Foreign Policy Matters

Vineyarders who want to learn about and participate in foreign policy decision-making, take note: a Great Decisions Discussion Group begins on Thursday. Feb. 10 at 7 p.m., and runs for eight successive Thursdays at the Vineyard Haven Public Library.

The evenings will follow a Foreign Policy Association (FPA) briefing book. This annual publication provides details about eight timely global topics. Each meeting will include a very short PBS documentary film on that week’s subject. There will be a moderator.

Besides studying and discussing the subject each week there will be opinion ballots taken from the workbook. These are sent to the FPA, which sends results to the White House, the departments of State and Defense, members of Congress, the media and others.

The eight subjects are: Rebuilding Haiti, U.S. National Security, Horn of Africa, Responding to the Financial Crisis, Germany Ascendant, Sanctions and Nonproliferation, the Caucasus and Global Governance.

To sign up, visit vhlibrary.org or call 508-696-4211. Workbooks may be purchased from the library for $10. A limited number of free copies may be be available for students.