Date of the Event:
Wednesday, March 27, 2013 - 7:30pm - 9:30pm
For Immediate Release 7 MARCH 2013
KPFA Radio presents
FLYNT LEVERETT & HILLARY MANN LEVERETT
“Going to Tehran: Why the U.S. Must Come to Terms with the
Islamic Republic of Iran”
A debate with Mansour Farhang, Professor of international relations and Middle Eastern politics at Bennington College.
Moderated by Brian Edwards-Tiekert.
Wednesday, March 27, 7:30 pm
St. John’s Church, 2727 College Avenue, Berkeley, CA
$12 advance tickets: brownpapertickets.com :: 800-838-3006 or Pegasus Books (3 locations), Marcus Books, Mrs. Dalloway’s, Moe’s Books, Walden Pond, DIESEL, A Bookstore, SF: Modern Times ($15 door)
The Leverett’s new book will serve as centerpiece for a debate on U.S. / Iran relations. While the authors pose this extremely complex issue as essentially demanding a simple either/or solution, many believe that is a falsification insulting to many – if not most – Iranians. This complexity will be explored, revealing other crucial aspects of life in Iran today under Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollahs.
“Armchair warriors howling to have a go at Iran will denounce this book: you can count on it. Those who have had a bellyful of needless wars will have a different view. Going to Tehran is balanced, sober, impressively documented, and rich in insight. As an antidote to the warmongering that passes for analysis of Iran and US-Iranian relations, its appearance could hardly be more welcome or more timely.” —Andrew Bacevich, author of Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War
The United States and its allies are ever closer to military confrontation with Iran over nuclear munitions, oil trade, and relations with Israel. We have sustained 30 years of failed foreign policy based on economic sanctions, isolation and covert assaults within Iran. In Going To Tehran, renowned Middle East analysts Flynt and Hillary Leverett assert that “Iran has become the most critical country in the world’s most critical region. Without reconciliation with Iran, they insist, “the United States is on the verge of losing its strategic position in the Middle East, with disastrous consequences.” —Seymour Hersh, The New Yorker
FLYNT LEVERETT served at the National Security Council, State Department, and CIA. He is currently a professor of international affairs and law at Penn State. HILLARY MANN LEVERETT served at the National Security Council and State Department and negotiated for the U.S. government with Iranian officials. She is now a senior professional lecturer at American University. Their writing has appeared in The New York Times, Politico, Foreign Policy and Washington Monthly.
PROFESSOR MANSOUR FARHANG teaches international relations and Middle Eastern politics at Bennington College in Vermont, where he has been a faculty member since 1983. He is the Catharine Osgood Foster Chair for Distinguished Teaching. Farhang served as revolutionary Iran's first ambassador to the United Nations, resigning in protest when the Khomeini regime refused to accept the U.N. Commission of Inquiry's recommendation to release American hostages in Teheran. Early in the Iran-Iraq war, he served as envoy in negotiations with international peace missions. Currently, he is on the advisory board of Middle East Watch, a branch of Human Rights Watch. He is the author of U.S. Imperialism: From the Spanish-American War to the Iranian Revolution; and, with William Dorman, The U.S. Press and Iran: Foreign Policy and the Journalism of Deference. He is also a frequent contributor to scholarly journals and the national news media. He has taught at the Claremont Graduate School, the California State University at Sacramento, and Princeton University, where he was also a research fellow at the Center for International Studies. BA, University of Arizona; PhD, Claremont Graduate School.
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