episode is Ksenia Svetlova, an expert observer of politics and media in the Middle East and the executive director of the Regional Organization for Peace, Economics, and Security, or ROPES.
Svetlova is an immigrant to Israel from the Soviet Union, an Arabic speaker and a Middle East specialist. For fifteen years, Svetlova reported from Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, and different countries in the region. She served four years in Israel’s parliament representing the center-left Zionist Union Coalition.
Dr. Bob Weintraub for Brookline School Committee
I’m running for School Committee because I have a long and rather unique professional history in education — as an English teacher in New York City, founding principal of the pre-k to 8 Micro-Society Magnet School in Lowell, BHS Head of School from 1992-2011, and professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Columbia University Teachers College and Boston University.
In partnership with my colleague Dr. Adrian Mims, we launched the Calculus Project at Brookline High School in 2009, and I’m currently Chair of the National Calculus Project.
In these challenging times, I believe that my experience in and passion for public education are vital to the necessary conversations about the present and future of our schools.
More of Dr. Bob's
core beliefs:
Leadership Matters
For administrative searches, we need democratic and inclusive search committees that have a real voice in the selection of our school and district leaders.
As well, our schools must be committed to cultivating leaders within the district.
Excellence in Teaching
As my colleague Ron Ferguson wrote, "Schools are built upon the three legs of a tripod—curriculum, instruction, and relationships—and without strong relationships, good curriculum and instruction are less likely to matter."
Prioritize People closest to the kids
Budget decisions must be driven by the return on investment (ROI) for the academic achievement and well-being of our students. Powerful research says that investment must be made at the schoolhouse — teachers, counselors/social workers, and principals who work with our kids every day.
The Academic goal for our schools
The academic profile of the school system — as measured by school attendance, course enrollments, student grades, and standardized test scores — improves over time. And the gap between the higher achieving and historically lower achieving students narrows.
To make this happen, the robust academic culture must be maintained (high standards), and intentional supports (such as the Calculus Project) must be provided so that more and more students can succeed within that academic culture.
The social-emotional goal for our schools
We must honor E Pluribus Unum in our schools.
This means understanding and respect for human differences and our essential kinship, and that every member of our school community has the freedom to define themselves and feel safe within that definition.
Media & Critical Thinking
We are a toxically divided nation. This is a reflection of politically driven information cultures, characterized by disinformation and misinformation.
Brookline should be a lighthouse in confronting this Brobdingnagian problem. We must address this through curriculum and through the practice of democracy in our schools
Vote On Or Before May 6th
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Bulletin of Atomic Scientists: 89 Seconds to Midnight
It is now 89 seconds to midnight
You can also watch the announcement on YouTube.
In setting the Clock one second closer to midnight, the Science and Security Board sends a stark signal: Because the world is already perilously close to the precipice, a move of even a single second should be taken as an indication of extreme danger and an unmistakable warning that every second of delay in reversing course increases the probability of global disaster.
The Bulletin has reset the minute hand on the Doomsday Clock 26 times since its debut in 1947, most recently in 2025 when we moved it from 90 seconds to midnight to 89 seconds to midnight. Every time it is reset, we’re flooded with questions about the internationally recognized symbol. Here are answers to some of the most frequent queries.
The Doomsday Clock is a design that warns the public about how close we are to destroying our world with dangerous technologies of our own making. It is a metaphor, a reminder of the perils we must address if we are to survive on the planet.
When the Doomsday Clock was created in 1947, the greatest danger to humanity came from nuclear weapons, in particular from the prospect that the United States and the Soviet Union were headed for a nuclear arms race. The Bulletin considered possible catastrophic disruptions from climate change in its hand-setting deliberations for the first time in 2007.
Kansas Senator and Convisero mentor Patrick Schmidt condemns Trump's pardon of violent Jan. 6 offenders
I have helped Patrick in a personal capacity to run for office and support his positions. Sen. Schmidt, D-Topeka, is one of five senators sponsoring a resolution condemning President Donald Trump's pardoning of Jan. 6 rioters convicted of violent crimes.
See here for the full article.
The resolution is unlikely to pass in a legislative body where Republicans have supermajority control. Trump won 57% of the vote in Kansas in 2024, and Republican leaders in the state are largely supportive of Trump's agenda.
"I don't think that this really should be a partisan issue," Schmidt said. "You had people that stole officers' service weapons, you had people that tasered law enforcement officers, you had, I think, almost 200 people with guns."
VII Foundation Executive Director and Convisero mentor Gary Knight on leading investigation of "Napalm Girl"
Gary Knight, Convisero mentor and whose organization VII Foundation I serve as an advisor to, was recently featured in this article on the investigation of “Napalm Girl” photo being credited to the wrong journalist.
Executive director Gary Knight, a photojournalist who led the film's investigation, told AFP it was "critical" that members of the news media "hold ourselves to account."
"The photograph in question is one of the most important photographs of anything ever made, certainly of war," he said.
Over the past two years, Gary has been working with a team of journalists at The VII Foundation and in Vietnam on an investigation into the veracity of the authorship of one of the most iconic images of the 20th century, or indeed, of any century. That investigation was documented by the Vietnamese American film director Bao Nguyen.
What VII Foundation uncovered speaks to the heart of what is most important in photography. The film grapples with questions of authorship, racial injustice, and journalistic ethics while shining a light on the fundamental yet often unrecognized contributions of local freelancers who provide the information needed to understand how events worldwide impact us all.
Gary says the following in a VII Foundation article on the matter:
This is a story that many people in our profession did not want told, and some of them continue to go to great lengths to make sure it isn't told. But regardless of the passage of time and however inconvenient it might be, nothing should stall the pursuit of truth in journalism because we are obliged to hold ourselves to account if we seek to hold everyone else to account. There is an old adage that journalism is 'the first draft of history'; sometimes it takes a second draft to set the record straight.
As one of the legendary Vietnamese journalists we spoke to told us: ‘There's nothing more important than the truth. When the truth is disregarded, that's when society becomes corrupted. (The truth) cannot be twisted, or torn apart, because if so, it's no longer the truth and we will have lost our moral compass.’
The Stringer premiered January 2025 at the Sundance Film Festival. Please watch this space for further information on theinvestigation and the film itself.
ISYP becomes a 2025 PACEY Award Finalist
In a rare bright spot in today’s news, there is a sincere congratulations to ISYP’s South Asia dialogue project as a finalist for the 2025 PACEY Awards.
ISYP, whose external advisory board I am on, is re-launching their South Asia initiative, which built a great community throughout 2022-2023 with successful roundtables on nuclear weapons issues in South Asia, including on the intersection of nuclear policy and cybersecurity. They hope to continue this work in 2025 and expand into producing published works and additional conferences.
Sanaa Alvira joins ISYP as a Research Associate specializing in nuclear policy and related issues at the Centre for Air Power Studies, India, and a Research Assistant at the Centre for the Governance of AI (GovAI). She is also a Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellow at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and a recent graduate of the Non-Proliferation and Terrorism Studies master’s programme at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. She joined ISYP's Leadership Team in 2024 and will be working on the South Asia Programming, in addition to ISYP's other projects.
In mutual congratulations, the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Japanese organization, Nihon Hidankyo, an organization dedicated to supporting and amplifying the stories of nuclear bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki and educating the public on the dangers and humanitarian impacts of nuclear weapons. ISYP warmly congratulates Nihon Hidankyo on being awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. ISYP honors the legacy of the Hibakusha - the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - whose courage and advocacy inspire our commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons.
Latest update on Power Ukraine from HRF
One month ago, HRF launched the Power Ukraine campaign to raise money for portable generators and deliver them to Ukrainians affected by the war and prolonged power outages.
The situation in Ukraine remains urgent: as the winter sets in, and temperatures hit as low as -30 Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit), Russian forces continue to purposefully attack Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, including boiler stations and power plants, in order to deprive Ukrainians of heat, electricity, and connectivity in the dead of winter. Portable generators allow the people of Ukraine to stay warm, charge their electronic devices, and stay connected with their loved ones.
Convisero mentor Rabbi Adina Allen in Boston
Creativity offers us a portal to transformation, spiritual connection, and revelation. It is there for us when we feel stuck, divided, or disconnected. In her highly anticipated first book, Rabbi Adina Allen delivers a paradigm-shifting and powerfully accessible reading of Torah as a contemporary guidebook for creativity and invites us to rethink and transform ourselves, our lives, and the world around us.
Join us for an afternoon with Rabbi Adina Allen, JSP Co-Founder and author of The Place of All Possibility: Cultivating Creativity Through Ancient Jewish Wisdom, in conversation with Joshua Foer, journalist, bestselling author, and co-founder of innovative Jewish enterprises including Lehrhaus and Sefaria.
Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire agreement, reflections, calls to action
In a major turn of events, Israel and Hamas has reached a ceasefire agreement. In an early news segment, Al Jazeera interviews Mouin Rabbani, non-resident Fellow at the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies. A graduate of Tufts University and Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Rabbani has published, presented and commented widely on Middle East issues, including for most major print, television and digital media.
January 16, 2025: Gazan poet Mosab Abu Toha wrote a piece back in September 2024 that Etan Nechin says amid the ceasefire “demands more than reflection, it demands a reckoning with Gaza's destruction.” More on this here.
January 17, 2025: A recent article by Ussama Makdisiprovides revisits “Victims of the Victims,” Edward Said’s ethical humanism in the context of the Gaza genocide.
Much more will be added as this progresses.
Convisero mentor Jehane Sedky leads FXB Center at Harvard University
Jehane Sedky recently joined Harvard University’s FXB Center for Health and Human Rights as its new Executive Director. Jehane is a seasoned senior executive with an excellent record in leadership roles, providing strategic guidance and support to influential leaders such as former US President Bill Clinton, former UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy and the late Harvard University Professor Dr. Paul Farmer. Her expertise spans a wide spectrum of responsibilities, including leading major initiatives, strategic program development for social impact, fundraising, media, and communications. Renowned for exceptional leadership and people management skills, Ms. Sedky excels in unifying teams toward common goals.
The work of health and human rights is imperative, especially as we see here the Lancet Study that discovered official Gaza death toll is estimated to be a 41% undercount.
Aligning Environmental Concerns across Convisero mentors including
Across the Convisero mentors network are individuals and collaborations that are working on the critical concern of the environment.
Recently, Duncard Pickard, was featured in the Vineyard Gazette about his latest project at work, “proving that greenhouse gases are a pollutant and that the countries with the highest carbon emissions have a legal obligation to curb their effects.” He’s also featured in Tufts NOW on this case and feels a special connection to small islands seeing parallels between his hometown of Martha’s Vineyard and their vulnerability to climate change.
Similarly, the People’s Tribunal for Environmental Justice formed out of a summer Fletcher project Julia Shufro completed for her graduate program. This group included Boaz Wachtel, Rachel Svetanoff, and Peter Droege. Peter, together with India's remarkable Admiral Dhowan, is creating in partnership with The Trebuchet the Global Maritime Accord Academy, whose third session took place recently.
Leo Stern works for the France committee of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC), chaired by Pascal Lamy, former director of the World Trade Organization. The PECC aims to bring together diplomats, entrepreneurs and researchers to foster economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. He assists the Secretary General in defining the overall committee’s strategy. I also organize conferences - e.g., on the blue economy, sustainable tourism, IT supply chain restructuring, deep-sea mining - and provide financial and geopolitical analysis that feed into high stake negotiations.
Gregg Nakano has recently created an extraordinary project in the region concern, the KASL Climate Research Station - Ebadon. Gregg was the ramrod of the Institute's ALLIES civil - military program, whose seeds under Gregg's initiative grew into Pacific ALLIES. Now as part of Pacific ALLIES there is the KASL Kwajalein Atoll Sustainability Laboratory.
Another great alum, Daniel Mandell, who until recently served in the important post of chief Legal counsel to the President of Vanuatu. After he completes his time in Palau, Daniel will be a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow in Tokyo, Japan, where he will research ways for the U.S./Japan/Australia trilateral relationship to work together on development projects in the Pacific region.
ISYP co-hosts virtual event with VCDNP and IAI: Non-Proliferation for Young Professionals
I serve as an external advisor to ISYP whose efforts are closely related to my own in nuclear nonproliferation and youth involvement. Convisero mentors Talia Weiss, Maria Udolova, and soon to be Talia Wilcox are exemplary leaders in this space. Below is a demonstrative example of ISYP in action.
Left to right: Sanaa Alvira, Leadership Team Member at International Student/Young Pugwash, and Federica Dall’Arche, Senior Research Associate at the VCDNP
On 25 October 2024, the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (VCDNP), the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), and International Student/Young Pugwash (ISYP) held the second edition of the “Engagement Opportunities in Arms Control, Disarmament, and Non-Proliferation for Young Professionals and Students” event. The virtual meeting provided key insights and hands-on advice on youth engagement and careers in the arms control, disarmament, and non-proliferation space, and was attended by over 100 students and young professionals.
Christina Goldbaum's latest: Syria, Lebanon, and more
Recent articles, videos and podcasts from on the ground in some of the most fragile places in the world by wonderful alum and Convisero mentor Christina Goldbaum.
Convisero mentors meet at J-Street event on Palestinian and Israeli attitudes post-October 7th
Sherman left, Kahil Shikaki (Founding Senior Fellow of Brandeis Crown Center for Middle East Studies) middle, and Convisero mentor Padraig O'Malley right
J-Street recently hosted an event on Palestinian and Israeli attitudes post-October 7th. Their values hold the belief that only a negotiated resolution agreed to by Israelis and Palestinians can meet the legitimate needs and national aspirations of both peoples.
Padraig left, Sherman middle, and Dahlia Scheindlin (fellow at Century International, based in Tel Aviv)
Working in the American political system, in the Jewish community and with others with whom J-Street shares core values, they advocate for diplomacy-first American leadership and policies that advance justice, equality, peace, and democracy in Israel, in the wider region and in the United States as well.
Convisero mentor Ted Kurland convening: Politics War Room with James Carville and Al Hunt
This live show was held on November 3, 2024. A note of acknowledgement to Convisero mentor Ted Kurland who convened this event.
Al Hunt, Dorris Kerns Goodwin, and James Carville
Political strategist James Carville and revered journalist Al Hunt convenes a war room each week to discuss the “battle for the soul of the nation!”
This episode centered on the U.S. presidential election, the significance of polling data, and the implications for democracy. The speakers reflected on the qualities of effective leadership, drawing parallels between historical figures like Lincoln and Roosevelt, and emphasized the importance of character in leadership, among other seminal topics.
Their podcast featured here includes my question which can be found on minute 1:20:31.
International Court of Justice Proceedings in The Hague by Columbia Prof. James Hansen
The International Court of Justice is hearing from scores of nations before it issues an advisory opinion on the "Obligations of States in Respect of Climate Change." The key issue is whether international law requires nations to phase out production, distribution and use of fossil fuels and otherwise pay damages to the most vulnerable and hardest-hit of nations.
The other panelists are:
Eelco Rohling, Professor of Ocean and Climate Change at the Earth Sciences Department at Utrecht University.
Appy Sluijs, Professor of Paleo-oceanography at the Earth Sciences Department at Utrecht University.
Ingrid Robeyns, Professor of Ethics of Institutions at the Ethics Institute of Utrecht University.
Dan Galpern, General Counsel of Climate Protection and Restoration Initiative, and my long-time legal and policy adviser. [Dan's backgrounder on the proceedings is here.]