President Obama’s new Defense Strategy will be analyzed by a veteran of 35 year’s military experience, now a private sector consultant, analyst and author.

Dr. Bergstrand  discusses the implications for the United States of the shifting economic gravity of the world in the presence of increased globalization. He focuses on long-term trends as well as recent economic events in the United States, Europe and Asia.

As we enter the homestretch of our 2011-2012 program year, I appreciate your broad support for our efforts in bringing you a meaningful speaker program. Thanks to so many of you bringing guests to our programs and discussing your experiences, our membership now stands at 825. Although the days of smaller group meetings at Temple Beth Yam and Main Street Theater are gone and missed by some, we now have the opportunity at First Presbyterian Church to share our wonderful programs with so many more of our friends and neighbors. I believe as many as are interested should be able to experience the high quality programs that each of us has come to expect. For this, we owe a debt of gratitude to the late Jim Fall, to Bill Pendley who ably chaired our Program Committee this past year after Jim’s illness and death, and now, to Marion Conlin whose devotion and efforts to bring the most interesting speakers to our Island are continuing in this tradition.

As with every other organization supported by member fees, we are experiencing an increase in the expenses of presenting this speaker program. Facilities fee at First Presbyterian increased dramatically during our second year there; but we have now settled into a two-year contract for 2012-2014 with a normal 5% per year increase. The soon-to-be-completed Gathering Space should make our next program year and beyond even more pleasurable as our members can meet over coffee at HeBrews before each speaker’s session. Thanks to WAC members’ generosity, the audio system has markedly improved and the hearing devices available for our members have made the listening experience better for those with hearing challenges. For those of you who have traveled during the past several months, you know that transportations costs have increased. Our speaker transportation budget has risen by 50% in the past six months and we expect this trend to continue. Although we have been able to hold our membership fee steady at $75 for the past two years, we now must increase it by $1 per speaker meeting, bringing our annual membership fee to $90 for the 2012-2013 program year.

In addition to our speaker programs, our community outreach efforts continue to mature. Educating the next generation of global citizens is the number one challenge goal of both our Hilton Head WAC chapter, as well as national WACA. In this regard, we are seeking to develop new relationships with both the University of South Carolina Beaufort (USCB) and the Technical College of the Lowcountry (TCL), with local area high schools, and civic organizations. Even middle schools have sought our members as speakers for their students. And, for many of you, the Academic WorldQuest competition among our five Beaufort County high schools, was a highlight of our year. You can learn more about the future of this exciting program on our website. Many of you are participating in the Great Decisions Discussion Groups, a program open only to WAC HH members. In the Fall, many of you joined in our Inaugural Fall Forum, this year focusing on Islam. During the summer of 2011, many of you were in attendance in our overflow audiences as we highlighted the knowledge and experiences of three of our own members. Summer 2012 will bring equally exciting programs; look for details on our website.

You should all know that our community Outreach and AWQ programs are funded separately through your contributions, not through our annual membership fees which support only our speaker program. On your membership renewal forms you will see a space to contribute above and beyond the annual membership fee to Outreach and to AWQ. We are recommending that you support our AWQ program as generously as you can, but with a suggested contribution of $15. Our Council became a non-profit tax exempt organization when we joined the national World Affairs Councils of America in 2004. Now, as a tax-exempt organization under the Internal Revenue Code 501(C)3, our members and friends in the community may help finance the Council’s Outreach and AWQ programs.

Thank-you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Blaine Lotz, President

The U.S. Endorsement of India’s claim to a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council is evidence of a broadening bi-lateral economic and security relationship and recognition that the Asian continent is poised to become the new center of gravity in international politics.

Foreign Affairs
$22 per year (50% off the current subscription rate price)
Use the link above OR
Call 1-800- 829-5539 for details; Provide operator with code: FFAALV4

Foreign Policy
$17.95 per year for 6 bi-monthly issues ($10 off the current subscription price)
You’ll also receive full access to the articles and archived issues on www.foreignpolicy.com.

The New Yorker
$47 for one year subscription of 47 issues (80% off newsstand price)
Call 1-800-825-2510 and reference the World Affairs Councils of America

Stratfor
$179 per year premium membership, including access to Stratfor’s website, geopolitical forecasts, multimedia resources, intelligence reports, email updates, and an archive of more than 100,000 articles and reports.

Use the link to start a 7-day guest pass and to subscribe at the discounted rate. *Stratfor’s website was recently hacked, and they are not currently able to take credit card payments. This feature should be functional soon. At that time, the weblink listed above will work. In the meantime, potential subscribers may call Customer Service: 512.744.4300 option 2, and give them their contact information. Customer service will call back once they are able to take credit card payments.

World Affairs Journal
30% discount to all WAC members
Use the link above OR call (717) 632-3535 and use the discount code WACAmerica

World Policy Journal
20% off subscriptions
Enter promotional code J10132 at checkout

Council on Foreign Relations
20% off all books
The above link to their website has a list of all available publications
Call The Brookings Institution, CFR’s book distributor, at 1-800-537-5487 to place an order or receive a book catalog. When ordering, use the discount code KWAC and say you are a World Affairs Council member.

Center for Strategic and International Studies
20% off all books
Publications may be found at the above link.
When ordering, use the discount code WAC and mention you are a world affairs council member.

The Brookings Institution
20% off all books
Use the link above to see the available publications.
Contact the order department to place an order or get a book catalog at 1-800-537-5487.
When ordering, use the discount code KWAC and say you are a world affairs council member. The offer cannot be combined with any other discounts.

Questions? Please call WACA at (202) 833-4557

The management of water resources in the South Asia (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) provides challenges to the growth and security of the region, exacerbating inter- and intra- regional tension. The prospect of climate change presents an opportunity to promote integrated water resources management worldwide.

China incorporates an open economic sector within an authoritarian political system. Progress in liberalizing economic activity has not been accompanied by comparable advances in democracy and human rights as had been anticipated by many in the developed world. Will China continue to achieve rapid economic growth based on this model and will its policies be emulated by other emerging societies?

The Reading List referred to by Ambassador McAfee has been posted to our site.

All of us can access almost any information, anytime, and anywhere.  These advances have fueled a nationwide and global increase in human productivity, scientific advancement, and social interaction.

This aggregation of information and the incredible connectivity to this information is a double-edged sword. Insiders can easily use their access to engage in disruption, denial, data espionage and theft.  Outsiders can gain access to our systems by social engineering attacks, insider agents and technical attacks such as viruses, worms, and other malware.  Our systems are porous and untrustworthy.  In addition, these accesses are being used for fraud, criminal gain, stealing the nation’s intellectual property, or to gain an information advantage in wartime.

Mr. Crowell  discusses these threats, their implications to our businesses and economic prowess and their implications for our National and Economic Security. Some of the ways that government, business associations and enterprises are trying to address and reduce these growing threats are reviewed.