The University of South Florida's brand new Center for Strategic and Diplomatic Studies holds its first official event Monday night, as it welcomes British journalist Christopher de Bellaigue.
The Center unites experts from the academic, government, military and private worlds to discuss how the United States' foreign and domestic policies interact.
The center will be led by its Executive Director, Middle East expert Mohsen Milani, who says the center will take a non-ideological approach to the issues it examines.
"We're going to start looking at what we see and then based on that, we're going to draw conclusions and we're going to share these conclusions with the government and the private sector, so that hopefully we can come up with more enlightened policy recommendations."
In addition to this research, the center will develop academic programs and organize lectures, workshops and conferences.
The center's first event is a free lecture from Christopher de Bellaigue, whose new book Patriot of Persia was just featured on NPR's Morning Edition. The book is a biography of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossaddegh, who was ousted by a British and American-led coup, which still continues to play a role in Iran's relationship with the West.
de Bellaigue will speak at 7 p.m. Monday night in Room 206 of C.W. Bill Young Hall on USF's Tampa campus.
