When the St. Louis Jewish Light began its collaboration with the Jewish Community Center and the Jewish Community Relations Council to sponsor the quarterly “Can We Talk?” discussion series, the plan was to focus on topics that foster debate and are of great importance to the local Jewish community.

To that end, we cannot think of a more pressing matter than the threats posed by Iran to Israel, the Middle East and the world.

Will Iran develop nuclear weapons? Will the U.S. and Israel find common ground on a response? Will diplomacy prevail or will war be the ultimate consequence?

It is with these pervasive concerns in mind that the next installment of “Can We Talk?” will focus on Iran and the implications of its actions. Our special guest and Middle East expert David Makovsky will give a presentation and answer audience questions at 7 p.m. Monday, March 19 at the Performing Arts Center of the JCC’s Arts and Education Building, 2 Millstone Campus Drive.

Makovsky, a native St. Louisan, is a Ziegler Distinguished Fellow and Director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process at the Washington Institute. He is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. His commentary on the peace process and the Arab-Israeli conflict has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and National Interest. He appears frequently in the media to comment on Arab-Israeli affairs, including PBS “NewsHour.”

Makovsky has testified before the full U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, the full U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, and on multiple occasions before the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs Middle East Subcommittee. He is also an adjunct professor in Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

The Makovsky “Can We Talk?” installment replaces the one planned on stifling the stigma about mental health and developmental disabilities in the Jewish community. That topic will be examined in stories and with a discussion panel later this spring.