I so love the idea of Wes getting back into a classroom situation from time to time! And wonderfully, his son & daughter in law as well as two grandchildren live in the LA area. And since he has worked & traveled literally non-stop since stepping out of the race it seems like a great opportunity for him to sit down & formulate his thoughts - he's been in so many extraordinary situations, been exposed to so much- I can't wait to hear what comes next.
I was lucky enough hear
this speech he
gave to mostly students at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore about two years- that's my
favorite of his. It details the changes in America after winning the Cold War-
how the nation found itself a bit adrift after the fall of the Soviet Union-
this is where I first heard him describe how America in the 90s was creating a
"virtuous circle" - investing in the the right sorts of things, bringing it full
circle, expanding prosperity- as opposed to the voodoo economics/trickle down
theory of harsher Reaganomic-lifeboat-theory-
drown-the-federal-government-in-a-bathtub-unfunded-mandate-times such as these,
etc. etc. Anyway- I hope we get to hear much more from Wes on matters economic
because this is an area of great interest of his that is sometimes obscured by
his go-to status as national security guy extraordinaire. The shifts that
happened after the Cold War are really interesting and are detailed by Wes in
his Real State of the Union address-
The Real State of
the Union 2006
newsy bits
Gen. Wesley K. Clark, former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, will join the
Burkle Center for International Relations in UCLA's International Institute
this fall as a senior fellow. Clark will teach seminars, publish papers through
the Burkle Center and host an annual conference on national security.
The Clark Community Network at http://www.SecuringAmerica.com gets
the word - some fun
speculation there & gasps of surprise there!
LA Times:
Former NATO Commander to Join UCLA as a Senior Fellow
"I'll be looking at U.S. national security in the broadest terms, including
military, diplomatic, energy, environmental and trade issues," said Clark, who
served as NATO's commander during the 1999 Kosovo conflict. "There's never
been a time in American history when Americans have been more impacted by events
abroad, and we need a strategy that touches all those areas."
UCLA News: Gen.
Wesley Clark to Join UCLA Burkle Center
"Gen. Clark's involvement with the campus will add a unique
and valuable dimension to the Burkle Center's exploration of the contemporary
world and the role of the United States in global security and military,
political, social and economic affairs," said Patricia O'Brien, executive dean
of UCLA's College of Letters and Science, of which the Burkle Center and
International Institute are part. "I am especially pleased that our students at
UCLA will benefit from Gen. Clark's extraordinary experience, as well as his
dynamic leadership and teaching credentials."
<st1:place w:st="on">Clark</st1:place>'s 40 years of military leadership,
teaching, research and executive management in federal government ultimately led
to his service as NATO's commander during the 1999 Kosovo conflict, for which he
received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
<st1:place w:st="on">Clark</st1:place> retired as one of the nation's most
highly decorated military officers since Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The Burkle
Center's work includes research, teaching and public outreach and service on
the contemporary world. The
International
Institute is committed to the education of global citizens through its
degree programs; the people-to-people linkages it fosters among students,
scholars and citizens around the globe, and its commitment to helping people
everywhere become lifelong learners about their world.
"Wes Clark brings incisive and visionary analysis to questions of economic and security policy, particularly as they relate to future U.S. relations with Asia and Latin America," said professor Ronald Rogowski, interim vice-provost for international studies, dean of the International Institute and director of the Burkle Center. "All of us at the Burkle Center and the larger International Institute look forward to working with him."
Clark said it was an honor to join the Burkle Center.
"I am hopeful and enthusiastic about the progress to be gained through frank and friendly discussion about the challenges we face to secure peace throughout the world," Clark said. "The Burkle Center is offering a vital voice to the international conversation on security and peace."
---
about the center:
Clark joins a group of internationally renowned policymakers and analysts who
have been involved with the Burkle Center. They include Presidents Bill Clinton
and Jimmy Carter, Secretaries of State Warren M. Christopher and George P.
Shultz, Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs Jorge Castaneda and Finance Minister
Francisco Gil-Diaz, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi, Russian Finance
Minister Yegor Gaidar, Clinton advisor Dennis Ross, State Department Director of
Policy Planning Stephen Krasner, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and
leading public intellectuals Alan Dershowitz and Edward Said, as well as
ambassadors from a dozen countries.
California's largest university, UCLA enrolls approximately 38,000 students per
year and offers degrees from the UCLA College of Letters and Science and 11
professional schools in dozens of varied disciplines. UCLA consistently ranks
among the top five universities and colleges nationwide in total
research-and-development spending, receiving more than $820 million a year in
competitively awarded federal and state grants and contracts. For every $1 state
taxpayers invest in UCLA, the university generates almost $9 in economic
activity, resulting in an annual $6 billion economic impact on the Greater Los
Angeles region. The university's health care network treats 450,000 patients per
year. UCLA employs more than 27,000 faculty and staff, has more than 350,000
living alumni and has been home to five Nobel Prize laureates.