Windham World Affairs Council is pleased to announce its annual Galbraith lecture and fundraiser. Ambassador Peter Galbraith will deliver a talk “Hot Spots: Revolution in Syria, Ukraine’s Munich moment, NATO In peril, War in Iran & the Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza” on Wednesday, Oct. 8, at Centre Congregational Church in Brattleboro. An $25 expected donation for this annual fundraiser will open with a wine and hors’dourves reception. Doors open at 5:30 pm. Registration is required through Eventbrite at: https://Galbraith.eventbrite.com There will be a live stream link available upon registering for those who cannot attend live. Anyone who would like to attend but cannot pay the suggested donation should write to windhamworldaffairscouncil@gmail.com for volunteer opportunities or other access. This modest contribution supports our core mission: keeping programs free and open to the public and sustaining our sponsorship of Brattleboro High School’s Peace Jam.
The lecture will focus on wars in Europe and the Middle East that have dominated this year’s news and endanger the post-1945 world order. In August, Donald Trump went to Alaska seeking a ceasefire, yet returned embracing Putin’s plan for Ukraine to surrender territory in exchange for a promise not to invade again. Sharp divisions between the US and Europe over Ukraine, Russia, and Trump’s stated desire to seize Greenland from Denmark threaten the future of the NATO alliance. In Syria, the December 2024 overthrow of the Assad regime provided a moment of hope that has since dissipated amid ethnic and religious conflict. In June, a long-simmering tension between Israel and Iran erupted into open conflict, with the United States bombing Iran’s nuclear capabilities, albeit with uncertain results. Israel’s unrelenting war on Gaza, about to enter its third year, has been declared militarily unwinnable by many of the country’s own experts, with the highest toll being paid by Gazan civilians and the Israeli hostages still in captivity there.
Ambassador Galbraith has held a wide variety of positions both working for the United States government and outside of it, from Afghanistan to East Timor to Ukraine to Syria, among many others. Currently working as a “freelance diplomat,” he travels regularly to such hotspots and uses his personal connections to advocate for humanitarian causes. Since 2021, he has been going to Kurdish held Northeast Syria to retrieve children born to Yazidi mothers who had been kidnapped and raped by Isis fighters. He has reunited the children with the mothers and facilitated the resettlement of mothers and children to western countries.
The Galbraith lecture is an annual event named for Ambassador Galbraith’s father and WWAC co-founder, John Kenneth Galbraith, a distinguished economist whose belief that economies should serve people—and not the other way around—remains profoundly relevant. Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich will open the evening with a virtual address in tribute to his mentor.
The lecture will be moderated by Brattleboro’s John Ungerleider, professor of peace and conflict studies at Vermont Law & Graduate School. Ungerleider has decades of experience teaching and facilitating workshops with students from all over the world. The event is brought to you, in part, with help from the Vermont Humanities Council, Brooks Memorial Library, Vermont Independent Media,BCTV, Windham Wines, and the School of International Training (SIT).
