Dear Friend,

We have exciting news to report: Video from all seven of the sessions at our inaugural conference are now available for you to view on our website.

The conference, which took place on February 26 on Capitol Hill in partnership with Foreign Policy magazine, drew more than 300 attendees to hear leading policymakers, politicians, and opinion shapers put forward their vision for America in the world. 

One of the key objectives of the conference was to signal that Restraint (or Responsible Statecraft) is the main challenger to the current foreign policy paradigm. Those favoring the status quo can no longer disregard the critiques of the current US grand strategy but must engage in a debate about its merits or lack thereof. 

We also wanted to signal that the fault lines in the debate over U.S. foreign policy are not Left vs. Right, but between those favoring the status quo and those advocating a policy centered on military restraint and diplomacy.

Both of those objectives were achieved in my opinion. Please watch and judge for yourself! And please share the videos widely. Thank you!

  • Reps Pramila Jayapal and Andy Biggs opened the conference by offering a view from Congress.

  • Retired Gen. David Petraeus spoke about his views on U.S. global leadership in the 21st Century.  A conversation with Rep. Ro Khana and CKI’s Will Ruger followed, offering a sharply contrasting perspective on the same topic.

  • Next up, Matt Duss and Julianne Smith, foreign policy advisors to the Sanders and Biden campaigns respectively, discussed how the politics of American engagement abroad are likely to play out in the 2020 elections.

  • Mark Perry, Qi’s Sarah Leah Whitson, Retired Ambassador Gerald Feierstein, and Mehdi Hasan discussed American engagement in the Middle East.

  • A conversation between Peter Beinart, Patrick Cronin, and Qi’s Rachel Esplin Odell spotlighted issues of American engagement in the Asia-Pacific region.

  • Emma Ashford, Rosa Brooks, Qi’s Stephen Wertheim, and Tom Wright closed out the day with a discussion of contrasting strategies for ending endless war.

Check out pictures of the conference here. Enjoy!

Sincerely, 


Trita Parsi
Executive Vice President
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