Heard on Open Source "The First and the Third Worlds today aren't on opposite sides of the globe, they live side by side." - novelist Suketu Mehta THE INSTITUTE · The Watson Institute will develop the "Global Conversation," an online media portal of documentary films, podcast series, and other audio and video addressing social challenges, with support from AT&T. (Submit grant applications for research assistantships here.)  · A screening of the new Human Terrain documentary will take place during the International Studies Association's annual convention this month in New Orleans, as Watson Institute researchers and their work are featured throughout the program.  · The Watson community is remembering with fondness and gratitude the life and service of Sen. Charles McCurdy (Mac) Mathias Jr., a past board member who has died at the age of 87. RESEARCH  · Research on international law and its relationship to religion has been started at the Institute by Professor Nathaniel Berman (at right). · Visiting Fellow Françoise Montambeault will pursue research on participatory budgeting, citizenship, and community building in Latin America under a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. · Visiting Fellow Saidmukhidin Kholov will develop civic education projects related to human rights in rural areas with support from the Open Society Institute. PUBLICATIONS  · Professor Abbott Gleason (at right) has published his memoir, A Liberal Education, received as "a fresh - and irreverent - portrait of the world of academe in the second half of the twentieth century." A book talk is planned for March 1. · More recent books from Institute faculty and associates include Professor Barbara Stallings' co-edited Competitive Regionalism: FTA Diffusion in the Pacific Rim, Professor Catherine Lutz's co-authored Carjacked: The Culture of the Automobile & its Effect on our Lives, Adjunct Professor Patricia Herlihy's A European City on the Black Sea (in Russian), and Adjunct Associate Professor Saleem Ali's Treasures of the Earth: Need, Greed, and a Sustainable Future. · The new issue of the Brown Journal of World Affairs takes up issues including the politics of the Caribbean, nuclear proliferation, and ethnic conflict in Africa. COMMENTARY  · "The emphasis in previous wars has been more about how you defeat the enemy by controlling territory [but] the center of gravity has shifted to a psychological territory." - Professor James Der Derian, in a Time feature on anthropologists' work with the military. · "I think that the relationship today is much more predictable." - Senior Fellow Sergei Khrushchev, speaking on Voice of America about US-Russia relations under Obama's presidency.  · "This remedy should make sure the list reflects the current threat." - Senior Fellow Sue E. Eckert, commenting in the New York Times on the reform of terrorist sanction policies. · "Russia's leaders have launched a campaign to stem the flow of vodka [but] they are promoting failed remedies to this centuries-old problem." - Adjunct Professor Patricia Herlihy, in a Providence Journal op-ed. MULTIMEDIA: Watch an interview with Francis J. Ricciardone Jr., US deputy ambassador to Afghanistan (at right), discussing the trend toward more engaged public diplomacy. ... Access Choices Program interviews with Brown faculty on Haiti's history and visit Brown's Haiti response website. ... See a trailer of the new documentary, Human Terrain. ... Watch a clip of Professor Ashutosh Varshney addressing the complexity of "South Asia Rising." ... Read a Watsonblog on Obama's nuclear disarmament opportunities in 2010. CALENDAR: Noted author Salman Rushdie will discuss literature and modern politics on February 16. ... Professor Rashid Khalidi will provide a history of modern conflict in the Middle East on February 19. ... Professor Abbott Gleason gives a book talk on his memoir, A Liberal Education, on March 1. ... Infosys Founder Narayana Murthy lectures on "Global Economic Future and the Role of Indian IT." ... The full list of Watson events is available here. Past newsletters and other Institute information are available here.