Mansour Farhang, a political science professor at Bennington College and a leading expert on the Middle East, will discuss “The Sino-Iranian Relations,” on Monday, April 19, from 12:50 to 1:50 p.m. in Humanities 115.
Farhang will examine the Peoples Republic of China’s pursuit of its geostrategic and economic interests in Iran, and the extent to which China’s policies accommodate or hinder U.S. efforts to contain Iran’s nuclear program and regional ambitions.
Farhang served as revolutionary Iran's first ambassador to the United Nations, resigning in protest when the Khomeini regime refused to accept the U.N. Commission of Inquiry's recommendation to release American hostages in Teheran. Early in the Iran-Iraq war, he served as envoy in negotiations with international peace missions.
He is on the advisory board of Middle East Watch, a branch of Human Rights Watch. He is the author of “U.S.Imperialism: From the Spanish-American War to the Iranian Revolution”; and, with William Dorman, “The U.S. Press and Iran: Foreign Policy and the Journalism of Deference.”
His opinion pieces have appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, and he serves as a regular commentator on the BBC and Radio France Internationale.
Farhang’s talk is sponsored by the Asian Studies Program and Thurston House.