San Diego World Affairs Council (SDWAC)

The San Diego World Affairs Council provides programs and events focusing upon international relations, economics, politics, and foreign cultures.

[San Diego World Affairs Council (SDWAC) @SDWorldAffairs]

🌍 Join us Feb 5 at 2:30pm at @uofsandiego for a Distinguished Speakers event on the geopolitics of Turkish foreign policy across Eurasia, featuring @GiorgioCafiero!

This timely discussion explores Turkey’s evolving global role.

🔗 Register: https://t.co/rEwA6RTwtK

[San Diego World Affairs Council (SDWAC) @SDWorldAffairs]

Last week, SDWAC proudly co-sponsored a vital conversation on tariffs, USMCA, and the future of North American integration 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇲🇽 The takeaway was clear: regional cooperation isn’t optional, it’s essential.

Thanks to all our partners and speakers for a great night. #USMCA

[Giorgio Cafiero @GiorgioCafiero]

Saddened to hear of Dr. Barry Blechman’s passing. My condolences to his family and colleagues.

I’ll always remember attending his 2011 lecture at the @SDWorldAffairs. His legacy lives on through his scholarship and impact. https://t.co/RtwawW3qL1

[San Diego World Affairs Council (SDWAC) @SDWorldAffairs]

🌎 What does climate policy look like in the Trump 2.0 era?

Join us for the SDWAC 2025 Annual Members Meeting & Dinner featuring UC San Diego’s David G. Victor on the future of decarbonization & climate strategy under the new administration.

🗓️June 18 | San Diego | Link in Bio

[San Diego World Affairs Council (SDWAC) @SDWorldAffairs]

To provide informed comment & analysis of JD Vance' speech at the Munich Security Conference it's helpful to see/hear the actual speech in it's entirety.
https://t.co/BQkJvF58G1

[San Diego World Affairs Council (SDWAC) @SDWorldAffairs]

"Really hard not to make the parallel between JD Vance's speech right now at the Munich Security Conference and Putin's 2007 speech at the very same podium. Both were watershed moments that fundamentally transformed the existing consensus."
https://t.co/fKRzlqMYvF

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

Really hard not to make the parallel between JD Vance's speech right now at the Munich Security Conference and Putin's 2007 speech at the very same podium. https://t.co/AMW5zpOXNI

Both were watershed moments that fundamentally transformed the existing consensus. Putin at the time delivered the speech that marked the beginning of the end of the unipolar moment. JD Vance's speech will probably be remembered as the speech that marked the beginning of the end of the post-WW2 Western alliance.

As a European, I'm in two minds about what Vance said about Europe.

He is of course right about many things. For instance Europe's attitude with respect to Romania's elections was beyond appalling and unequivocally antidemocratic. I myself called it out repeatedly on this platform.

But - and this is a very big BUT - on Romania and much of Vance's criticism directed at Europe, the U.S. was right there alongside Europe acting jointly, and often even guiding Europe's actions. Specifically on Romania for instance, I believe that the US State Department was first in issuing a statement on December 4th (https://t.co/AyL8jylAZ0) expressing its concern about "Russian involvement in malign cyber activity designed to influence the integrity of the Romanian electoral process" which led to the elections being cancelled two days later (and which, it was later proven, was completely false: it turned out that this "malign cyber activity" were paid for by the very Romanian party in power that cancelled the elections!). It's only after that State Department statement that the Europeans followed the U.S.'s lead.

So it's a bit rich, even very rich, for Vance, less than 2 months afterwards, to lecture Europeans on this without as much as acknowledging the U.S.'s own role in a lot of it.

Same could be said about European content moderation and "censorship." He conveniently forgets that much of Europe's current approach was developed in close coordination with American agencies and tech companies. The EU's content moderation framework didn't emerge in a vacuum - it was heavily influenced by American practices and pressures.

Or take Vance's criticism of European mass migration policies. He spent a big part of his speech lamenting over the attack in Munich yesterday by (apparently) a young Afghan asylum seeker, describing it as a direct "result of a series of conscious decisions made by politicians all over the [European] continent". But he conveniently fails to mention why Afghans migrated en-masse out of their country, which might have a little something to do with a certain great power that decided to wage a 20-year long war over there and completely wrecked the country... Same story for many migrants in Europe, a huge share of them being a direct result of disastrous US foreign policy decisions.

I'm also extremely uncomfortable with Vance's stated intentions to meddle in European politics. He calls out - rightly - Europe for not living up to its democratic values, yet in the same breath he's explicitly announcing America's intention to intervene in European politics by supporting certain movements against established institutions. He criticizes European elites for not respecting democratic choices while simultaneously suggesting that a Trump administration would actively work to influence those choices. How is this any different from the kind of interference he hypocritically condemns?

Perhaps most worrying of all, Vance's vision seems to completely disregard why the post-WW2 European architecture was built in the first place. Europe is the place where both world wars started, 100% of them. The past 80 years were a uniquely peaceful time in European history: due to the high density of states in a relatively small geography and the somewhat disagreeable character of many European nations (the French very much included), the continent had been in almost constant conflict for the previous millennium. I really dislike European institutions as much as the next guy but I don't forget the original spirit with which they were built: to put an end to endless war in Europe.

By positioning America as an ally of nationalist forces against these institutions, Vance isn't just ending an alliance - he's actively working to unwind the entire post-war European peace architecture, which could have immense ramifications. In fact I think we can even legitimately ask ourselves if the U.S. doesn't now have war in Europe as one of its strategic objectives. Given the U.S.'s history in triggering wars left, right and center when it believes they're in their interests, and given Vance's speech, I think the question has merits.

All in all, I'm not ashamed to say that I much prefer Putin's 2007 speech to Vance's. Whatever you may think, Putin remained within the confines of what he thought were challenges to Russia's national interests, issues like NATO expansion or American attempt at global hegemony. He didn't try to meddle in intra-Western politics or position Russia as an active force for undermining Western institutions from within. His vision was about creating a multipolar world where Russia would be one independent pole - not about dismantling the internal architecture of other poles.

Where Putin wanted to limit Western power globally, Vance seems to want to fracture the European order locally. That's a far more dangerous proposition.

I'm all for reforming Europe and I constantly call for it. But to me by far the biggest issue for Europe is its lack of sovereignty and strategic autonomy, especially vis à vis the United States, in almost all domains. If Vance's speech could have any silver lining, it would be to finally wake Europeans up to this reality: let's hope that for once Europe draws the right lesson.

[San Diego World Affairs Council (SDWAC) @SDWorldAffairs]

Hmmm...🤔

[Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump]

He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.

[San Diego World Affairs Council (SDWAC) @SDWorldAffairs]

Convoy w Deputy Head of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) attacked by Hezbollah supporters near Beirut Intl Airport w at least one vehicle burned + several UNIFIL staffers being injured before the Lebanese Army arrived to disperse crowd.
https://t.co/oPFkBbswn3

[OSINTdefender @sentdefender]

A Convoy containing the Deputy Head of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), has been attacked by Hezbollah Supporters near Beirut International Airport, with at least one Vehicle being burned and several UNIFIL Staff Members being injured before the Lebanese Army arrived to disperse the Crowd.

[San Diego World Affairs Council (SDWAC) @SDWorldAffairs]

"A bicameral group of lawmakers has introduced legislation to transfer the administration of the Food for Peace Program from USAID to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), a move that could significantly impact maritime shipping."
https://t.co/JkquwWnccb

[San Diego World Affairs Council (SDWAC) @SDWorldAffairs]

This looks interesting.

SDSU Center for Islamic and Arabic Studies invites you to:

“Religion and Populism Worldwide”
Wednesday, February 26 at 10.00am
A Zoom Talk by Prof. Olivier Roy

Zoom Webinar Registration
https://t.co/XkaYWJiJoI

[San Diego World Affairs Council (SDWAC) @SDWorldAffairs]

U.S. military is carrying out intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions along the southern border and off the coast of Mexico using U.S. Air Force RC-135 Rivet Joint and U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft.
https://t.co/WSlnflFIVB

[Brad Setser @Brad_Setser]

The net result is -- setting politics and the profit sharing issues around JV exports aside -- China's ICE export capacity is effectively unlimited ...

domestic sales are heading to 10m cars a year. Capacity for ICEs almost certainly remains over 30m cars a year ...

4/

[Brad Setser @Brad_Setser]

China's 2m in 2024 EV exports should be assessed relative to the size of the EV market outside China, which looks to be just over 6m cars --

1/2

[San Diego World Affairs Council (SDWAC) @SDWorldAffairs]

From @observingjapan The LDP and Kōmeitō lose their majority What happens next?
https://t.co/JC4Skekl58

[San Diego World Affairs Council (SDWAC) @SDWorldAffairs]

Join us on September 7th to discover how to travel to every country in the world with Matthew Allison. We will be at the Hall of Nations in Balboa. Hope to see you there! ✨

[San Diego World Affairs Council (SDWAC) @SDWorldAffairs]

You're invited to a lecture at UCSD on Thursday, August 22nd. Andreu García, a Spanish geopolitical historian, will discuss lessons learned from the past and their relevance to current challenges and opportunities in the U.S.-Mexico bilateral relationship. Hope to see you there!

[San Diego World Affairs Council (SDWAC) @SDWorldAffairs]

At @NatUniv on 7/23/24! Join us to learn more about the human trafficking problem facing our community!

[San Diego World Affairs Council (SDWAC) @SDWorldAffairs]

Join us for a thought-provoking evening this Thursday 5/9 with Vice Admiral Charles W. Martoglio as he  delves into the intricate dynamics shaping America and the world from cooperation to conflict, he'll explore the spectrum of possibilities that lie ahead. See you there! ��🌍

[San Diego World Affairs Council (SDWAC) @SDWorldAffairs]

We cordially invite you to join us on Thursday, May 9th to attend a lecture by Charles Martoglio, a retired U.S. Navy veteran, who will deliver an insightful talk on the prospects of America and the world until 2030.

[San Diego World Affairs Council (SDWAC) @SDWorldAffairs]

🌍✨ A heartfelt thank you to our remarkable partners and sponsors who make our mission at SDWAC a reality! 🤝 We extend a warm invitation to join us in making a difference. Interested in collaborating with us? Reach out today! #SDWAC #GlobalEngagement #Partnerships #Sponsorship