Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:30:42 -0700
From: Jonathan Parfrey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: PSR-LA Global Security Seminar | April 25 | Mehran Kamrava on
   Iran

The Global Security Seminar is pleased to 
announce its April Seminar on FACTIONAL STRUGGLES 
IN IRAN'S NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY.

Where: UCLA Faculty Center
When:  Wednesday, APRIL 25, 2007
Time:    6:30 PM

You are invited to a DINNER MEETING of THE GLOBAL 
SECURITY SEMINAR featuring a presentation by 
PROFESSOR MEHRAN KAMRAVA on "NATIONAL SECURITY 
DEBATES IN IRAN: FACTIONALISM AND LOST OPPORTUNITIES."

SEMINAR LOCATION AND RESERVATIONS:  The seminar 
location is the UCLA Faculty Center.  Dinner will 
be served at a cost of $25 WITHOUT DESSERT per 
person OR $30 WITH DESSERT.  THE DEADLINE FOR 
RESERVATIONS IS 11:00 AM, APRIL 23, 2006.  PLEASE 
BRING YOUR CHECK PAYABLE TO "MICHAEL 
INTRILIGATOR, your UCLA host. Please submit your 
reservation and your choice of dessert/no dessert 
by e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Obtain 
permit for Parking Structure 2, near the Faculty 
Center, at the kiosk at Hilgard and Westholme, 
noting that you are attending the Global Security 
Seminar at the Faculty Center.  Parking fee is $8.)

SEMINAR TOPIC: "NATIONAL SECURITY DEBATES IN 
IRAN:  FACTIONALISM AND LOST OPPORTUNITIES." 
There are at least three factions currently vying 
for greater power and influence in Iran, and each 
faction has its own agendas and preferences in 
both the domestic and the national security 
arenas. The factions include "conservatives," 
"reformers," and "radicals," with the first two 
groups having entered into a coalition in the 
summer of 2005 in an unsuccessful effort to 
defeat the radicals in the presidential 
elections. Despite their significant differences, 
so far the coalition has held together and the 
two groups are advocating similar positions that 
differ significantly from those of the radicals 
in specific relation to Iran's national security 
policy. The radicals and the 
conservative-reformist alliance differ a great 
deal on the issues such as Iran's regional 
policies and its relations with its neighbors, 
especially Iraq, Iran's relations with the 
Lebanese Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas, 
Iran-US relations, and the Iranian nuclear 
program. Transposed on to a political system that 
readily lends itself to institutional 
balkanization and lack of cohesion on the 
factional disputes over policy translate into 
mixed signals coming out of Tehran, lack of 
diplomatic initiative, the prevalence of populist 
antics and symbolic antics and symbolic acts 
designed to force the hands of rivals resulting in lost opportunities.

THE SPEAKER: MEHRAN KAMRAVA, Mehran Kamrava is 
Professor of Political Science at California 
State  University, Northridge. His specialties 
include comparative politics, political 
development, and Middle Eastern politics. He is 
the author of a number of journal articles and 
books, including “The Modern Middle East: A 
Political  History Since the First World War,” 
University of California Press, 2005, and “The 
New Voices of Islam: Rethinking Politics 
and  Modernity,” (editor) University of 
California Press, 2006. He has just completed a 
book manuscript on intellectual  discourses in 
post-Khomeini Iran, and he is also co-editing a 
two-volume encyclopedia entitled “Iran Today: Life in the Islamic Republic.”

SEMINAR SPONSORS

THE GLOBAL SECURITY SEMINAR organizes monthly 
meetings presenting the views of experts on 
current global security issues. It is sponsored 
by the Los Angeles offices of the Center for 
Defense Information and Physicians for Social Responsibility.

The Seminar coordinators are:
• Philip Coyle (Los Angeles Director of the 
Center for Defense Information and former 
Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Clinton Administration).
• Michael Intriligator (Professor of Economics, 
Political Science and Policy Studies, UCLA and 
former Director of the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations).
• Jonathan Parfrey (Director, Physicians for 
Social Responsibility-Los Angeles).
• Bennett Ramberg (Vice Chairman of the Center 
for Government and Public Policy Analysis). Dr. 
Ramberg serves as the Seminar Coordinator.

Seminar speakers have included:

• Hon. Philip Coyle, former Assistant Secretary 
of Defense and Dr. Martha Krebs, Former Assistant 
Secretary of Energy. “Cuba Biotechnology or 
Bioweapons? A First Hand Trip Report,” November 2002.
• Brian Jenkins, Senior Advisor to the President 
of the Rand Corp. “Countering Al Qaeda: Elements of Strategy, December 2002.
• Mike Shuster, Diplomatic Correspondent for 
National Public Radio. “Iraq and North Korea: 
First Test of the Bush Administrations National Security Policy,” January 2003.
• Tom Plate, International Syndicated Columnist 
based at UCLA. “Global Security from the 
Perspective of the World Economic Forum in Davos, 
Switzerland Ideas and Impressions,” February 2003.
• S. David Freeman, Chairman of the State of 
California’s Consumer Power and Conservation 
Authority. “Energy and Security America's Energy 
Policy in the Aftermath with War With Iraq.” March 2003.
• Gregory Treverton, Senior Research Staff the 
Rand Corp. “Organizing the Intelligence of Homeland Security,” April 2003.
• Jean Rosenfeld, Senior Research Associate, UCLA 
Center for the Study of Religion. “The Religion 
Factor in an Apocalyptic Age Implications for the Middle East,” May 2003.
• Richard Baum, Professor of Political Science 
and Chinese Studies, UCLA. “Chinese Security in 
the Post 9/11 World and Implications for the United States,” June 2003.
• Jonathan Parfrey, Director, Los Angeles 
Physicians for Social Responsibility, “The State 
of the American Peace Movement,” July 2003.
• Zvi Vapni, Deputy Consul General in the 
Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles, “The 
Future of the Arab-Israeli Road Map to Peace,” September 2003.
• Raju Thomas, Professor of Political Science, 
Marquette University, “The Most Dangerous Place 
in the World Indo-Pakistani Relations and the 
Risk of Nuclear War,” October 2003.
• David Rapoport, Professor of Political Science, 
UCLA, “The Four Waves of Modern Revolutionary 
Terror A Generational Analysis,” November 2003.
• Michael Keane, Commentator and Author, 
“Guerrilla Warfare An Historical Perspective on 
How It May Defeat the United States in Iraq,” December 2003.
• Rachel Stohl, Senior Policy Analyst Center for 
Defense Information, Washington D.C., “Child 
Combatants A Non Traditional Threat to U.S. Security,” January 2004.
  • Richard Hrair Dekmejian, Professor of 
Political Science at USC and International 
Business at the Marshall School, “Challenges for 
Democratization in the Middle East,” February 2004.
• Norman Levin, Senior Research Staff, the RAND 
Corp., “U.S. Policy Toward North Korea Challenges and Prospects,” March 2004.
• Wayne Glass, former foreign policy and national 
security staff member of the Departments of 
State, Defense and the U.S. Senate, “National 
Security, Foreign Policy, and the Congress: How 
Things Work (or Don’t),” April 2004.
• Ramiro Cibrian, Diplomat, European Community, 
“The Enlarged Europe and its Common Security and Defense Policy.”
• Jack Miles, Pulitzer Prize winning author, 
“Islam and the West; Implications for U.S. Foreign Policy,” June 2004.
• Nake Kamrany, Professor of Economics, USC, “The 
Current Dilemma of Afghanistan,” July 2004.
• Jack Weiss, Los Angeles City Councilman, “Local 
Homeland Security: The City of Los Angeles 
Confronts Counter-Terrorism Challenges,” September 2004.
• Ian Lesser, Vice President of the Pacific 
Council on International Security, “Foreign and 
Security Challenges Confronting the Next President,” October 2004
• Greg Mello, Co-Founder of the Los Alamos Study 
Group, “Bush’s Second Term--New Nuclear Weapons: 
Absurd and Dangerous, or a Management Necessity,” November 2004.
• Pierre Larrieu, French Consul General, 
“Franco-American Relations After the U.S. 
Presidential Elections,” December 2004.
• Philip Coyle, former Assistant Secretary of 
Defense now with Center for Defense Information, 
“Car Bombs, Weapons of Mass Destruction, 
Mini-Nukes, and Terrorism: Where is America Going 
on Homeland Security and National Defense?” January 2005.
• Jeremy Azrael, the RAND Corp., “Effects of 
Increasing Russian Authoritarianism on 
Russian-American Relations,” February 2005.
• Paul Holtom, MD, Professor, University of 
Southern California Medical School, “Sanctions, 
Embargos and War: The Impact of Infectious Diseases on Civilians,” March 2005.
• Arnold C. Harberger, Professor of Economics, 
UCLA, “Challenges of Economic Growth in Developing Countries,” April 2005.
• Alison Renteln, Professor of Political Science, 
USC, “Prosecuting Genocide Crimes, Crimes Against 
Humanity, War Crimes and Aggression: Assessing 
the Performance of the International Criminal Court,” May, 2005.
• James McWilliams, Professor of Earth Sciences, 
UCLA & Member National Academy of Sciences Panel 
on Global Warming, “Global Climate Change and the 
Prospects for Planetary Management,” June 2005.
• Michael Intriligator, UCLA Professor of 
Economics, Political Science and Public Policy, 
“Terrorist Use of WMD,” July 2005.
• Aaron Glantz, International Journalist, 
Pacifica Radio, “How America Lost Iraq,” September, 2005.
• David Aaron, RAND Corporation, “Promoting 
Democracy With Justice in a Fractured World: Is 
America Up to the Challenge,” October, 2005.
• Terry McDermott, Los Angeles Times national 
reporter, “The 9/11 Hijackers: Who Were They and 
Why They Did It,” November 2005.
• George Quester, Professor of Political Science, 
University of Maryland, “Justifying Preemption 
and Preventive War in the Post 9/11 Era: What 
History Can Teach Us,” December 2005.
• David Goodstein, Vice Provost and Professor of 
Physics, Caltech, “Is the World Running Out of Oil,” January 2006.
• Sebastian Zacharia, former Director, Division 
of Regional Cooperation in Asia and the Pacific, 
United Nations Development Program, “The United 
Nations: Address the Globe’s 21st Century Challenges,” February 2006.
• Neil Joeck, Livermore Laboratory and former 
Bush Administration White House 
Counterproliferation Strategy Director, “Nuclear 
Weapons and Nuclear Trade: Implications for the 
Indo-US Agreement for Proliferation,” March 2006.
• Bennett Ramberg, Center for Government and 
Public Policy Analysiss, “Combating Nuclear 
Proliferation in the 21st Century,” April 2005.
• Peter Katona, UCLA School of Medicine, “Bird 
Flu--Global Pandemic or Manageable Risk,” May 2006
• Kent Harrington, former National Intelligence 
Officer for East Asia, Central Intelligence 
Agency, “Chinese Organized Crime: Redefining the 
Threat and Recognizing the Reality, June 2006.
• Col. Vito Imbascini,, Ph.D., MD, "The Iraqi War 
from the Perspective of a Frontline Physician" July 2006.
• Rani Ali-Ahmad, Craftsman Capital Advisors and 
Citigroup-Smith Barrney, “The Future of Lebanon,” September 2006.
• Robert Young Pelton, investigative reporter and 
author, “Mercenaries and Private Contractors in 
the War on Terror, October 2006.
• Stephen Flynn, Council on Foreign Relations, 
“Addressing the Terrorist Risk: What is Next for Port Security,” November 2006.
• Alexander Sakharov, author and past research 
associate at the Soviet Institute for the USA and 
Canada, “Russia: The Misplaced Key to a Stable World,” December 2006.
• Ed O’Connell, Rand Corp., “What Went Wrong in Iraq,” January 2007.
• Saree Makdisi, Middle East Commentator UCLA 
Professor of English, “The Next Phase in the 
Israel-Palestine Conflict,” February 2007.
• Reza Aslan, Author (“No God But God,” Random 
House), “Terrorism and the Global Struggle 
Against Puritanism and Violence in the Muslim World," March 2007.


Jonathan Parfrey
Executive Director | Physicians for Social Responsibility - Los Angeles
617 South Olive Street, Suite 810 | Los Angeles, California 90014-1629
(213) 689-9170 x107 | (213) 689-9199 fax | (310) 261-0832 cell
[EMAIL PROTECTED] | www.psrla.org



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