The Power and Influence of China and India
Dr.
Evan Feigenbaum, the deputy asst. secretary of state for south and central
asian affairs, will present a program (Henkel Hall, 4 p.m.) on Wednesday,
Sept. 3. His presentation will focus on the increasing power and influence
of China and India throughout the world today. Serving at the Dept. of State
since 2001, Dr. Feigenbaum has been heavily involved in the development
of the U.S.- China Senior Dialogue and worked on an array of issues in U.S.
- China, U.S.-Korea, and U.S. - Japan relations, from global issues with
China to nuclear diplomacy with North Korea to the U.S. defense posture
in Japan. He now works on the spectrum of issues in U.S. - India relations,
including economic and high technology cooperation, efforts to advance the
U.S. - India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative, and coordination of U.S.
and Indian policies toward the Gulf, East Asia Notes from the Director and
Africa. An accomplished published author of several books and articles in
academic journals, we are very pleased to host Feigenbaum’s visit.
Excerpted Comments from Past Speakers
On April 10, the Honorable William C. Mims, Virginia’s chief deputy attorney
general, spoke of the “politics of empathy.” Empathy, according to Mims,
is transcendent and universal. It infuses all the world’s great religious
faiths and essentially captures “understanding and entering into another’s
feelings,” It is the capacity to understand, be aware of, be sensitive to,
and vicariously experience the feelings, thoughts and experiences of another.
Its etymology is Greek, from empatheia, which translates literally as passion,
feelings, emotion. If one was to Google “the politics of empathy,” you would
get 1,690,000 hits.
Among them are articles with the following headlines:
• At Dr. King’s Church, Sen. Obama Calls for Empathy
• Ralph Nader: “I have a very deep well of empathy”
• Gov. Huckabee: Empathy for Life “at the bottom of the Mountain”
• Pres. Bush Expresses Empathy for Workers
• The Empathy of Sen. John Edwards
• Media and the Politics of Empathy
So, just what is behind this surge of empathetic politicians? It may have
something to do with the way we obtain, process and act upon information,
particularly information from and about politicians. It is suggested by
a prominent political journalist, E. J. Dionne, that we “view politics as
not simply a grubby confrontation of competing interests but an arena in
which citizens can learn from each other and discover an ‘enlightened self-interest’
in common --- that we can know a good in common that we cannot know alone.”
Dionne is talking about empathy.
On
Thursday, April 24, the institute sponsored Edward Powell, the president
and chief executive officer of the United Service Organization (USO), to
visit and speak of its marvelous history and continued importance. The timeliness
of the program, with tens of thousands of our brave military in harms way
is obvious to all. Powell spoke very emotionally and compellingly of the
USO’s integral part of our country’s relationship with our service men and
women. It remains a treasure enabling Americans to express their gratitude,
caring and support for our armed forces. They currently operate more than
130 centers worldwide, including 10 mobile canteens located in the continental
United States and overseas. Service members and their families visit USO
centers more than 5.3 million times each year. These services include free
Internet and e-mail access, libraries and reading rooms, housing assistance,
family crisis counseling, support groups, game rooms and nursery families.
In recent years, the USO opened centers in Kuwait, Qatar and Afghanistan
to support service members participating in Operation Enduring and Iraqi
Freedom.
Created some 67 years ago as a private, non-profit organization with a mission
to support our military troops, celebrities have joined forces with the
USO to entertain all over the world. Actors, singers, comedians, writers
and professional sports figures provide troops with a morale boost when
they need it most. Today, celebrities such as Toby Keith, Robin Williams,
Gary Sinese, Scarlett Johansson and John Elway have picked up the USO torch,
making appearances for troops and giving them a glimpse of home. Powell
said, “we do a show literally somewhere in the world every day.” Traveling
the globe, volunteers give their time and talents, ensuring that service
members and their families know they are not forgotten. The USO conveys
the heartfelt appreciation and support of a grateful nation while delivering
its programs and services to 1.4 million active duty service members and
1.2 million National Guard and Reserves as well as their families.