Huffington Post: "A Truly Original Foreign Policy Idea: Public Talks"
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The Honorable Barack Obama
Dear President Obama:
Your speech in Cairo echoed your earlier calls for dialogue with Cuba and other nations. All of this is in alignment with your appointments of special envoys to other regions including the Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
This is affirmation that your administration is open to dialogue with friends and foes alike. These traditional negotiations will take the form of direct private talks, talks overseen by envoys and in some cases the peace conference. But what happens if they fail or stall, as they have with your predecessors?
The logic behind the Institute’s proposal to the Senate Foreign relations Committee and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs is very straightforward. The establishment of a new form of negotiations, Public Talks, is in the interests of the U.S. and the international community because it creates an option after traditional negotiations have collapsed.
We are confident that when the full ramifications of Public Talks are laid out before you, the U.S. will energetically advance this new process. Your support for establishing Public Talks will truly “unleash historical momentum on its own.”
Sincerely,
John Connolly
Gordon Feller, Urban Age Institute “Public
Talks is an approach to conflict resolution that is entirely different
and far more expansive than anything else in the field.”
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Professor Patrick Hatcher, UC Berkeley, Political
Science “ . . . It is unique in that (the Institute) suggests
using the media to make public a set of terms before, and while, they
are negotiating, hence reaching a larger audience who can use public opinion
for peace.”
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Professor Mirta Mulhare, State University of
New York “The strategy you suggest would represent an evolutionary
summit, bringing out negotiations into the open and introducing the people
into the process. The possibilities for use are endlss.”
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letter
Mr. Doug Turner. Republican gubernatorial candidate for New Mexico and formerly an International Affairs Fellow for the Council on Foreign Affairs: “I am intrigued and excited about the new concept for public diplomacy that your organization has outlined in its proposal for ‘Public Talks.’ . . .”
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Congresswoman Woolsey, Democratic member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs: “Public Talks is an interesting proposal that should be looked at closely and discussed as an alternative to conflict. . . . Innovative thinking, like that of the Institute, is essential to moving towards a stable and secure future for all the world’s people.”
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