Middle East Forum Podcast: Recent Episodes
Middle East Forum
Winfield Myers is Director of Academic Affairs for Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum that reviews and critiques Middle East Studies bias with the aim of improving higher education. Mr. Myers briefed MEF in a conference call on November 21, 2018. For some time, Middle East Studies (MES) professors have been whitewashing Islamism on U.S. campuses and nowhere more so than at Georgetown University's Saudi-funded Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim- ...
Iranian-born Amir Taheri, chairman of the think tank Gatestone Europe, is a columnist for the daily Asharq Al-Awsat, former executive editor-in-chief of the Iranian daily Kayhan, and the author of 11 books. Mr. Taheri briefed the Middle East Forum in a conference call on Nov. 29, 2018. While the Islamist regime conveniently blames the renewed U.S. sanctions for Iran's economic malaise, a number of domestic and international factors account for the country's economic decline. ...
Shmuel Sandler, the Yehuda Avner Professor for Religion and Politics at Bar-Ilan University, Senior Research Associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, and author most recently of The Jewish Origins of Israeli Foreign Policy (Routledge, 2017) briefed the Middle East Forum in a conference call on March 27, 2018. Last month's crisis over the contentious Haredi (ultra- ...
Summary account by Marilyn Stern, communications coordinator for the Middle East Forum. With the demise of the Islamic State, Syrian President Basher Assad defeated the foremost threat to his regime thanks to Russian and Iranian support. But with substantial parts of Syria held by Kurdish forces, key strategic areas dominated by Turkey, and remnants of jihadist forces still active, the regime has yet to regain full control over his rebellious subjects. ...
Summary account by Marilyn Stern, Communications Coordinator for the Middle East Forum. Ze'ev Jabotinsky, author, soldier, and Zionist leader, introduced his Iron Wall doctrine in a 1923 essay, which maintained that Arab acquiescence in the Jewish right to statehood would only follow upon the establishment of an unassailable Jewish power base - military, political, and diplomatic. ...
Summary account by Marilyn Stern, Communications Coordinator for the Middle East Forum. In a December 2015 article, Daniel Pipes criticized Donald Trump's proposed blanket ban on the entry of Muslims to the United States as unconstitutional and strategically unsound. Instead, he suggested that the ban be only applied to Islamists, the estimated 10-15% of Muslims worldwide who believe in theocratic government and the supremacy of sharia (Islamic law) over national laws. ...
Summary account by Marilyn Stern, Communications Coordinator for the Middle East Forum. The Arab world's fifth poorest country, Jordan has only a quarter of its adult population gainfully employed. Its accumulated debt represents nearly 100% of GDP and the Jordanian economy has been seriously afflicted by the arrival of 1.4 million Syrian refugees over the past few years. ...
Summary account by Marilyn Stern, Communications Coordinator for the Middle East Forum. The terror attacks in the run-up to the British elections were not the only factor behind the elections' surprise outcome. ...
Summary account by Marilyn Stern, Communications Coordinator for the Middle East Forum. Unlike past U.S. presidents' "inside out" approach to the Arab-Israeli conflict (i.e., resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would lead to wider Arab-Israeli peace), Trump has subscribed to the "outside in" strategy whereby improved Israeli-Arab relations could broker an Israeli-Palestinian deal. ...
Summary account by Marilyn Stern, Middle East Forum Communications Coordinator. In his first 100 days, President Trump has successfully reasserted America's long-standing role as the Middle East's great power. Whereas the Obama administration sought to create a "hegemonic equilibrium" - a balance of power between the regional powers - the Trump administration has charted a different course, re-embracing America's allies and casting off its foes. ...
Summary account by Marilyn Stern, Middle East Forum Communications Coordinator. After the frustrating Obama years, the conservative Arab states and Israel look forward with cautious optimism to the Trump era. But can the new administration address the numerous problems left by its predecessor? A quick review of the region's main trouble spots offers some clues: · Iran. ...
Summary account by Marilyn Stern, Middle East Forum Communications Coordinator. The fall of Aleppo was a turning point in the Syrian civil war. In an impressive feat, the Russian-backed Syrian army dealt a crushing blow to the rebel forces, driving many of them to entertain a compromise with the Assad regime. This by no means implies that the war's end is anywhere in sight. ...
Summary account by Marilyn Stern, Middle East Forum Communications Coordinator. President-elect Trump's attitude to America's traditional friends and allies will differ drastically from Barack Obama's courting of America's enemies at its allies' expense. While Obama believed that the key to Israeli-Palestinian peace was to distance the U.S. ...
Summary account by Marilyn Stern, Middle East Forum Communications Coordinator. Moscow's military intervention in Syria has not only made it a key factor in that country's civil war but has also boosted its regional standing, netted it a major naval outlet in the Eastern Mediterranean, and exacerbated Europe's domestic problems by accelerating the refugee outpour into the Continent. ...
Summary account by Marilyn Stern, Middle East Forum Communications Coordinator The failed July 15 military coup in Turkey brought to a head a long-standing struggle between President Erdoğan's overtly anti-Western approach and the alleged pro-Western orientation of the Fethullah Gülen movement led by the Pennsylvania-based Turkish preacher. On the face of it, Erdoğan emerged as the coup's undisputed winner because he survived the challenge and has become more assertive than ever. ...
Summary account by Marilyn Stern, Middle East Forum Board of Governors The Israeli-Turkish renewal of diplomatic relations reflects Jerusalem's growing regional strength. While the agreement stipulates the provision of humanitarian Turkish aid to Gaza via the Ashdod port, the naval blockade of Hamas remains intact despite Ankara's longstanding insistence on its removal. ...
Summary account by Middle East Forum intern Joshua Buri In a May 24 talk in Philadelphia hosted by the Middle East Forum, noted professor and anti-Islamist author Guy Millière warned that Islamism has spread throughout Europe and argued that this process will likely continue unabated. Daniel Pipes followed with a brief rebuttal, arguing that growing opposition to Islamism offers much hope for a solution. France, Millière explained, has undergone drastic changes in the past several decades. ...
Amatzia Baram, professor emeritus at the Department of Middle East History at Haifa University, briefed the Middle East Forum on a conference call May 16, 2016. The bloodless storming of Baghdad's parliament by followers of the prominent Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr on April 30th challenged Prime Minister Haider Abadi's authority and exposed the fragility of his regime. ...