Some of the nation's most formidable statesmen and women were guests of Friday's Frank Church Conference on Public Affairs, now in its 32nd year. The Boise State conference attracted ambassadors, scholars, authors and U.S. State Department officials. They were on hand to deconstruct this year's theme: Clash of Cultures, The Middle East in Turmoil.
Ambassador Gerald Feierstein was invited to consider this week's fifth anniversary of the rise of the Arab Spring. Feierstein is the current Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Near East
Affairs. He has served for more than 40 years with the U.S. State Department's foreign service. He was a previous U.S. Ambassador to Yemen with additional foreign service appointments to Beirut, Jerusalem, Riyadh and Tunis.
Feierstein spoke with Weekend Edition Host George Prentice on Friday. Hear their conversation below.
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