International Relations Expert to Speak at UT Oct. 8

Israel, Iran, nuclear proliferation and the U.S. presidential election will be topics of a talk by former UT assistant professor Maria Rost Rublee on Monday, Oct. 8.

The talk, “The U.S. Presidential Elections: Israel, Iran and Global Nuclear Futures," will be held at 7 p.m. in the Sykes College of Business, room 134. The talk is free and open to the public. Rublee, who previously taught at UT in government and world affairs, is currently an associate professor at the Australian National University in Canberra.

The talk will outline the differences between President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney on nuclear politics, and the dramatically divergent nuclear paths that could result from either of their elections. Rublee will argue that Obama's nuclear disarmament agenda will be abandoned by Romney, and will explain the implications for American security if this occurs.

“The lecture will be provocative,” Rublee said. “I argue that Iran is much closer to a nuclear bomb than most people realize, and that how we manage our alliance with Israel and our discord with Iran will have global repercussions.”

The talk is part of the UT Honors Symposium series.