The Third Gulf War At Sea: Maritime Security Options and the Risks to Energy and Global Trade

Featured Speakers: Rachel Ziemba, Dr. Jim Krane, Ambassador Patrick Theros, and Dr. Gawdat Bahgat.

Bios: 

Rachel Ziemba (Moderator)

Senior Non-Resident Fellow, Gulf International Forum 

Rachel Ziemba is a Senior Non-Resident Fellow at Gulf International Forum. She is the founder of Ziemba Insights, a macroeconomics and policy due-diligence advisory firm. Additionally, Ms. Ziemba is an Adjunct Fellow at the Center for a New American Security and an Adjunct Lecturer at NYU, Center for Global Affairs. Ms. Ziemba is also a Strategist at Alpha Z Advisors and an advisor at Globalwonks. Her research focuses on the interlinkages between economics, finance, and security issues. Her research topics include coercive economic policies such as sanctions, economic resilience and the role of state-owned investors including sovereign wealth funds.

Dr. Jim Krane 

Diana Tamari Sabbagh Fellow in Middle East Energy Studies and co-director of the Middle East Energy Roundtable, Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University

Jim Krane, Ph.D., is the Diana Tamari Sabbagh Fellow in Middle East Energy Studies and co-director of the Middle East Energy Roundtable at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. He specializes in energy geopolitics, with a focus on oil-exporting countries and the challenges they face from climate action, the energy transition, energy subsidies, and internal demand. He teaches classes on energy policy and geopolitics at Rice University.

Krane’s scholarly articles have been published in Nature Energy, Middle East Journal, Foreign Affairs, Energy Policy, Energy Journal, Energy Research & Social Science, Resources Policy, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, MRS Energy and Sustainability, the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, as well as numerous edited volumes.

He is the author of two books. His acclaimed volume “City of Gold: Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism” (St. Martin’s Press, 2009) is widely recognized as the seminal work on the iconoclastic city-state, while his award-winning book “Energy Kingdoms: Oil and Political Survival in the Persian Gulf” (Columbia University Press, 2019) is the definitive study of energy demand in the Gulf region.

Ambassador Patrick Theros

Strategic Advisor and Senior Fellow, Gulf International Forum

Ambassador Patrick Theros is a Strategic Advisor and Senior Fellow at Gulf International Forum. He served as the U.S. Ambassador to the State of Qatar from 1995-1998. Prior to his appointment, he served as Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism, responsible for the coordination of all U.S. Government counterterrorism activities outside the United States. From 1991-1993, Ambassador Theros served as the Political Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of Central Command (CENTCOM).

Ambassador Theros joined the Foreign Service in 1963, and served in a variety of positions in Washington D.C., Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Nicaragua and Syria, including charge d’affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. embassies in the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. In 1999, His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifah Al-Thani awarded Ambassador Theros the Qatar Order of Merit for his efforts in service of the U.S.-Qatar bilateral relationship. His commitment to national service also earned him the President’s Meritorious Service Award and the Secretary of Defense Medal for Meritorious Civilian Service (1992). Ambassador Theros has also earned four Superior Honor Awards, the highest awards for distinguished service given by the Foreign Service. After his retirement from the Foreign Service Ambassador Theros assumed the office of President of the U.S.-Qatar Business Council in March 2000 until his retirement in 2017.

Ambassador Theros’ personal commitment to community and public service earned him the rank of Knight Commander of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem (1999), as well as the Ellis Island Medal of Freedom (2005). In addition to his duties as President of the U.S.-Qatar Business Council, Ambassador Theros is also active in the following organizations: The Middle East Policy Council, Board of Directors; The Council of Foreign Relations, Member; The Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs, Member; and The American Academy of Diplomacy, Member.

Ambassador Theros graduated from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in 1963. He has done advanced studies at the American University in Washington, D.C., the Universidad Centroamericana in Nicaragua, the Armed Forces Staff College at Norfolk, Virginia, and the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. He is married to Aspasia (nee Pahigiannis) and has three children. He speaks and reads Spanish, Arabic and Greek professionally.

Dr. Gawdat Bahgat

Senior Non-Resident Fellow, Gulf International Forum

Dr. Gawdat Bahgat is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at Gulf International Forum and was previously a Professor at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University. He is the author of 11 books on the Middle East. His areas of expertise include energy security, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, Iran, and American foreign policy.