We are facing a major national disaster in North and South Carolina and two other international disasters in Indonesia and India. We ask that you consider making taxfree donations to our preferred provider Disaster Aid USA (a non-profit and 501c-3 organization). Please designate your donation to a specific disaster of your choice. DAUSA is working with affected Rotary Clubs in these three disaster zones to bring relief to the victims.

District 7620 has created a fundraising page. Here is the link: https://disasteraidusa.networkforgood.com/projects/58462-hurricaneflorence

Donations can be made in a variety of ways, including direct donations from smartphones. For more information, contact Tito Reconco, Project Manager, at 301-654-4174.
Dave

The Montgomery County Board of Education is the official educational policy-making body in the county. The Board is responsible for the direction and operation of the public school system. The Board consists of seven county residents elected by voters for a four-year term and a student elected by secondary school students for a one-year term. Board members are elected countywide but run at-large or from the Board district in which they reside. Today’s speaker, Michael A. Durso, is current president of the Board, Durso was elected to his second four-year term on November 4, 2014. He currently serves as the Board’s president and as a member of the Board’s Committee on Special Populations. He has served more than 44 years in education, including 13 years with Montgomery County Public Schools as principal of Springbrook High School.

Our speaker last week was Michael E. O’Hanlon, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and Director of Research at the Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence at Brookings.

Mr. O’Hanlon specializes in U.S. defense strategy, the use of military force, and American national security policy. He gave a fascinating extemporaneous talk about NATO, Russia, Syria, and cyberspace.

A prolific author, O’Hanlon has written close to a dozen books, hundreds of op-ed articles, and many research and professional publications. He described the thesis of one of his papers, “Beyond NATO: A New Security Architecture for Eastern Europe.

O’Hanlon argues that now is the time for Western nations to negotiate a new security architecture for neutral countries in eastern Europe to stabilize the region and reduce the risks of war with Russia. He believes NATO expansion has gone far enough. The core concept of this new security architecture would be one of permanent neutrality. The countries in question collectively make a broken-up arc, from Europe’s far north to its south: Finland and Sweden; Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus; Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan; and finally Cyprus plus Serbia, as well as possibly several other Balkan states. Discussion on the new framework should begin within NATO, followed by deliberation with the neutral countries themselves, and then formal negotiations with Russia.

Thanks to Jim Manley for arranging such a fascinating talk!.