‘Great Decisions’ discussion at Shelter Island Library looks at global issues

The next Great Decisions discussion at the library, “Biden’s Foreign Policy in the Age of Strategic Competition,” looks at a world beset by multiple issues: climate change, pandemic diseases, economic disruption, nuclear proliferation, conflicts, and more.

The Biden administration’s foreign policy must also negotiate an historic power shift from a unipolar world to one where China and the U.S. are strategic competitors, and where liberal democracies and authoritarian systems vie for global influence.

This discussion will be introduced by Iqbal and Shelby Mamdani, longtime summer residents of Shelter Island. The Mamdanis lived abroad in Japan, East Africa, Bahrain, and the U.K., before returning to the U.S. full time.

Iqbal’s 45-year career in banking began in New York and Bahrain; he has extensive cross border expertise in the Middle East, South and Central Asia, Turkey, and the Far East.

Shelby worked at the British Museum as a Special Consultant to the Education Department, specifically assisting in public programs for the Asian and Japanese Departments.

The discussion will take place on Thursday, Sept. 1 at 5:30 p.m. in the library’s community room.

Participants may also attend the session through Zoom, and participants may register at silibrary.org.