Local group forms to probe foreign policy

BANGOR – The state of U.S. foreign relations after President Bush’s re-election will be the subject of a Monday meeting of the Bangor Foreign Policy Forum, a new local group formed to study international issues and their impact on Maine.

“We are hoping to engage the community in a discussion about the importance of foreign policy issues,” said board member Bahman Baktiari, a University of Maine political science professor and director of the university’s international studies program. “There’s always a Maine connection.”

The Monday forum will feature Paul Holman, who was a professor of strategic studies at the Naval War College and a professor at the College of International Security Studies within the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

Holman received his doctorate from Georgetown University in Russian history and his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in romance languages and literatures.

The Monday forum will run from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at Montes Catering, 72 Columbia St., Bangor. Space is still available at the forum.

The group’s board of directors includes Bangor Daily News executive editor A. Mark Woodward.

A schedule of speakers can be found at http://www.umaine.edu/news/releases/June05/foreignpolicyforum.htm.