CONNECTING OUR WORLD

LIVE EVENTS

Book Talk with Garrett M. Graff, author of 
The DEVIL REACHED TOWARD the SKY

Tuesday, March 24, 2026, 6:00 pm 
Collected Works Bookstore & Coffeehouse, 202 Galisteo Street
FREE in-store Book Talk, REGISTER to watch on Zoom
In conversation with Global Santa Fe Vice Chair and host of KSFR’s The Forum, Jim Falk

From Pulitzer Prize finalist Garrett M. Graff comes a panoramic narrative of how ordinary people grapple with extraordinary wartime risks, sacrifices, and choices that will transform the course of history. Engineers experiment with forces of terrifying power, knowing each passing day costs soldiers’ lives—but fearing too the consequences of their creation.

Drawing from dozens of oral history archives and hundreds of books, reports, letters, and diaries, Graff masterfully blends the memories and perspectives from the known and unknown—key figures like J. Robert Oppenheimer, General Leslie Groves, and President Truman; the crews of the B-29 bombers; and the haunting stories of the Hibakusha—the “bomb-affected people.” Both a testament to human ingenuity and resilience and a compelling drama told by the participants who lived it, this book is a singular, profound, and searing work about the inception of our most powerful weapon and its haunting legacy.

Garret Graff is an American journalist and author. He is a former editor of Politico Magazine, editor-in-chief of Washingtonian magazine in Washington, D.C., and instructor at Georgetown University in the Master’s in Professional Studies Journalism and Public Relations program.

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VENEZUELA: The New Normal for U.S. – Latin America Relations?
Ambassador William Brownfield, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

Friday, March 27, 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm (doors open at 5:00 pm/talk begins at 5:30 pm)
Center for Contemporary Arts Santa Fe, 1050 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe
$25 members/$40 non-members

Join Global Santa Fe for a lecture with William R. Brownfield, a Career Ambassador in the U.S. Foreign Service and former U.S. ambassador to Venezuela, Chile, and Colombia. Now a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Brownfield brings decades of experience navigating diplomacy, security cooperation, and regional crises across the western hemisphere. Drawing on his time leading the U.S. embassy in Caracas during a period of escalating tensions, he will explore how Venezuela’s prolonged political and economic crisis has reshaped the strategic landscape and what it reveals about the emerging “new normal” in U.S.–Latin American relations.

Brownfield also served as Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, overseeing a portfolio of more than $4 billion in 80 countries and leading U.S. efforts on counternarcotics, crime prevention, and law enforcement cooperation. His career includes humanitarian and policy roles with the United Nations, service as political adviser to U.S. Southern Command, and senior positions at the U.S. State Department. He has received the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award and the Presidential Performance Award three times each. He is a graduate of Cornell University and the National War College and attended the University of Texas School of Law. 

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OFFENSIVE REALISM – The American Experiment Report Card
Luncheon Discussion with John J. Mearsheimer

Friday, April 17, 2026, 11:30am – 1:30pm
Hotel Santa Fe, 1501 Paseo de Peralta
$55 members/$70 non-members (lunch included)
In conversation with Global Santa Fe Vice Chair and host of KSFR’s The Forum, Jim Falk

Join Global Santa Fe members and friends for a luncheon and discussion with John Mearsheimer, American political scientist and international relations scholar. He is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago.

Mearsheimer is the leading proponent of the neorealist theory of offensive realism. The theory places the principal emphasis on security competition among great powers within the anarchy of the international system, not on the human nature of statesmen and diplomats. In contrast to other theories offensive realism maintains that states are not satisfied with a given amount of power but seek hegemony for security because the anarchic makeup of the international system creates strong incentives for states to seek opportunities to gain power at the expense of competitors.

John Mearsheimer’s recent book, co-authored with Sebastian Rosato, is How States Think: The Rationality of Foreign Policy, which argues that leaders like Vladimir Putin often make decisions based on realist, rational, balance-of-power calculations rather than ideology. The book, released in late 2023, explains how international power dynamics drive state actions.

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The Future of Iran after the U.S.-Israeli Attack
Dr. Nader Hashemi, Associate Professor of Middle East and Islamic Politics, Georgetown University

Thursday, April 23, 2026, 5:30 am – 7:00pm
Center for Contemporary Arts Santa Fe, 1050 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe
$25 members/$40 non-members

Even before the United States and Israel began bombing, the Islamic Republic of Iran was facing an existential crisis. Internally, it faced repeated and expanding protests demanding structural political change. Most recently, the collapse of Iran’s currency triggered a nationwide uprising in January, leaving tens of thousands dead or injured before order was reimposed through brutal force. Regionally, the so-called “Axis of Resistance” has weakened amid shifting alliances and internal pressures across Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen. Iran’s closest regional ally in Syria has fallen from power, reshaping the regional balance. Internationally, Iran remains in confrontation with the United States and Israel over its nuclear policy, ballistic missile program, and regional activities.

The conflict has escalated into active military hostilities, with coordinated U.S. and Israeli strikes on targets inside Iran, including military and infrastructure sites, and Iranian missile and drone attacks in response. The fighting has broadened across parts of the Middle East, with incidents reported in Lebanon and other regional theaters, contributing to heightened security risks and geopolitical instability.

What is the future of Iran given these immense political and security challenges? What are the prospects for a democratic transition and how could U.S. foreign policy shift to better support the democratic aspirations of the Iranian people? This lecture will grapple with these pressing and timely questions.

Nader Hashemi is Director of the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and Associate Professor of Middle East and Islamic Politics at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He earned his PhD in political science from the University of Toronto and held academic appointments at Northwestern University, UCLA Global Institute. He was previously the founding Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver.  A scholar of religion, democracy, and authoritarianism in the Middle East, Hashemi is the author and editor of several major works, including Islam, Secularism and Liberal Democracy, a frequent media commentator and a Non-Resident Fellow at Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN).

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VIRTUAL EVENTS

The Best and Worst: 250 Years of U.S. Foreign Policy
James Lindsay, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)

Tuesday, March 31 | 5:00pm-6:00pm MDT 
Zoom Webinar
No charge, RSVP required for Zoom link

From the Marshall Plan, the Louisiana Purchase, and the creation of the United Nations to the bombing of Nagasaki, Indian Removal Act, and the invasion of Iraq, U.S. foreign policy decisions throughout its 250-year history have had an immense impact in reshaping our nation and the world. James Lindsay, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, unveils the ultimate rankings of the best and worst decisions in U.S. foreign policy in 250 years. Join us March 31 on WorldNow with Jim Falk as we explore these foreign policy moves, their impact on the U.S. and the world, and the future of U.S. foreign policy in the century ahead.

James M. Lindsay is the Mary and David Boies Distinguished Senior Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy and Director of Fellowship Affairs at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). A leading expert on U.S. national security and foreign policy, Lindsay has held senior roles at CFR and previously served on the National Security Council.He is the author of several acclaimed books, including The Empty Throne and America Unbound, and hosts the podcast The President’s Inbox. He holds advanced degrees from Yale University and has taught at the University of Texas and the University of Iowa.

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International Visitor Leadership Program Forecast

Global Santa Fe is delighted to partner with the Congressional Office for International Leadership (COIL) on two exchange programs this year. As part of this collaboration, we will coordinate individual homestays for each delegate and design a customized eight-day program tailored to the specific theme of each delegation. These programs will also incorporate cultural and community-based activities that advance the objectives of the exchange. Global Santa Fe will also organize congressional outreach and, whenever possible, arrange meetings with Members of Congress or their district staff in Santa Fe.*

If you are interested in volunteering to accompany the delegation to one of their professional meetings or cultural activities, please contact: molly@globalsantafe.org.

• Ukraine/Veteran’s Workplace Empowerment – April 17 – 25, 2026
• Soloman Islands/Cultural Preservation – 2026 Dates to be confirmed  

 *As a legislative branch agency, COIL is not subject to the Office of Management and Budget’s grants-related guidance applicable to executive branch departments and agencies.

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