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Terrorism, Middle East insurgencies discussed

Jan. 9, 2009

KALAMAZOO--An international expert on terrorism and insurgencies with 40 years of experience in the field will talk about how those topics play out in Iraq and Afghanistan in a Friday, Jan. 16, talk at Western Michigan University.

Dr. Gerard Chaliand, a French scholar, field observer and consultant to governments around the world, will discuss "Iraq, Afghanistan and Terrorism" in a talk set for 2 p.m. in Room 3301 of Friedmann Hall. The free, public lecture is a presentation of WMU's Institute of Government and Politics."

Chaliand has observed guerilla movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America. He has spent nine months in Iraq during the past five years and has made two recent trips to Afghanistan. His research and observation has included close battlefield contact with insurgency leaders in those areas.

He is a former director of the European Centre for the Study of Conflicts, advisor to the Centre of Analysis and Planning of the French Foreign Ministry and senior visiting fellow at the Centre for Conflict and Peace Studies in Kabul. The author of some 40 books, many of which have been translated into English, Chaliand has taught at the National War College in Paris and has been a visiting professor at Harvard University and the University of California at both Berkeley and Los Angeles.

For more information about the event, contact Dr. Susan Hoffman, director of the Institute of Government and Politics at susan.hoffman@wmich.edu or (269) 387-5692.

Media contact: Cheryl Roland, (269) 387-8400, cheryl.roland@wmich.edu

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