Camden Conference in the World ~ November

A profile of Director of National intelligence and 2018 New World Disorder CC speaker Avril Haines that is unusual in intelligence circles for its intimacy and detail appeared last month in Politico. It starts with a recounting of a discussion the then 17-year-old Haines had with an Armenian mukhtar in 1987 in Bethlehem, during a year that Haines, whose mother was Jewish, spent in Israel. When Haines asked the mukhtar whether he would rather his area be ruled by Jews or Palestinians, he replied “Definitely the Palestinians.” The Israelis “have no idea how to do things in our community.” Haines did not disclose her views on the current war in Gaza and other parts of Israel and Lebanon, the profile says. But “people who know” her are quoted as telling the author Haines is “rattled” by the Palestinian death toll and suffering, adding: “It wasn’t hard to detect in her carefully crafted answers a longing for life on the outside of government — with more freedom to do and say what she thinks is right.”  Haines is rumored to be in the running for National Security Advisor if Kamala Harris becomes president.

“Israel is now heady about its military progress,” notes journalist and 2013 Camden Conference keynoter Robin Wright in The New Yorker. However, she cautions, “The tendency for terrorist movements targeted by the U.S. to regenerate after major military setbacks, even after their leaders have been killed, has been an enduring pattern for the past four American Presidents.”

Ramy Khouri, a distinguished fellow at the American University of Beirut and commentator of 50-years standing who spoke in Camden back in 2005, wrote in an opinion piece in Al Jazeera in early October that repeated US military interventions aimed directly or indirectly at protecting Israel “have had the opposite of the intended effect: They have made Israel more vulnerable and more dependent on ever greater deployment of American military power. This legacy has also made Israel the most dangerous place in the world for Jews.” He concludes: “Investing in true peace efforts would be easier, more equitable, less expensive, and much less destructive than perpetuating the current colonial situation that is regularly buttressed by visiting American troops. This is the best and probably the only way to guarantee Israel’s security.”

Kingsley Moghalu, the former Nigerian Central Bank Deputy Governor who spoke at the 2016 Camden Conference on Africa, has been named first president of the newly established African School of Governance (ASG) in Kigali, Rwanda. Founded by the president of Rwanda and a former president of Ethiopia, the ASG under Moghalu’s leadership will be a graduate institution that aims to offer “world-class public-policy education, research, and engagement programs” to future African leaders. Moghalu recently explained his conviction that, “More than increased aid, debt relief, and foreign investment, Africa needs to resolve its governance crisis – the source of all its problems. The continent must focus on developing the competence required to govern itself effectively and drive its own development trajectory.”