On December 13, 2012, the Atlantic Council held an off-the-record video conference with Ambassador Alexander “Sandy” Vershbow, NATO deputy secretary general, on NATO’s major priorities in the aftermath of the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting, which took place in Brussels earlier this month.

The Michael S. Ansari Africa Center hosted a roundtable discussion with the Right Honourable Stephen O’Brien, MP, the UK prime minister’s special envoy to the Sahel.

David Wright, secretary general of the International Organization of Securities Commissions, joined the Atlantic Council for a discussion on the future of global financial regulatory reform and its impact on the securities industry.

The Atlantic Council’s Strategic Foresight Initiative hosted more than 200 people at the Global Trends 2030: US Leadership in a Post-Western World conference held over two days at the Newseum on December 10 and 11, 2012.

On December 7, 2012, the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security hosted former Israeli Minister of Internal Affairs Ophir Pines-Paz and Ghaith Al-Omari, executive director of the American Task Force on Palestine, for an off-the-record lunch discussion on “Prospects for Middle East Peace.”

On December 7, 2012, the Atlantic Council’s Program on Transatlantic Relations and Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center hosted former Hungarian Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai for an off-the-record lunch discussion on “Quo Vadis, Hungary?”

On December 5, the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center held a discussion entitled “Can the World Live Without Iranian Oil,” with Sara Vakhshouri, president of SVB Energy International; and Denise Natali, Minerva Chair, Institute of National Strategic Studies, National Defense University.

On December 4th, The Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security and the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) co-hosted a roundtable discussion with Michael Clark, director general, RUSI, moderated by Jeff Lightfoot, deputy director, Brent Scowcroft Center for International Security.

On Tuesday, December 4, the Atlantic Council’s Strategic Foresight Initiative, of the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, hosted Dr. Mathew J. Burrows, counselor, US National Intelligence Council (NIC) for a talk about the soon-to-be released Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds report.

The Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center held a discussion on December 4 with Mohsin Khan, senior fellow, Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, Atlantic Council; and Paula Newberg, Marshall B. Coyne director, Institute for the Study of Diplomacy.