Kashmeri, Sarwar A.

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Kashmeri, Sarwar A.

PERSONAL:

Married Deborah Ellis (an artist). Education: St. Louis University, B.S., M.S.

ADDRESSES:

Home—South Reading, VT, and New York, NY. Home and office—Reading, VT. Agent—Sally Van Haitsma, Castiglia Literary Agency, 1155 Camino Del Mar, #510, Del Mar, CA 92014. E-mail—sarwar@kashmeri.com.

CAREER:

St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO, faculty member for six years and Computation Center director; Niche Systems, Inc., New York, NY, president, 1985-2000; founder, publisher, and chief executive officer, EbizChronicle.com, 2000-03; former founder and chair, Accounting Systems International; currently a business consultant. Founding director, Regional Justice Information Service. Member of American advisory board, Ditchley Foundations and Pilgrims of the United States; member of board of trustees, Reading Public Library, Reading, Vermont. Host of Global Currents podcast, Foreign Policy Association, and "Road to the Whitehouse" presidential primary series, Twin State Valley Media Network, New Hampshire.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Foreign Policy Association fellow.

WRITINGS:

America and Europe after 9/11 and Iraq: The Great Divide, Praeger Security International (Westport, CT), 2007.

Also author of the blogs The Great Divide: America & Europe After 9/11 & Iraq and Road to the White House With Sarwar Kashmeri. Author of business column for Sunday Valley News. Contributor of political editorials to the Foreign Policy Association Web site. Former contributing editor, Strategy & Business.

SIDELIGHTS:

Sarwar A. Kashmeri is a strategic marketing and communications consultant, journalist, and business expert. As part of his experience in international business, Kashmeri has had numerous opportunities to observe the effects of the terrorist attacks in 2001 and the war in Iraq on business and political interactions between the United States and Europe. In America and Europe after 9/11 and Iraq: The Great Divide, Kashmeri assesses the condition of relations between America and its European allies. Drawing on his own transatlantic business experience, he expands his coverage through interviews with prominent figures such as President George H.W. Bush, British Prime Minister John Major, U.S. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, U.S. General Wesley Clark, Spanish foreign minister Ana de Palacio, and others who served in high-level positions in the United States and European countries.

Kashmeri looks at important issues and controversies surrounding American and European relations, such as the evolution of the role of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the general European displeasure with the way the United States has handled its presence in Iraq. He also notes some delicate political and economic relationships, such as America's seeming inability to come to terms with the European Union and decide if it is a friend or foe. Kashmeri concludes that the U.S.-European relationship needs to be renegotiated, America's focus on the United Kingdom needs to be decreased, and a more thoroughgoing and multicultural connection with the rest of Europe needs to be forged. Observers and others "keeping current on transatlantic affairs will benefit from, if not universally subscribe to, this informed analysis," concluded Gilbert Taylor in Booklist.

Kashmeri told CA that what influences his work is "the challenge of communicating complex ideas in a way that everyone can understand. Specifically a challenge to teach computer programming to school students in four hours. This resulted in a book and TV program produced by the PBS [Public Broadcasting Service] station in St. Louis, "Fortran for Morons, Geniuses, and Hobbits,' 1969."

He added that "the intersection between globalization, technology, international business, and foreign policy," influences his work.

When asked to describe his writing process, he said: "Ninety-five percent work—sit down and write; five percent inspiration/revelation!"

When asked the most exciting thing he has learned as a writer, Kashmeri said: "Multiple drafts with text movements is the natural way to write."

When asked what effect he hopes his books will have, he said, "Get more people involved in thinking about and influencing global business and foreign policy."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 1, 2007, Gilbert Taylor, review of America and Europe after 9/11 and Iraq: The Great Divide, p. 10.

New York Times, October 18, 1998, Donna Greene, "Q&A / Sarwar A. Kashmeri; Helping Businesses Prepare for the Euro," interview with Sarwar A. Kashmeri.

Reference & Research Book News, February 1, 2007, review of America and Europe after 9/11 and Iraq.