April 2013 Meeting

Returned & Services League of Australia

Washington Sub-Branch

1601 Massachusetts Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20036

202-352-8550

www.rsl-dc.com

April 2013 Newsletter

This newsletter includes details of the April meeting and the March 11 meeting. Details of the events being held to commemorate ANZAC Day will be provided separately.

April meeting

When Thursday April 11, 2013

Time - Noon to 2:00 pm.

Where –Amenities room

Embassy of Australia,

1601 Massachusetts, Ave.,

Washington, DC 20036

Speaker – Mr. Gregory Copley, AM, GCHT*, FRCGS, President of the International Strategic Studies Association (biography on page two).

Topic:    UnCivilization: Urban Geopolitics in a Time of Chaos

Charge - $15.00, including buffet lunch and sodas. Alcoholic beverages- $2.00 each.

Attire: Business casual

Volunteers: As usual, we need a volunteer (or two) to run the bar.

RSVP by noon on April 10 to David Ward at 202-352-8550 or via e-mail to dmward1973 (at)  gmail dot com

NOTE: Valid ID required

Parking: While there is no parking at the Embassy, paid off street parking is available behind and under the Airline Pilots Association- 17th and Mass, and at 15th and Mass (1240 15th street). On street two hour metered parking is also available.

2013 Membership dues of $30.00 are payable at the meeting. Alternatively, make your check payable to R&SL, and send it to Dave Ward, 2308 November Lane, Reston, VA,

Next meeting – Thursday May 9.

2013 Monthly meeting schedule:  10 Jan, 14 Feb, 14 Mar, 11 Apr, 9 May, 13 Jun, 11 Jul, 8 Aug, 12 Sep, 10 Oct, 14 Nov, 12 Dec. Additional events to mark on your calendar: January 26 – Australia Day,  April 25 - ANZAC Day, June 14 - Bakers Creek Air Crash, August 18  Long Tan Day, November 11 – Remembrance Day

                    

Biography:

Washington, DC-based Gregory Copley, is no stranger to the sub-branch as he has been the guest speaker a number of times.  During his last visit in 2009, Greg spoke about “Such A Full Sea: Australia’s Options in a Changing Indian Region", a unique and timely study of one of the world’s most dynamic regions, and an area of inescapable and rising importance to Australia.  He is the author of  UnCivilization: Urban Geopolitics in a Time of Chaos and the earlier highly-successful The Art of Victory.  Greg was born in Perth, Western Australia. He has served as an adviser on strategic issues to a number of governments and leaders in the West, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. He has been called “our only conscious grand strategist” by former Director of the House of Representatives Task Force on Terrorism, Yossef Bodansky (the author of the best-selling Bin Laden: the Man Who Declared War on America), and has briefed on Capitol Hill, in the UK Houses of Parliament, the Australian Parliament, and others over the past four decades.

He is Editor-in-Chief of Defense & Foreign Affairs publications, and Director of Intelligence at the Global Information System (GIS), an on-line, encrypted-access, global intelligence service which provides strategic current intelligence to governments. He is President of the International Strategic Studies Association (ISSA), based near Washington, DC, and lectures regularly at US military and civilian institutes of higher learning, and others in Canada, Australia, Europe, Africa, South Asia, East Asia, and elsewhere. He has also been a regular commentator on major broadcasting networks in the US and around the world.

Gregory Copley has authored or co-authored more than 30 books, and several thousand articles, papers, and lectures on strategic issues, history, and other topics. His recent books include The Art of Victory (Simon & Schuster’s Threshold Editions, New York), and others on Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Ethiopia, the Indian Ocean, Australia’s strategic options, and so on. He has edited 18 editions of the comprehensive Defense & Foreign Affairs Handbook — which President Reagan’s National Security Advisor, Judge William Clark, said was “indispensible to the running of the White House” — carrying encyclopedic data on 269 countries and territories around the world, now updated daily online.

Copley has received a number of orders and decorations from governments, including, in 2007, being made a Member of the Order of Australia for his contributions to the international community in the field of strategic analysis and philosophy. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in 2011 for his work in geopolitics.