The overarching question imparting urgency to this exploration is: Can U.S.-Russian contention in cyberspace cause the two nuclear superpowers to stumble into war? In considering this question we were constantly reminded of recent comments by a prominent U.S. arms control expert: At least as dangerous as the risk of an actual cyberattack, he observed, is cyber operations’ “blurring of the line between peace and war.” Or, as Nye wrote, “in the cyber realm, the difference between a weapon and a non-weapon may come down to a single line of code, or simply the intent of a computer program’s user.”
Join the World Affairs Council of Charlotte on June 8th as we host Dr. Graham Allison, Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School, and author of Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap?
China and the US are heading toward a war that neither wants. That’s the sensational premise of Dr. Graham Allison’s new book, Destined for War. The reason: Thucydides’s Trap, a deadly historical pattern of structural stress that results when rising powers challenge ruling ones. In the past 500 years, this pattern has occurred 16 times. In 12 of these cases, the outcome was war.
Today, as an unstoppable China approaches an immovable America and Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump both promise to make their countries “great again,” the case for war looks grim. Dr. Allison, who is director of Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and founding dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School, has served as Assistant Secretary of Defense and advised the secretaries of defense under every president from Reagan to Obama. Join him for a crucial conversation about what painful steps China and America must take to avoid disaster.
More information available here
Date:
Thursday, June 8
Location:
The Charlotte City Club
121 W. Trade Street
Charlotte, NC 28202 – Directions
Check-In, Networking and VIP Reception:
11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Lunch, Presentation, and Q&A:
12:00 – 1:30 p.m.
Cost:
$35 WACC student/educator/TMS member
You must be an individual WACC educator/student/TMS member to qualify for the $35 rate
$45 WACC Member Rate
$60 Non-Member Rate