When Barack Obama entered office, he promised to “fundamentally transform the United States of America.” What he didn’t mention was that his policies would also fundamentally transform the world and that such transformation would begin with the destruction of the Pax Americana that maintained relative stability and peace in the Middle East and beyond for over four decades. While President Trump’s term in office put a temporary halt to some of the more dangerous policies that we had seen under his predecessor, and in fact his administration successfully negotiated and implemented the Abraham Accords among Israel and four of her Arab neighbors, the election of Joe Biden has resulted in far more insidious policies that are wreaking havoc across the globe. With a new China, Russia, Iran axis that has far-reaching consequences from Eastern Europe to Taiwan and Latin America as well as across the Mideast and North Africa, the void that resulted from America’s withdrawal of its dominant role in the Middle East and sole superpower status globally, is being filled by some very dangerous and nefarious players whose goals do not include peaceful relations among the global community of nations. Join us for an in-depth discussion with Cliff May, the founder, and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, on the changing geopolitical landscape and the challenges it presents to the United States and our allies, including Israel.

About the Speaker: Clifford D. May is the founder and president of FDD, a nonpartisan policy institute focusing on national security created immediately following the 9/11/01 attacks on the United States.

Under his leadership, FDD has become one of the nation’s most highly regarded think tanks and a sought-after voice on a wide range of national security issues. He has helped assemble a staff and advisory board of the most compelling scholars and experts whose research, ideas, and recommendations have shaped important policies and legislation on terrorism, nonproliferation, human rights, Islamism, democratization, and related issues.

Cliff has had a long and distinguished career in international relations, journalism, communications, and politics. A veteran news reporter, foreign correspondent and editor (at The New York Times and other publications), he has covered stories around the world, including datelines from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, the U.A.E., Bahrain, Oman, Sudan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Chad, Mexico, Argentina, Northern Ireland, Hungary, Kazakhstan, China, and Russia.

From 2016 to 2018, Cliff served as a commissioner on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission that makes policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress in order to advance the pivotal right of religious freedom around the world, and integrate religious freedom into America’s foreign policy.