The focus of U.S. foreign policy after the terrorist attacks of September 11 will have a direct impact on existing alliances (like NATO) and the trans-Atlantic relationship. Mr. Kristol will examine the fundamental shift in U.S. foreign policy, a shift that includes the willingness of the U.S. to go it alone in its war on terrorism-- including into Iraq. Mr. Kristol will review the significant changes in the foreign policy views of the U.S. Bush Administration that has brought about these fundamental shifts.

Mr. William Kristol, editor of the influential Washington-based political magazine, The Weekly Standard, spoke on 19 February.

Widely recognized as one of the United States' leading political analysts and commentators, Mr. Kristol is widely consulted as an expert on U.S. presidential politics and appears regularly on the major U.S. television public affairs shows.

Before starting The Weekly Standard in 1995, Mr. Kristol won wide acclaim in the U.S. for the Republican Future project, which was credited with producing a political strategy that resulted in the Republicans taking control of the U.S. Congress after over 40 years as the minority party.

Mr. Kristol served as chief of staff to U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle during the first Bush administration and to U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett under U.S. President Reagan. He has taught politics at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.