(Continued from above)--Ambassador Ross is perhaps the world's leading authority on what it will take to negotiate a lasting, comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace agreement.   Mr. Ross was the special envoy representing both President George H.W. Bush and President Bill Clinton. Ambassador Ross, who wrote a doctoral dissertation on Soviet decision-making while also specializing in Middle Eastern Studies, played central roles at the U.S. State Department following the break-up of the Soviet Union and dealing with the reunification of Germany and the expansion of NATO.   He served as director of Near East and South Asian Affairs on the National Security Council staff during the administration of President Ronald Reagan and as Deputy Director of the Pentagon's Office of Net Assessment.

Ambassador Ross opened his Century Club visit by engaging the members in a discussion of the word, "Statecraft," commonly thought of as "how governments effect the behavior of others" (many of those in attendance bought Ross's latest book titled "Statecraft, And How to Restore America's Standing in the World." on sale at the event, and for which Ambassador Ross graciously signed each copy.)   "You can see historically, that statecraft has done well when there is a marriage of objectives and means, and statecraft has always done badly when there is a gap of objectives and means."

"It seems straightforward, doesn't it?" Ross continued.  "It seems self-evident that there should be a marriage of objectives and means. Well, let's look around the world.  How many places do you see objectives and means in synch in our foreign policy?" Ross asked the members.  "When I go through the list (of conflicts in the greater Middle East) there isn't one where we have an approach today that is characterized by American objectives and means being matched and fitting with each other.  Either we have transformational objectives and minimalist means, or we have objectives that are basically divorced from the tactics," he said.

Ross said when the objectives and means do not match it is "typically because you don't have a reality based assessment.  You have a faith based assessment."

When the objectives are beyond your means diplomatically, Ross argues, "you don't have to give up your ambition.  If the circumstances are totally unacceptable (to achieve my objectives) what I have to do is to break (the process) down into parts, and I have to develop the means either on my own or with others to be able to move from where I am to where I want to go."

Ross argues that the first step is "to change the psychology on each side" by encouraging the parties to take small, risk free unilateral steps "that are politically possible and that will be noticed by the other side."  Ross has come to see how far-off negotiations without tangible progress on the ground can leave the effected populations disillusioned.  As a practitioner of "Statecraft," Ross sees value in focusing on what small steps a side can take on their own that are not ends in themselves, but that have the effect of being noticed by the publics (not necessarily the governments) of the opposing sides.  By way of example, Ross provided several specific suggestions that the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority could do today unilaterally that he believes, while modest, are likely to be noticed and affect the psychology by the peoples of the opposite sides.  In turn, this will lead to greater political strength for their respective leaders to reach substantive progress that advance their strategic objectives.

The question-and-answer session lasted well over an hour, an indication of the intense interest of the Century Club members to explore Ross's expertise and experiences.  For the Spring, 2008 semester, Ross is teaching a course at the Kennedy School of Government also entitled, "Statecraft."