WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL COLLEAGUES (WACC) DISCUSSION GROUP

Purpose:  This is a members-only group that meets monthly and exists to participate in discussion of international relations issues.

Eligibility:

• Member of CSWAC
• Access to current or prior issue of the Economist magazine

Structure:  Monthly luncheon 

• 11:30 Order lunch, fixed menu, a la carte, Dutch treat
• 11:40 Introductions, miscellaneous comments, lunch served
• 12:30 Discussion based on a) a cover article in the current or recent issue of Economist or b) an announced topic prior to the meeting
• 1:30 Adjourn and pay bill

Timing:  First Wednesday of each month, except perhaps summer months, and months which conflict with other programs of CSWAC

Location:  La Bella Vita, 4775 Northpark Dr. (I-25 & Garden of the Gods, southeast quadrant); 260-4730; parking front and back

Moderators:  Jim Allen, Larry Barrett, Michaela Laune

Discussion leaders:  Volunteers from within the group, or invited presenter

Sign up with: Larry Barrett 964-0825, barrettlarry@comcast.net; Or Jim Allen 332-7690, jwsallen@gmail.com.

At the WAC Colleagues meeting in January, 2017, the group complied a great reading list.  You can download it HERE.

CSWAC BOOK CLUB

Purpose:  A members-only group that explores non-fiction and fiction books relating to current topics of interest and books authored by CSWAC speakers

Eligibility:  Open to CSWAC members

Membership:

• Current Book Club: 15 (optimal size)
• Additional book club(s), appealing to additional members or specific communities of interest, may be formed

Structure:  Monthly potluck dinner hosted at the homes of Book Club members

Discussion Leaders:  One Book Club member volunteers to moderate the discussion for each book

Next Book: 

Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice by Bill Browder

Synopsis:  The true, autobiographical story of high finance, murder, and one man’s fight for justice in contemporary Russia. This political thriller follows an American financier in the wild East of Russia, the murder of his principled young tax attorney, and his dangerous mission to expose the Kremlin’s corruption.  His efforts led to bipartisan adoption of the U.S. Magnitsky Act, authorizing the US government to sanction human rights offenders, freezing their assets, and banning them from entering the U.S

About the Author:  William Felix Browder (born 23 April 1964) is an American-born British financier and economist. He is the CEO and co-founder of Hermitage Capital Management, an investment fund that at one time was the largest foreign portfolio investor in Russia.  He gave up his U.S. citizenship in 1998 to avoid paying taxes related to foreign investment.  After having business in Russia for ten years, Browder was refused entry to Russia in 2005 as a threat to national security; he has said it was because he exposed corruption.

After the death in prison in 2009 of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer and auditor who had represented his company and conducted an investigation into massive tax fraud related to it, Browder lobbied for Congress to pass the Magnitsky Act, a law to punish Russian human rights violators, which was signed into law in 2012 by President Barack Obama

Next Meeting: Tuesday, February 12th  5:00 pm

Next Host(s):  Home of Kate Hall and Terry Johnson, 150 Huntington Pl  Colorado Springs  80906

Sign-Up:  Terry Johnson | tjins@idcomm.com | (719) 219-6710

Previous Selections:  

• The Orphan Master’s Son: A Novel, by Adam Johnson