The Ben Franklin Reception and Dinner on January 15th, 2027
Oren Cass to Keynote BFF Annual Gala
We are proud to announce that Oren Cass will keynote our third annual Ben Franklin Reception and Dinner on January 15, 2027 at the Washington Mayflower Hotel. Mr. Cass is Founder and Chief Economist of American Compass, where he develops an economic agenda centered on American workers, domestic industry, and national strength. His ground-breaking essay in Foreign Affairs, “A Grand Strategy of Reciprocity,” explains how wise U.S. diplomacy can effectively make access to American markets, security guarantees, and other international engagement conditional on reciprocal treatment and greater burden-sharing by allies and trading partners.
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Saudi Arabia’s Response to the Houthis
By David Rundell, BFF Fellow
For a quarter century revolutionary France covered Europe with tears, ashes and graves until it was decisively defeated and regional peace restored. Revolutionary Iran has done much the same in the Middle East for nearly half a century, but has yet to be defeated. First Britain and then the United States sought to contain these two revolutions without costly wars. William Pitt the Younger conceded nearly everything France demanded in order to secure the Peace of Amiens. Barak Obama did likewise to secure his Iran nuclear deal. Neither of these agreements lasted long. In 2023 Saudi Arabia sought to normalize relations with Iran, yet today Iranian proxies are burning Saudi airports and oil pipelines. As Winston Churchill noted “you cannot negotiate with a crocodile.” That advice matters to a global economy that still depends on Saudi oil.
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