RAND Experts Available to Discuss G8 Summit

RAND Corporation experts are available for interviews about issues related to unrest in North Africa as expected to be addressed by the Group of Eight meetings in Deauville, France, May 26-27. Among the topics they can address:

• How might the G8 members support those countries taking steps toward democracy, and address those that are not?
• Should the G8 impose sanctions against Syria? Would they be more effective than unilateral sanctions?
• Does the economic stability of Egypt, Tunisia and other transitioning countries serve key security and economic interests of the G8?
• Has the G8 previously provided sufficient aid to new democracies they've pledged to support? Is a new institution needed, beyond the IMF or the World Bank, to get money quickly to the new governments and civil society groups?
• What are the greatest needs for assistance by Egypt and Tunisia?

Amb. David Aaron is a senior fellow and former director of the RAND Center for Middle East Public Policy. He served as Deputy National Security Advisor to President Carter, acting as an emissary to Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia, setting up the negotiations for the Camp David accords between Israel and Egypt in 1978.

Amb. Charlie Ries is director of the Center for Middle East Public Policy at RAND, and most recently served as the Minister for Economic Affairs and Coordinator for Economic Transition in Iraq.

Amb. Robert Hunter is a RAND senior advisor who served as director of Middle East Affairs on the National Security Council during the Carter administration, and was a principal author of the Carter Doctrine for the Persian Gulf.

Fred Wehrey is a senior policy analyst focusing on the Middle East, and in February returned from a research assignment in Yemen. He is the author of "In Bahrain, Democracy in Action or Just Divide and Rule?"

Julie Taylor is a RAND political scientist focusing on Egypt and the Middle East. Taylor lived in Egypt for five years. She formerly taught courses on political development in the Middle East at Princeton University and has written about regime stability in Egypt and Iran.

Audra Grant is a RAND political scientist focusing on dynamics of political Islam, democratization and reform, Muslim public opinion and post-conflict societies/societies in transition.

Andrew Weiss directs the RAND Center for Russia and Eurasia. From 2002 until 2008, Weiss worked at American International Group, Inc. (AIG) subsidiary companies, serving mostly as an investment strategist/researcher for global commodities and energy markets. His government tenure was focused on U.S. policy toward Russia and the former Soviet Union. From 1998 to 2001, he served as director for Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian Affairs on the National Security Council staff, where he was responsible for day-to-day management of U.S.–Russian relations.