The Summer Chill | Sunset Swag Cocktail Party

Welcome to Motown!

Tinseltown Meets Motown

JOHN AKOURI

JOHN AKOURI

Considered one of America's most trusted minds on the Middle East, John Akouri is Motown born and raised in the Motor City of Detroit, an award-winning television personality, Capitol Hill Advisor and recognized civic leader. The innate knowledge he possesses of the history surrounding the lands that comprise the cradle of civilization enables him to masterfully navigate the politics that help, and hinder, how we prepare and respond to today's new threats to global peace in the Arab World. One of the most in-demand motivational and public speakers in the workplace, at conventions, and on high school and college campuses, he can be frequently seen on FOX, NBC, CBS News affiliates and the AlHurra Television Network as a Middle East Expert providing adept analysis and insightful commentary, as well as a myriad of television news and radio programs, including national newspapers and social media.

In 2016, he proudly served as Michigan Co-Chairman of the Donald J. Trump Presidential Campaign, securing the swing state went red winning Trump the Great Lakes state by 10,704 votes, cementing a Republican presidential victory the first time since 1988. Sharing the stage with Governor Mike Pence, Senator Ted Cruz, GOP Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel, Mayor Rudy Guiliani, Coach Bobby Knight and an array of figures, he delivered opening remarks at campaign rallies across Michigan and emceed election eve events with Donald Trump Jr., in the Motor City and at the Air Zoo in Portage. A much sought after GOP strategist and political commentator, he honed his national election cycle scope through the years having served as a campaign volunteer for Reagan/Bush 1984; Midwest photographer for Bush/Quayle 1988 & 1992; official photographer for Dole/Kemp 1996; on the communications team for Bush/Cheney 2000; Oakland County Co-Chair for Bush Cheney 2004; Swing State Surrogate for McCain/Palin 2008; and Coalitions Co-Chair for Romney/Ryan 2012. On the eve of the 58th Presidential Inauguration, he was an honored guest at the 2017 Black Tie & Chic Gala Salute to African American Republican Leaders Inaugural Ball at The Watergate Hotel, celebrating with HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson, Congressman J.C. Watts and former RNC Chair Michael Steele.

An accomplished and respected statesman who has made his mark in local, national and international affairs, he gained global prominence at the United States House of Representatives in Washington, DC, where in his capacity as spokesman and chief speechwriter he worked with both the national and worldwide press corps, as well as serving as a Middle East senior advisor assisting with legislative direction relating to international relations and global foreign policy issues. In addition to his fedearl government position as congressional press secretary and communications director, he has also served on many departmental projects, working closely with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. State Department, U.S. Census Bureau, Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Army and the United Nations.

Prior to leaving his congressional post within federal government as senior advisor to U.S. Representative Joe Knollenberg, ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, to run for the Michigan House of Representatives, he served as creator and executive producer of “Window to Washington”, a nationally award-winning television program that he also hosted. Returning from Washington, DC to his hometown, he ran a successful first time campaign for City Council in Farmington Hills, Michigan and was elected as the city’s first American-born Lebanese Councilman coming in as top votegetter. The youngest Member on Council, he beams with pride of his heritage as an American of Lebanese descent, and the accomplishments the Lebanese American community has achieved here in the United States. Leadership indeed runs in the family, which hails from the northern port city of Tripoli, with paternal cousin, His Grace Simon Atallah, Maronite Bishop Emeritus of Baalbek-Deir El Ahmar.

His active involvement in public affairs span the course of the past three decades, where he has been a leader in government, media and business at the local, state and national levels. With his global leadership inside the beltway, he routinely participates in high-level talks on a wide range of initiatives regarding Lebanon during meetings with key Lebanese leaders that have included: President Amine Gemayel, Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, Central Bank Vice Governor Raed Charafeddine, Minister of Foreign Affairs Fawzi Salloukh, Their Excellencies, Ambassadors Farid Abboud, Antoine Chedid, Antonio Andary, Houssam Diab, Clovis Maksoud & Ali Ajami, General Michel Aoun, Director-General of the Internal Security Forces, Middle East Airlines' Adib Kassis, and American University of Beirut Presidents John Waterbury & Peter Dorman, Princess Hayat Arslan, Filmmaker Nadine Labaki, Television Personality Marcel Ghanem, Beirut Marathon Association Founder May El Khalil, of which he serves on the Board of Directors, as well as a host of other Arab World decision makers, envoys and prominent figures.

An eloquent orator, he has appeared on stage side-by-side on many occasions with His Excellency Sam Zakhem, former U.S. Ambassador to Bahrain, he has also served as a panelist and speaker for the Washington DC-based Arab American Institute, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, American Task Force for Lebanon, International Institute of Metropolitan Detroit, University of Michigan Flint Symposium on Syria and the Eastern Michigan University Annual Conference of the Ambassadorial and Consular Corps. Having served as chairman on the local board of the Miss America Scholarship Pageant Committee, he is very active in community affairs and currently serves on the DHS Incident Management Team, Military Grassroots Advisory Board, Wayne State University Presidential Advisory Group, Madonna University International Education Council and the International Visitors Council.

The honored recipient of the esteemed Rainbow Recognition Award, he was presented with a Special Tribute and recognition proclaimed by the Michigan Senate. An alumnus of Wayne State University’s College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts, he worked as a research associate to his law professor, and as a distinguished television news intern. Named a 'Rising Star' by the Gannett newspapers, John Akouri has appeared in several commercials airing in the Detroit Television market. In addition to his many speaking engagements to students at colleges and universities, in 2013 he was asked by the UN to appear as Celebrity Emcee for award-winning composer Malek Jandali’s ‘The Voice of the Free Syrian Children’ International Freedom Tour, and this summer he will deliver the Keynote Address during the National Mexican Youth Conference in Guanajuato, Mexico.

Previously, he worked as a media consultant to former U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham and Governor John Engler. A highlight of his career in includes covering the Papal visit of the Holy Father to the USA and receiving the Key to the City of Birmingham. Today, as a public relations and government affairs consultant, he also heads several leading business, multi-media and entertainment ventures. He is passionate in his work to raise funds and awareness to universities, charitable foundations, religious institutions, business & trade associations and service clubs throughout North America. His involvement has helped to raise much needed funds for institutions that include St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Holy Land Seminary Fund, International Institute Foundation, The Consular Corps Ball, Children’s Leukemia Foundation, The Al-Kafaàt Foundation, Imam Sadr Foundation, Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Fallen & Wounded Soldiers Fund, Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museum.

In 2005, he founded the Lebanese American Chamber of Commerce and today continues to preside as President & CEO of the non-profit national organization. His leadership coordinates global business diplomacy and ongoing strategic client relationships and development planning for Chamber Members between Lebanon and inside the United States. He served as editor-in-chief of Lebanese Monthly Magazine, published by its parent company, the Lebanese American News Agency, Inc. During the 2006 Mid-term Election in Michigan, he was a candidate for a Wayne State University Board of Governors education post, where he came very close to winning the election with 1.3 Million votes cast for him. An eloquent orator, more recently he has been enjoying a new-found interest in live auctioneering and headlining major gala events as celebrity master of ceremonies.

THE LITTLE RED DRESS PARTY

COMING SOON!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

LACC Summer 2015 Executives Dinner Welcomes St. John Providence Health System CEO Jean Meyer

LIKE ME ON FACEBOOK @mistermabsout

www.facebook.com/mistermabsout

CONNECT WITH ME ON LinkedIn @johnakouri

www.linkedin.com/in/johnakouri

VIEW ME ON INSTAGRAM @johnakouri

www.instagram.com/johnakouri

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER @johnakouri

www.twitter.com/johnakouri

John Akouri Headlines Panel Discussion on Syria Crisis at the University of Michigan

John Akouri, one of America's most trusted speakers on the Middle East, will appear at a panel discussion on Syria scheduled to take place at the University of Michigan-Flint campus on November 5th, 2014.  A native of Detroit, award-winning television personality, Capitol Hill advisor, and recognized civic leader, he masterfully explains the history behind new threats to global peace, and navigates the politics that help, and hinder, how we prepare and respond to them. He appears frequently on the FOX-2 News television network and NBC-affiliate WDIV-TV as a Middle East Analyst providing expert analysis and insightful commentary.  A much sought after political strategist, he can be frequently seen and heard worldwide on Al Hurra Television News as well as many other television shows and radio outlets, including national newspapers and the internet. An accomplished and respected statesman who has made his mark in local, national and international affairs, he gained national prominence at the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC, where in his capacity as spokesman and chief speechwriter he worked with both the global & national press corps, also serving as a Middle East Senior Advisor assisting with legislative direction relating to international relations and global foreign policy issues. In addition to his working in a senior government position as congressional press secretary, he has also served on many departmental projects with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. State Department and the U.S. Army. Additionally, he serves as an advisor to the Coalition for a Democratic Syria, United For a Free Syria, and the Syrian American Council. 

Prior to leaving his post within federal government to run for the Michigan House of Representatives, he served as creator and executive producer of “Window to Washington”, a nationally award-winning television program. He has appeared as a panelist and speaker for the Washington DC-based Arab American Institute, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Madonna University International Council, Eastern Michigan University Annual Conference of the Ambassadorial and Consular Corps, Wayne State University Presidential Advisory Group, and the Syrian American Council Midwest Conference.  In addition to his many speaking engagements to university student groups on college campuses, in 2013 he was asked to appear as Master of Ceremonies for award-winning composer Malek Jandali’s ‘The Voice of the Free Syrian Children’ International Freedom Tour. Recently, he was instrumental in arranging high-level meetings for Syrian National Council President George Sabra, with national media personalities, key government leaders and UN officials in New York and Washington, DC.  His active involvement in public affairs span the course of the past two decades, where he has been a leader in government, media and business at the local, state and national levels. Previously, he worked as a media consultant to former U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham and Governor John Engler and a communications aide to then–Governor George W. Bush. A highlight of his career was serving as an official photographer on the Bob Dole Presidential Campaign, covering the Papal visit of Pope John Paul II and receiving the Key to the City of Birmingham.

THE AUTUMN EVENT 2012

9/11 Never Forget

John Akouri Conveys His Best Wishes to Pope Benedict XVI, as the Holy Father Departs Vatican City This Week and Embarks on a Pontifical Journey to the Republic of Lebanon for an Official Papal Visit to the Land of the Majestic Cedars

Three Decades Later, Looking Back at a TIME Magazine Article: The Christians Under Siege - October 23, 1978

Monday, Oct. 23, 1978

A ceasefire, but both sides are prepared for further war

A shaky ceasefire, as cease-fires always seem to be, took hold in Lebanon last week, but East Beirut was a smouldering ruin. In that battered section of the city, once home to 600,000 Maronite Christians, rescue workers picked through the rubble in search of the dead and dying. Glassy-eyed survivors crept cautiously out of basement shelters, scurrying back to safety when Syrian snipers cut loose with automatic weapons. A number of would-be refugees, seeking to join the exodus that has emptied East Beirut of more than two-thirds of its residents, were mowed down by Syrian machine guns as they tried to cross the bridges leading to Christian strongholds outside the city. Five other people were wounded as they attempted to cross the "green line" separating Muslim and Christian sections of Beirut. In effect, East Beirut was under siege: the 30,000-man Syrian peace-keeping force kept 3,500 Christian militiamen and 150,000 civilians bottled up within easy range of the heavy artillery that had pounded the city in the worst week of fighting since the end of the civil war in 1976.

Even as intermittent bursts of cannon fire marred the uneasy calm, both the Christians and their enemies prepared for a new outbreak of fighting. From Damascus, convoys of Syrian trucks transported 8,600 heavily armed Palestine Liberation Army commandos to fortified positions in Beirut. The P.L. A. commandos will be the backbone of a new Syrian-controlled antimilitia alliance comprising leftist Lebanese Muslims, Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization and an army commanded by pro-Syrian Christian for mer President Suleiman Franjieh. The Arab League mandate under which the Syrian peace-keeping force has occupied Lebanon since 1976 will be reviewed on Oct. 28. If the league orders Damascus to withdraw its troops, the new force could still press the offensive against the Christian militias with Syrian arms and ammunition.

Israel, too, was building up its Christian allies: the "Tigers" commanded by former President Camille Chamoun and the Phalangist fighters under Pierre Gemayel. By night, Israeli ships brought in arms, medical supplies and food to Jounieh, twelve miles north of Beirut. About 150 Israeli advisers — distinguishable from their Christian clients because they do not wear the pearl-handled revolvers and outsize crosses favored by the swaggering militiamen — were providing counsel and logistical support. Christian officers of the Lebanese armed forces turned over to the militiamen an arsenal of U.S. weapons that had been destined for the country's moribund, ineffective army. Contemplating the grim fact that more than two dozen armed factions are now operating in Lebanon, Militia Leader Chamoun asked pointedly: "What is Lebanon — a sovereign state or a whorehouse?"

"Neither the Christians nor their foes are backing away from the prospect of more slaughter. 'As long as the Syrians are in Lebanon, there is no peace,' warned (Former President Camille) Chamoun last week. Equally adamant was Syrian President Hafez Assad, who insisted that his troops had opened fire on the Christians..."

The massive weapons stockpiling lent a new urgency, and a growing sense of futility, to President Elias Sarkis' search for an end to the bloodshed. Since 1973, when clashes between Palestinian guerrillas and the Christian-dominated Lebanese army presaged a bloody civil war, at least 37,000 — and perhaps as many as 100,000 — people have been killed. Moreover, a new attack on its Christian friends could provoke Israel into massive retaliatory raids, threatening the peace talks with Egypt that began last week.

Neither the Christians nor their foes are backing away from the prospect of more slaughter. "As long as the Syrians are in Lebanon, there is no peace," warned Chamoun last week. Equally adamant was Syrian President Hafez Assad, who insisted that his troops had opened fire on the Christians in order to "establish the authority of the Sarkis government." But when the Lebanese President proposed that a buffer force of Lebanese soldiers be deployed between the Christians and Syrians, Assad had a brusque reply: "There is no Lebanese army, and what there is represents the Christians." After Sarkis completed a hasty tour of six Arab capitals, Assad laconically submitted to an essentially meaningless compromise, under which part of the Syrian forces besieging East Beirut would be withdrawn. Lebanese troops would be allowed to help patrol the bridges linking Beirut to the Christian areas in the north — their first active role in the recent fighting.

Sarkis still hopes to persuade the Arab League to order a reduction in the number of Syrian troops in his country. But he received scant encouragement during his visits to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Arab nations. Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Fahd, for example, promised P.L.O. Leader Arafat that the Saudis — who also bankroll the Christian militias — would "absolutely" continue their support of the opponent Palestinians.

While the search for a settlement foundered, Lebanon's beleaguered Christians held tight to the remnants of a shattered past. Indeed, Christianity has long been fractured within this complex country: in addition to the dominant Maronites — a branch of the Roman Catholic Church that preserves its own unique liturgy — there are Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholics, Armenians and Chaldeans, among others. Since Lebanon became independent from France in 1943, the Maronites, who then made up 30% of the population, have been the major force in politics and the economy. Under the "national covenant," an unwritten agreement with the force of constitutional law, the Lebanese presidency is reserved for a Maronite, while the less powerful posts of Prime Minister and president of the Chamber of Deputies are set aside for, respectively, a Sunni and a Shi'ite Muslim. The precarious balance between religious groups fell apart in 1970, when 15,000 well-armed Palestinian guerrillas were driven out of Jordan by King Hussein's "Black September" offensive. Joining 75,000 Palestinians already in the country, they turned southern Lebanon into a staging area for raids on Israel.

The Maronites feared that the well-armed Palestinians would not only create a P.L.O.-run state within a state inside Lebanon but also turn the country into another confrontation power. In 1975, as clashes between Christians and Palestinians escalated into full-scale civil war, the Maronite militia turned to Israel for arms and training. A certain elitism — and a mutual hatred of Syrians — has nurtured the longstanding bond between the Israelis and the Europe-oriented Maronites, who regard themselves as a bastion of Western civilization in the Arab world. As a Christian militia officer explained last week, "We feel, like the Israelis, that we are on the spot be cause we are better. We let the Syrians into our country because Syria was too poor to feed them." Nevertheless, the Christians cheered when Syrian troops moved into Lebanon in 1976, thereby preventing radical Muslims and Palestinians from wiping out the hard-pressed Christian armies.

Affection very quickly turned to estrangement after the Syrian peace keepers ordered the Maronites to lay down their arms, while making no similar demands on the Palestinians. Chamoun and Gemayel began laying the groundwork for partitioning Lebanon and creating a pro-Israeli Maronite state along Syria's border. When Gemayel's Phalangists murdered the son of Assad's friend Franjieh and more than 35 other pro-Syrian Christians in June, Syria became convinced that the plot was already in motion. Assad was further alarmed when the Camp David talks foreshadowed a separate Israeli-Egyptian peace, thereby tipping the military balance between Israel and "rejectionist" Arab states even further in Israel's favor.

At that point, Assad began a methodical campaign of attrition against the Christians. So far, the campaign has had mixed results. About 300,000 Maronites have become refugees; their schools, businesses and other institutions have been destroyed. The vast majority of wealthy Christians have fled the country, leaving behind only the fighters and those too poor to buy a ticket to safety.

But the remaining Maronites are far from giving up. "Morale in the Christian areas is extremely high," reports TIME Correspondent Dean Brelis from Beirut. "In shell-shocked East Beirut, some bakers have fired up their ovens, repair crews are at work fixing broken water lines and restoring electricity. People who intend to stay on are stocking their shelters with Israeli canned goods. The Christians' ability to bounce back from adversity is remarkable. Throughout the civil war, their sections of Beirut were free from garbage and crime, in marked contrast to the areas under Palestinian control. Once more the Maronites are demonstrating their competence and courage. When a group of Christians trying to escape from East Beirut came under Syrian machine-gun fire, their leader shouted, 'Let's keep going! It's better to be shot standing up than getting it in the back on the ground!' That kind of pluck would, of course, be put to better use in a peaceful Lebanon. But as a Christian militiaman grimly forecast last week, 'We are prepared to fight for the next 40 years.' "