SPRINGFIELD — The World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts will welcome longtime member Michael Klare to an Instant Issues event on Wednesday, April 1. He will speak on “AI and International Security Affairs” from noon to 1 p.m. at 1350 Main St. (ninth-floor gallery) in downtown Springfield.

Klare is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Political Science and the Five College professor emeritus of Peace and World Security Studies at Hampshire College. He also serves as a senior visiting fellow at the Arms Control Assoc. in Washington, D.C., where he studies the impact of AI and robotics on warfare and arms control. He is the author of a dozen books on U.S. military policy and world affairs, including, most recently, All Hell Breaking Loose: The Pentagon’s Perspective on Climate Change.

For those who purchase a meal, boxed lunches with a choice of sandwich — turkey, tuna, roast beef, or vegetarian — will be available (first come, first served). Lunches also include deli salad, a cookie, chips, and soda or water. Attendees may bring their own lunch or choose not to eat.

Registration deadline for a lunch provided is March 27. Click here to register.

SPRINGFIELD — The World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts will present an Instant Issues lunchtime discussion with Ambassador Frank Lavin on “The Reagan Doctrine: Lessons for Today.” The program will take place on Thursday, Oct. 9 from noon to 1 p.m. at 1350 Main St., ninth-floor gallery, in downtown Springfield.

Lavin is active in U.S.-Asia policy, U.S. domestic politics, and trade policy matters. He serves as a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution as well as a trustee of the Asia Foundation and a director of the Asia Society of Northern California.

He served as undersecretary for International Trade at the U.S. Department of Commerce in the Bush (43) administration. In that capacity, he served as lead trade negotiator for both China and India and was responsible for commercial policy, export promotion, and trade negotiations across the globe. He was previously U.S. ambassador to Singapore, where he helped negotiate the U.S.-Singapore free trade agreement.

In the private sector, Lavin served in senior finance and management positions in Hong Kong and Singapore with Bank of America and Citibank.

Lavin also served in the Bush (41) and Reagan administrations, working in the Department of Commerce, Department of State, National Security Council, and White House. In the Reagan administration, Lavin served as White House political director.

Copies of “Inside the Reagan White House: A Front Row Seat to Presidential Leadership with Lessons for Today” will be on sale at the event courtesy of Rumspringa Books.

For those who purchase a meal, box lunches with a choice of sandwich — turkey, tuna, roast beef, or vegetarian — will be available (first come, first served). Lunches also include deli salad, a cookie, chips, and soda or water. Alternatively, attendees may bring their own lunch or choose not to eat.

Registration deadline for a lunch provided is Monday, Oct. 6. Click here to register.

SPRINGFIELD — The World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts will present its first Instant Issues lunchtime discussion of the 2025-26 program year with Javier Corrales, Dwight W. Morrow 1895 professor of Political Science and department chair of Political Science at Amherst College.

He will present “Autocracy Rising: How Venezuela Transitioned to Authoritarianism” on Wednesday, Sept. 10 from noon to 1 p.m. at 1350 Main St., ninth floor gallery, in downtown Springfield.

Corrales, a frequent World Affairs Council speaker, coined the term ‘autocratic legalism’ in 2015 to explain how Venezuela transitioned to authoritarianism by using the legal system to impose autocracy. Corrales is the author of many publications; his most recent book is Autocracy Rising: How Venezuela Transitioned to Authoritarianism, published in 2022.

Admission is $10 for members, $15 for non-members. Lunches can be reserved for $25 for members and $30 for non-members. Box lunches include a choice of sandwich (turkey, tuna, roast beef, or vegetarian), deli salad, cookie, chips, and soda or water. Attendees may bring their own lunch or choose not to eat.

Registration deadline for a lunch provided is Friday, Sept. 5. Click here to register.

SPRINGFIELD — The World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts will present an Instant Issues lunchtime discussion event featuring Jeevan Ramapriya, executive director of the Massachusetts Office of International Trade and Investment (MOITI), on Monday, April 29 at noon in the ninth-floor gallery of 1350 Main St. in downtown Springfield.

Ramapriya became executive director of MOITI last July. He was previously a managing director in State Street Global Service’s regulatory, industry, and government-affairs department, where he was responsible for state government relations and public-policy-related activities and provided support for similar efforts in the U.S. Congress, as well as Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

Prior to joining State Street, Ramapriya was the deputy chief of staff to former Massachusetts state Sen. Steve Baddour, overseeing the senator’s political operation and policy matters involving transportation, economic development, and public safety. Before entering public service, he worked as a technology and management consultant with Accenture, where he assisted in implementing customer relationship management solutions for Fortune 500 companies.

The cost is $5 for World Affairs Council members without lunch provided, $20 for members with a lunch, $10 for non-members without a lunch, and $25 for non-members with a lunch. Registration deadline for a lunch provided is Thursday, April 25. To register or for more information, visit wacwestma.org or call (413) 733-0110.

The Instant Issues series is sponsored by M&T Bank, Wilbraham & Monson Academy, and Sir Speedy, with thanks to NAI Plotkin.

SPRINGFIELD — The World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts will present James Paul, director of the Boston Office of the U.S. Commercial Service, on Thursday, April 27 at noon in the ninth-floor Community Room at 1350 Main St. in downtown Springfield.

The U.S. Commercial Service is a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration. Paul will discuss his agency’s Rural Export Center and many other resources that help Western Mass. organizations compete and win in the global marketplace. He will also brief on available assistance to enhance foreign direct investment, travel and tourism from abroad, and international student recruitment to the area’s high schools and universities.

Admission for World Affairs Council members is $5 ($20 including a box lunch provided), or $10 for non-members ($25 with lunch provided). Attendees may also bring their own lunch or choose not to eat.

To register or for more information, visit wacwestma.org or call (413) 733-0110.

SPRINGFIELD — The World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts will present former CNN Beijing Bureau Chief and Northampton native Mike Chinoy on his new book, Assignment China: An Oral History of American Journalists in the People’s Republic, at a luncheon on Tuesday, March 21 at noon at the Student Prince in downtown Springfield.

The event is open to the public, and the cost is $45, including a buffet lunch. Reserve online with a credit card by clicking here or by calling (413) 733-0110.

The book tells the story of how American journalists have covered China — from the civil war of the 1940s through the COVID-19 pandemic — in their own words. They share behind-the-scenes stories of reporting on historic moments such as Richard Nixon’s groundbreaking visit in 1972, China’s opening up to the outside world and its emergence as a global superpower, and the crackdowns in Tiananmen Square and Xinjiang.

Chinoy is a non-resident senior fellow at the U.S.-China Institute at the University of Southern California. He spent 24 years as a foreign correspondent for CNN, serving as the network’s first Beijing bureau chief and senior Asia correspondent. Before joining CNN, he worked for CBS News and NBC News. He won Emmy, Dupont, and Peabody awards for his coverage of China.

SPRINGFIELD — The World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts announced that its next Instant Issues brown-bag lunchtime discussion will take place Friday, Jan. 13 at noon on the new, ninth-floor event space at 1350 Main St. in downtown Springfield.

Longtime friend of the council Mahsa Khanbabai, an attorney with Khanbabai Immigration Law, will speak on the current status of women in Iran.

Khanbabai was born in Iran and raised in Western Mass. She is regularly interviewed by news agencies such as NPR, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, MSNBC, and others. Her legal advocacy and strategic use of the media spotlight has led to numerous high-impact immigration changes, including the reinstatement of deferred action.

Admission to the event is $5 for council members without a lunch provided, or $20 with a box lunch. Non-members’ admission cost is $10 without a lunch or $25 with a lunch. For those who purchase a meal, box lunches with a choice of sandwich — turkey, tuna, roast beef, or vegetarian — will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Lunches also include a deli salad, cookie, chips, and soda or water.

At the request of the speaker, this event will not be recorded.

Click here to register.

SPRINGFIELD — The World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts will present its first Instant Issues brown bag lunchtime discussion of the 2022-23 program year on Wednesday, Sept. 28 at noon at 1350 Main St. in downtown Springfield.

Dennis Yasutomo, Esther Cloudman Dunn professor emeritus of Government at Smith College, will speak on “Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific: Evolution of a Eurasian Century?”

A longtime member and friend of the Council, Yasutomo’s field of research is contemporary Japanese foreign policy, and he is the author of numerous books and articles on Japanese politics and diplomacy. He will look at the impact of the crisis in Ukraine on the emerging Euro-Asian geopolitical dynamics involving China, the U.S., Japan, Australia, and Europe’s enhanced involvement in the Indo-Pacific region.

Advanced registration is required by clicking here. No walk-ins will be allowed.

Admission to the event is $5 for council members without a lunch provided, $20 with a box lunch. Non-members’ admission cost is $10 without a lunch and $25 with lunch. For those who purchase a meal, box lunches with a choice of sandwich — turkey, tuna, roast beef, or vegetarian — will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Lunches also include a deli salad, a cookie, chips, and soda or water. Audience size will be limited to allow social distancing.