March 2, 2006 Welcome to our new Web site transatlanticmagazine.org!
Look around and let us know what you like and what else you would like to see on our Web site that would be useful to you. Thinking About It will be the title of my column - and sometimes a guest columnist or two will give us their thoughts - on what we see as the pressing issues of the day, not only in transatlantic relations but in U.S. politics, global trade, international business and economics. Maybe we’ll share our thoughts on an upcoming summit or sporting event or whatever is going through our minds when we come into the office on a particular morning. We are brand new to the web so we welcome any and all ideas and thoughts you may have on a particular Thinking About It column or other suggestions, comments or criticisms - or words of praise or agreement - just let me know. Send along your thoughts to me at rguttman@jhu.edu. Our goal is to grow and evolve this site while stimulating your thoughts not only with our Thinking About It column but with our in-depth interviews with world leaders in politics, business and the arts. We hope the excerpts from our articles, columns, interviews, City Scenes and Cultural Comments by leading journalists and academics who are writing for us from around the world will let you see the value in subscribing to the complete print version of Transatlantic: Europe, America & the World, published six times a year. Transatlanticmagazine.org should also be a fun and interesting tool for everyone involved with international and transatlantic affairs. In addition to our thoughts on international relations, we will be discussing politics in the United States. We have a conference series with the Financial Times where we are inviting all of the potential 2008 presidential candidates to speak here at Johns Hopkins SAIS about their views on foreign policy. Our next speaker is Senator George Allen of Virginia who is the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on European Affairs and a possible Republican candidate for president in 2008. Based at SAIS, one of the leading international relations schools in the country, TransAtlantic Magazine is focused on serious issues but we also are a bit irreverent and like to not take ourselves too seriously. As I told The Washington Post in an article about our magazine, “Our goal is to cover foreign policy and have a good time.” Sometimes the issues do not lend themselves to “having a good time,” but we will comment on the good and the bad going on in the world today. As the editor-in-chief and founder of TransAtlantic: Europe, America, & the World Magazine, I plan on writing the Thinking About It column hopefully every day in this spot on the key issues - or what I perceive as the key issues of the day - locally, nationally and internationally and hopefully, with a bit of humor and an offbeat perspective. I want to thank everyone who has worked so hard to make our new Web site possible. First, I would like to thank my managing editor Marie-Laure Poiré who has been advocating creating a Web site since we started our print version of the magazine two years ago. She has been instrumental in getting this site going and has worked hard not only on our magazine but on the new Web site. Also, thanks to the other members of the staff at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), including our director Dan Hamilton, who has had great confidence in our magazine from the beginning. Felisa Neuringer Klubes, Jeff Barrus and Amy Bortmes, who comprise the SAIS web and public affairs team, have been terrific in getting us going. And a special thanks to Amy who worked very hard to make our web presence a reality. Katrine Petkova, a friend who used to work as the SAIS webmaster and now lives in Perth, Australia, has been very helpful in making me understand what Web sites are all about and how useful they are. I also wish to thank the Dean of SAIS Jessica Einhorn and the Senior Associate Dean of Finance and Administration Ted Baker for believing in our many projects, including the magazine, Web site and conferences. Our magazine would not be possible without our valued subscribers across the United States and the world and our writers who make each and every issue a valuable resource to better understanding the world today. Also, I would like to thank Richard Creighton and his staff at The Magazine Group who not only publish and design our magazine but who have been supportive of our other efforts including our new Web site. Our colleagues and friends at the Financial Times, including Robin Johnson, Lionel Barber, Chrystia Freeland, Jolie Hunt and Courtney Dolan, continue to be terrific partners in our ongoing “Politics and Foreign Policy” conference series. Next Monday I will publish my first Thinking About It column. Upcoming topics will include my views on everything from the current state of transatlantic relations to the 2006 congressional races to Iraq to Hamas to whether Russia should be a member of the G8 economic group. See you next week - let’s stay in touch. As always, we will have some excerpts from our excellent magazine for you to read. We will begin shortly an online newsletter and will have excerpts from our lengthy interviews and book reviews on our Web site. We will be the place where politics, foreign policy, global business and economic events can be discussed in a rational manner where all thoughts and ideas are explored. We will try to be the antithesis of what passes for news on cable television these days. Come along with us on our ride - it should be fun, interesting and possibly educational and worthwhile along the way. We are the Web site open to new ideas.
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