Track-Two Diplomacy and the Middle East
| Date | Wednesday, November 15, 2006 |
| Location | Senate Dirksen, Room 430 |
Dr. Steven Spiege from the University of California discusses the most recent meetings of the Conference on Regional Security in the Middle East which took place in Athens. A separate military-to-military meeting also took place in Turkey. These track-two diplomacy meetings were held in the midst of four regional crises-the Israeli-Hezbollah war in Lebanon, the Gaza crisis, the Iran nuclear controversy, and the rampant violence in Iraq-all of which have the potential to spill over into region-wide conflicts. A record-setting 263 attendees from 35 countries (including all the Middle East, North African, and Persian Gulf countries) participated in ten working groups and task forces in Athens, hosted by the government of Greece. The mil-mil meetings are carried out in conjunction with the University of California, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation with the cooperation of the U.S. Department of Defense. The Conference on Regional Security in the Middle East has been bringing together government and academic experts from throughout the region together for informal discussions continuously since 1993.