Commonwealth Club in Central Asia…

I was very happy and grateful to be the expert guest speaker in Central Asia for the Commonwealth Club of California, the oldest and largest public affairs forum in the United States. Some of the many notable speakers in the history of the Club have included U.S. presidents back to Teddy Roosevelt (too many to count), Hillary Clinton, Desmond Tutu, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Bill Gates, Mikhail Gorbachev, Kofi Annan, Robert F. Kennedy, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The mission of The Commonwealth Club of California is to be the leading national forum open to all for the impartial discussion of important public issues. Having spent significant periods of time in all five Central Asian Republics, I was elated to have the opportunity to share my expertise and experience in situ on the Silk Road in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan. Since I lived twice in Turkmenistan, I was especially delighted to share my experiences there with such an adventurous and enlightened group.