Spotlight on International Experts and Senior Fellows

IISS Manama Dialogue Spotlight on International Experts and Senior Fellows:

Dr Andrew Parasiliti and Nigel Inkster CMG

In preparation for the forthcoming IISS Regional Security Summit, The Manama Dialogue, spotlights on IISS Senior Fellows and Experts will be distributed bi-weekly. The Manama Dialogue will be held in Bahrain from 11 to 13 December 2009.

This week, we are pleased to feature Dr Andrew Parasiliti and Nigel Inkster CMG. Dr Andrew Parasiliti and Nigel Inkster CMG are available for interviews now regarding the IISS Manama Dialogue. Please see below for information on these two gentleman and also to spend ‘1 Minute’ with each of them.  To request an interview with Dr Parasiliti or Mr Inkster, or receive accreditation to attend the Manama Dialogue security summit, email dialoguepress@iiss.org.

Additional information on The Manama Dialogue can be found at: http://www.iiss.org/conferences/the-iiss-regional-security-summit/

Dr Andrew Parasiliti

Executive Director, IISS-US; Corresponding Director, IISS-Middle East 

Expertise: US foreign policy, Iraq and the Middle East, and the role of Congress in US policy toward the Middle East and South Asia

1 Minute with Dr Andrew Parasiliti:

US-Iraq relations are being re-defined, with implications for Gulf security. US President Barack Obama is pursuing ‘a new strategy to end the war in Iraq through a transition to full Iraqi responsibility.’ Iraq will hold national elections on 21 January 2010, and the next Iraqi government will face daunting governance and security challenges as the US withdraws its forces. President Obama has said that the US combat mission in Iraq will end by 31 August 2010, and the US is committed to removing all US troops from Iraq by December 2011. There are questions about Iraq's role in Gulf security, and how Iraq's neighbours can contribute to stability and security in Iraq. 

Read more about Andrew Parasiliti

Nigel Inkster CMG

Director of Transnational Threats and Political Risk, IISS

Expertise: political risk, counter terrorism, international crime, proliferation of CBRN, cross-border conflict and other transnational/global issues

My area of expertise is in relation to the Manama Dialogue break-out group on military transformation and non-state actors, and intelligence and security co-operation. Non-state actors are absolutely central to the Institute’s ongoing terrorism studies and research. If South-west Asia and, to a somewhat lesser degree, the Arabian peninsula and Somalia are the key areas in which terrorism plays out, the Gulf is regularly referred to as a major source of funding and logistic support for groups such as the Afghan and Pakistan Talibans. It is also vulnerable to overspill from the areas where most of the terrorism is actually taking place. And in the event of a major security crisis between Iran and the West, Gulf security could well be an early casualty. Issues of intelligence and security co-operation in the Gulf region are pertinent both in terms of counter-terrorism and other security threats such as narcotics trafficking, money-laundering and other forms of serious organised crime.

Read more about Nigel Inkster