March 2008

HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL APRIL!

March International Book Club
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

***HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL APRIL

Time: 6:00-8:00 PM
Date: March 3rd, 2008
Location: The World Affairs Council Office
2218 Devine Street
Columbia, SC 29205
Cost: Free for WAC members and friends! What to Bring: A dish to pass, your book, and lots of ideas to share. Beverages will be provided.

RSVP to programs@columbiawac.org or call (803)252-2197

Based loosely on political events in nineteen-sixties Nigeria, this novel focusses on two wealthy Igbo sisters, Olanna and Kainene, who drift apart as the newly independent nation struggles to remain unified. Olanna falls for an imperious academic whose political convictions mask his personal weaknesses; meanwhile, Kainene becomes involved with a shy, studious British expat. After a series of massacres targeting the Igbo people, the carefully genteel world of the two couples disintegrates. Adichie indicts the outside world for its indifference and probes the arrogance and ignorance that perpetuated the conflict. Yet this is no polemic. The characters and landscape are vividly painted, and details are often used to heartbreaking effect: soldiers, waiting to be armed, clutch sticks carved into the shape of rifles; an Igbo mother, in flight from a massacre, carries her daughter's severed head, the hair lovingly braided.

Remember to ask for your World Affairs Council discount when you purchase your International Book Club selection at The Happy Bookseller!

Distinguished Speakers Series: The Way Forward for the US in the Middle East with Brigadier General Dr. John H. Johns and Colonel William Hauser

Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation
Council for a Liveable World

Sponsored by BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina

Time: 12:00pm-2:00pm
Date: March 4, 2008
Location: First Citizens Building
7th Floor--Nexsen Pruet Office
1230 Main Street, Suite 700
Columbia, SC 29201
Cost: Members: $20; Non-Members: $27

Program Synopsis: On September 11, 2001, one of the most catastrophic attacks on the United States occurred on our soil. On September 12, 2001, the entire world united behind us and later supported our efforts to declare war on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda--including the U.N. Radical and violent religious fundamentalists were isolated in world opinion. But today, it appears as if the majority of the world, including Americans, are not behind U.S. efforts in the Middle East. So what happened? Listen as General Johns and Colonel Hauser, both retired military officers with decades of experience in the U.S. military and government, discuss the role of the U.S. in the Middle East and the way to move forward from here.

RSVP to programs@columbiawac.org or call (803)252-2197

Distinguished Speakers Series: Dr. Gordon Smith's Russia after Putin

Sponsored by BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina

Time: 12:00pm-2:00pm
Date: March 14, 2008
Location: The Summit Club
20th Floor, 1301 Gervais St.
Columbia, SC 29201
Cost: Members: $22; Non-Members: $26

Program Synopsis: Dr. Gordon Smith of the Walker Institute of International and Area Studies discusses Russia's future after Vladimir Putin leaves office as its historic elections approach.

RSVP to programs@columbiawac.org or call (803)252-2197

March New Member Happy Hour

Sponsored by FN Manufacturing

Help the World Affairs Council prepare for spring as we welcome our newest members! To help us acquaint them with WAC, stop in, have a drink, and socialize with us. Also, don't forget to introduce your friends to the Columbia WAC. If you remember to bring someone new to the Council’s New Members Happy Hour, admission is free!

Time: 5:30-7:00 PM
Date: March 25, 2008
Location: Hunter-Gatherer Brewery and Pub
900 Main Street
Columbia, SC 29201
Cost: Free for guest and members who bring guest; $5 for members without a guest.
RSVP to programs@columbiawac.org or call (803)252-2197

Distinguished Speakers Series Breakfast: Transatlantic Megatrends with Michael Maibach, President and CEO of the European-American Business Council

Sponsored by BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina

Time: 8:00am-9:30am
Date: March 31, 2008
Location: The Summit Club
20th Floor, 1301 Gervais St.
Columbia, SC 29201
Cost: Members: $22; Non-Members: $26

Program Synopsis:

While the US and Europe have grown apart politically the last several years, Trans-Atlantic trade and investment has grown appreciably.  With 11% of the world’s people, the US and Europe today create 55% of the world’s GDP.  Can these two industrial regions stay competitive in the face of rising global competition?

RSVP to programs@columbiawac.org or call (803)252-2197