WEEKEND: Geopolitics to be talk at free Sequim meeting today (Friday)

Published 12:01 am Friday, September 19, 2014

NOTE: “Today” and “tonight” refer to Friday, Sept. 19.

SEQUIM — The Sequim Great Decisions Discussion Group will meet at the Sequim Library, 630 N. Sequim Ave., from 10 a.m. to noon today.

Open to the public and free, meeting topics are:

■ “The Return of Geopolitics”: Whether it is Russian forces seizing Crimea, China making aggressive claims in its coastal waters or Iran trying to dominate the Middle East, old-fashioned power plays are back, say organizers of the discussion.

“These revisionist powers never bought into the geopolitical settlement that followed the Cold War, and their ongoing attempts to overturn it will not be peaceful,” according to a written statement from the organizers.

■ “The Illusion of Geopolitics”: China, Iran and Russia are not determined to undo the post-Cold War settlement, organizers say; they are not full-scale revisionist powers but, at most, part-time spoilers.

“The United States is far more powerful and has built a robust liberal world order countries need to integrate with to succeed,” according to the organizers’ statement.

These discussion topics, which concern domestic and foreign policy issues, are taken from the Foreign Policy Association’s Great Decisions 2014 Briefing Book and from Foreign Affairs, the bimonthly publication of the Council on Foreign Relations.

For more information and a schedule of future meetings, visit www.tinyurl.com/SequimGreatDecisionsDiscussion.