The New Arabists

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The New Arabists hat Khaznawi, and its Hezbollah friends in Syria-occupied Lebanon The New were assassinating the state’s for- mer premier, Rafiq Hariri. Seven years on and 18 months Arabists into the popular uprising in Syria that has killed 26,000 people, with 40,000 more missing and pre- sumed dead, Lesch has written a of the British-trained ophthalmolo- new book on Syria. Given his prior Syria: gist who abandoned his medical uncritical support for the regime, The Fall of the House of Assad career and returned to lead Syria, Syria: The Fall of the House of By David W. Lesch Lesch resolved to pen Bashar’s bi- Assad should have been an exer- Yale University Press, 288 pages ography. not surprisingly, Bashar cise in contrition. Instead, Lesch agreed to cooperate, and met with tells a story of Assad’s promise Reviewed by David Schenker the academic several times. unfulfilled, a disappointment he The resulting 2005 book, The largely attributes to a “neocon- n 2000, not long after Syrian New Lion of Damascus: Bashar al servative ideological straitjacket” dictator Hafez al-Assad died Asad and Modern Syria, set a new of Un resolutions, international and was succeeded by his son standard for obsequiousness. A few assassination inquiries, investiga- Bashar, analogies between snippets give a sense of the tenor. tions into Syria’s “alleged nuclear the Assads and the Corleone Bashar, Lesch related, was “very site,” and U.S. sanctions against the I family of The Godfather started to much the family man” and “a fa- regime bequeathed to the Obama make the rounds. While details of ther, who, as his wife mentioned, is administration by President Bush. the popular metaphor varied, the ‘on board’ . and changes diapers.” As Lesch tells it, “anti-Syria in- dominant focus of the comparison In addition to being a model dad, ertia in Washington”—rather than, was on whether Bashar represented Lesch pronounces that Bashar say, Assad’s policy of flooding Iraq Michael—Don Corleone’s youngest, with insurgents bent on killing untrained, and more conventional is basically a principled man. Americans—undermined President son—or Fredo, his weak and incom- He is very unassuming. He is, Obama’s historic “opportunity” to re- petent eldest. Where analysts came at heart, an honest and sincere pair relations. Along the same lines, down on this question largely mir- man. I believe he is essential- we are told that Assad had made the rored their assessment of Bashar ly a morally sound individual, strategic decision for peace, a dream al-Assad and the future trajectory of someone who has the best of that would have been realized if not post-Hafez Syria. intentions. People who meet for the Bush administration’s skepti- David Lesch, a professor of Mid- him usually come away struck cism and Israel’s “heavy-handed” dle East studies at Trinity Universi- by three things: his politeness, military action against Hamas in ty, was among the most prominent his humility, and his simplicity. Gaza in 2008 and 2009. American Syria-watchers subscrib- no doubt, Lesch’s elision-filled ing to the optimistic view of Bashar This was Lesch’s assessment excursion into the Bush years and as Michael. To Lesch, Bashar epito- in 2005, after Bashar had sys- discussion of the Obama adminis- mized a new-generation Middle tematically decimated Syrian civil tration’s failed attempt to engage Eastern leader dedicated to and ca- society through mass arrests of Assad is tendentious, but the re- pable of reforming the autocratic, participants in the so-called Da- mainder of his narrative is by and corrupt, terrorist-supporting, anti- mascus Spring of 2001 and 2002. large devoted to a more anodyne American regime in Damascus. So As Lesch was lavishing blandish- account of the Arab Spring in Syria. enchanted was he with the promise ments on the new Lion of Damas- Alas, these chapters also suffer cus, the leading lights of Syria’s from Lesch’s uniquely Syrian strain David Schenker is director of nascent pro-democracy movement of Stockholm syndrome. The result the Washington Institute’s Program were languishing in Assad’s dun- is a storyline in which Assad is a on Arab Politics. From 2002 to 2006, geons. Meanwhile, the regime was tragic hero opposing in vain a di- he was Levant director in the office torturing and killing prominent vided government, an entrenched of the secretary of defense. anti-Assad Kurdish cleric Shuway- bureaucracy, and a powerful secret 6 Politics & Ideas : November 2012 service conspiring against reform as an admiral in Assad’s navy, and contribution by pointing out, cor- to repress the popular uprising. his writings have long been sym- rectly, that the revolt has not yet “Wherever Assad could,” Lesch ar- pathetic to the regime. In March been hijacked by Islamic extrem- gues, “he tried.” 2011, he wrote that the Arab Spring ists. Overall, however, it’s difficult While Lesch’s account doesn’t would “stall in Syria.” Assad him- to get past the disappointment in entirely absolve Bashar of his re- self had so much confidence in the his friend Bashar that permeates gime’s murderous behavior even academic that in 2005 he allowed the book. in the waning pages of his book, he Landis to blog—purportedly with- Lesch is not alone among schol- does maintain that Assad did not out censorship—from Damascus. ars who premise their work on somehow start out as a pathologi- Lesch is also a big fan of Sami repressive states on access to elites. cal “bloodthirsty killer” like Libya’s Moubayed, a professor with a reli- Academics and analysts studying Muammar Qaddafi or Iraq’s Sad- ably pro-Assad column in the Asia ruthless authoritarian regimes rou- dam Hussein. “Somewhere along Times, whom he describes as one of tinely rely on inside sources to the road,” he says, “Assad lost his Syria’s “foremost commentators.” distinguish themselves from their way.” That somewhere, according Interesting, that although Lesch peers. The problem, of course, is to Lesch, occurred shortly after says he knows Moubayed “quite that the regimes keep track of the Assad’s 2007 “reelection” to the well,” he doesn’t know, or doesn’t author’s publications, and, if the presidency, the “first time,” he says, choose to highlight, that Moubayed coverage is not suitably flattering, “I felt that Bashar had begun to be- was a paid political and media future access is curtailed. lieve the sycophants—that to lead adviser to the regime—a widely A full generation of U.S. scholars the country was his destiny.” suspected relationship that was of Iraq was denied entry into the At the time, of course, one of confirmed in 2012 by hacked emails Republic of Fear for writing criti- Bashar’s leading sycophants was of senior Assad regime officials. cally about Saddam. Syria scholars, Lesch himself. Consider that even no matter. neither Lesch—nor the too—myself included—have long five years after widely discredited Carnegie Endowment for Interna- been banned from Damascus in nondemocratic polling in an au- tional Peace, where Moubayed is retribution for their articles. In- thoritarian state in which no other employed—find this of concern. deed, dictators often sponsor trips candidate appeared on the ballot, The list goes on. To Lesch, nir for experts—including meetings Lesch still pointed to the 97 per- Rosen—who was compelled to re- with the autocrats themselves— cent returns for the president as sign from a fellowship at new York with the unspoken quid pro quo evidence of the “tremendous mass University when he came under fire of subsequent good press. The support for Bashar.” This stunning after belittling Lara Logan’s brutal academic Marilyn Booth chron- misreading of the Syrian street sexual assault in Tahrir Square— icled her junket to Saddam’s Iraq may have been a reflection of who is “a widely respected journal- in the mid-1980s in an article Lesch was spending his time with ist.” Like Moubayed, Rosen also titled “When I met Saddam Hus- in Damascus (i.e., Bashar’s inner appeared prominently in hacked sein,” written on the eve of the circle and the pro-regime elites). Or regime emails, missives in which 2003 U.S. invasion. “My encounter maybe his Arabic wasn’t up to the regime officials advocated allow- with Saddam Hussein,” she wrote, task—to wit, in his two Yale Press ing the journalist privileged access “helped me to understand why he Assad books, out of a combined to traverse the state because, as of might command loyalty even from 768 total footnotes, Lesch cites a nine months into the uprising, he outside those implicated in his grand total of two Arabic-language was “writing some positive articles rule, despite his ruthlessness.” sources. on Syria” and “trying to represent Among those scholars with un- It doesn’t help that Lesch’s un- the Alawites in a good way.” paralleled access to Assad’s ruling derstanding of Syria appears to notwithstanding the legion clique was Joshua Landis. In the be largely informed by a cadre quibbles, to his credit, Lesch gets aftermath of his unprecedented ex- of English-speaking Assad-regime a few things right. His account of perience in Syria courtesy of Assad, acolytes and employees. Oklahoma developments within the hapless Landis’s pro-regime blog came to University professor Joshua Lan- Syrian opposition is detailed and be described in nPR and other me- dis, editor of the Syria Comment useful, as is his chronology of failed dia circles as “influential.” blog, is a favorite. Landis is married United nations and Arab League Former nSC staffer Flynt Lev- to a Syrian from Assad’s minority diplomatic efforts to resolve the erett also came away from his Alawite sect whose father served crisis.
Recommended publications
  • What Is Behind the Scud Scare? Posted by Joshua Landis Thursday, April 15, 2010 - 2:18 PM
    What is behind the Scud scare? Posted By Joshua Landis Thursday, April 15, 2010 - 2:18 PM Joshua Landis is the director of the Center for Middle East Studies and associate professor at the University of Oklahoma. He is the author of the blog Syria Comment. Reports in U.S. and Israeli papers on Wednesday, alleging that Syria delivered Scud missiles to Hezbollah, has set off a firestorm about the limits of engagement and the danger posed by Syria and nonstate actors in the region. Yet the ensuing debate has ignored the broader context of which this episode is but a symptom: namely, that the continued lack of resolution to the decades-long conflict between Syria and Israel has been allowed to fester. This new development could not have been better timed to throw a monkey wrench into Washington's engagement process with Syria and President Barack Obama's efforts to reanimate the stalled peace process in the region. Robert S. Ford, the first ambassador named to Damascus in five years, is in the midst of his confirmation process. A key committee in the Senate has recommended his confirmation, but the ultimate vote among the full Senate has yet to take place. There are many who would like to stop it, not the least because Obama seems ready to push forward efforts to resolve the long-festering Arab -Israeli conflict. On Tuesday, he declared that solving the dispute was a "vital national security interest of the United States" because it is "costing us significantly in terms of both blood and treasure." In the short term, the White House's desire to help broker a Middle East peace means getting an ambassador back to Damascus and engaging with Syria.
    [Show full text]
  • Religion, Refugees, and Migration
    FOR MORE INFORMATION BUTLER UNIVERSITY SEMINAR on RELIGION and GLOBAL AFFAIRS presents WWW.BUTLER.EDU/CFV 317-940-8253 The Seminar on Religion and Global Affairs is a program of the Center for Faith and Vocation at Butler University, promoting understanding of interfaith and intercultural relations through the discussion of religious issues in global perspectives. We wish to thank our internal partners, including Global and Historical Studies for their Sponsored by the sponsorship as well as the Desmond Tutu Center for Peace, Reconciliation, and Global Justice CENTER for FAITH and VOCATION and the Philosophy, Religion, and Classics Department for the partnerships. We are also thankful to our community partners for their collaboration, including the Center for Interfaith Cooperation, the Immigrant Welcome Center, and Catholic Charities Indianapolis FOUR PUBLIC SEMINARS Refugee and Immigrant Services. For parking on Butler University’s campus, patrons September 19, October 17, should park in the Sunset Avenue Parking Garage. Fees can be found at butler.edu/parking. January 23, and February 27 PARTNERING EVENTS: INDY FESTIVAL of FAITHS— SACRED MIGRATIONS Sunday, October 15, 1:00-5:00 PM, Veteran’s Memorial Plaza For accessibility information or to request disability-related accommodations, please visit WELCOMING STRANGERS, FINDING www.butler.edu/event-accommodations. BROTHERS and SISTERS Each seminar meets from 7:00 to 9:00 PM Monday, February 19, 7:00 PM, at the Schrott Center for the Arts, Butler Arts Center. Eidson-Duckwall Recital Hall,
    [Show full text]
  • An Analysis of Foreign Involvement Within the Syria Conflict. - Why Had the United States and Russia a Foreign Interest in Syria
    Bachelor thesis An analysis of foreign involvement within the Syria conflict. - Why had the United States and Russia a foreign interest in Syria. Author: Emelie Pettersson Supervisor: Anders Persson Examiner: Martin Nilsson Term: Ht19 Subject: Political Science Level: Bachelor Thesis Course code: 2SK31E 2 Abstract This study offers an alternative analysis of the current literature regarding foreign involvement in the Syria civil war. The initials briefly describe the current situation in Syria, international relations and why the conflict is interesting to analyse from a scientific standpoint. The relevant actors and theoretical construction are also introduced. In the previous research chapter, the current research is presented concerning the global superpowers as well as the interventions that have taken place in Syria. In the theory chapter realism and liberalism are presented, and a number of important factors are discussed. In the result, the decisions and events that have taken place during the conflict in Syria is analysed through the lens of previous named theories. The actors studied are the USA and Russia. There are both realistic and liberalist elements in the decisions made by the actors. The final part of the essay discusses the result. The underlying interest of the players largely determines which decision is ultimately taken. Moreover, there are underlying tones of realism even in clearly liberalistic decisions. Key words International Relations, International politics, IR Realism, IR Liberalism, foreign policy, foreign intervention, Syria civil war, Russia foreign policy, US foreign policy. 3 Table of Content 1. Introduction ............................................................................................ 6 1.1. Aim, problem statement and limitations. ............................................. 7 1.1.1. Limitations ......................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • SMA Reach-Back 13 January 2017
    13 January 2017 SMA Reach-back 13 January 2017 Question (R3 QL7): How does Da'esh's transition to insurgency manifest itself in Syria; which other jihadist groups might offer the potential for merger and which areas of ungoverned space are most likely to offer conditions conducive for Da'esh to maintain some form of organizational structure and military effectiveness? Contributors: Dr. Joshua Landis (University of Oklahoma); Vern Liebl (Center for Advanced Operational Culture, USMC); Dr. Sabrina Pagano (NSI, Inc.); Mubin Shaikh (University of Liverpool) Executive Summary Dr. Sabrina Pagano, NSI Da’esh Transition in Syria The contributors varied in their discussions of what a Da’esh transition—or the future of Syria more broadly—would look like. Drawing on work by Gelvin, Pagano suggests that three scenarios are most likely for Da’esh’s transition in Syria. These include the complete destruction and disappearance of the group and its ideology; transition into an insurgent group capable of conducting limited operations in Syria and/or inspiring attacks abroad; or disintegration into a loose collection of former fighters and free agents conducting attacks, in some cases without organizational support. Finally, University of Oklahoma ME expert, Dr. Joshua Landis, indicated that while it is difficult to generalize, the extreme factionalization that characterized Syria prior to Da’esh’s involvement would likely come back into play. As such, we may expect a revived emphasis on the clan or tribe, with ongoing resistance to central government. Landis continued by suggesting that sufficient weakening of Da’esh will eventually enable the Syrian government led by Assad to regain broad control.
    [Show full text]
  • The Survival of Authoritarianism and the Syrian Identity Crisis: Explaining the Resilience of Assad’S Ruling Bargain
    University of Washington Tacoma UW Tacoma Digital Commons PPPA Paper Prize Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs Spring 6-8-2016 The urS vival of Authoritarianism and the Syrian Identity Crisis: Explaining the Resilience of Assad's Ruling Bargain Joshua Vasquez vasqja91@gmail.com Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.tacoma.uw.edu/ppe_prize Part of the International Relations Commons, Islamic World and Near East History Commons, and the Near and Middle Eastern Studies Commons Recommended Citation Vasquez, Joshua, "The urS vival of Authoritarianism and the Syrian Identity Crisis: Explaining the Resilience of Assad's Ruling Bargain" (2016). PPPA Paper Prize. 7. https://digitalcommons.tacoma.uw.edu/ppe_prize/7 This Undergraduate Research Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs at UW Tacoma Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in PPPA Paper Prize by an authorized administrator of UW Tacoma Digital Commons. The Survival of Authoritarianism and The Syrian Identity Crisis: Explaining the Resilience of Assad’s Ruling Bargain Joshua Vasquez TPOLS 480 Democratization and Political Development in the Middle East June 5, 2015 2 Introduction The Arab Spring was a regional social mobilization that unrevealed ruling-bargains in the Middle East, which have been resilient since the early 1950s. In Tunisia, Ben Ali was ousted in about three weeks and fled to Saudi Arabia. After two weeks of demonstrations in Egypt, Mubarak resign from the presidency because the police failed to quell the uprising and the military refused to come to his aid. Following his resignation, he was arrested by the military and is currently awaiting trial for killing demonstrators, embezzlement of state funds, etc.
    [Show full text]
  • UK Home Office
    Country Policy and Information Note Syria: the Syrian Civil War Version 4.0 August 2020 Preface Purpose This note provides country of origin information (COI) and analysis of COI for use by Home Office decision makers handling particular types of protection and human rights claims (as set out in the Introduction section). It is not intended to be an exhaustive survey of a particular subject or theme. It is split into two main sections: (1) analysis and assessment of COI and other evidence; and (2) COI. These are explained in more detail below. Assessment This section analyses the evidence relevant to this note – i.e. the COI section; refugee/human rights laws and policies; and applicable caselaw – by describing this and its inter-relationships, and provides an assessment of, in general, whether one or more of the following applies: x A person is reasonably likely to face a real risk of persecution or serious harm x The general humanitarian situation is so severe as to breach Article 15(b) of European Council Directive 2004/83/EC (the Qualification Directive) / Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights as transposed in paragraph 339C and 339CA(iii) of the Immigration Rules x The security situation presents a real risk to a civilian’s life or person such that it would breach Article 15(c) of the Qualification Directive as transposed in paragraph 339C and 339CA(iv) of the Immigration Rules x A person is able to obtain protection from the state (or quasi state bodies) x A person is reasonably able to relocate within a country or territory x A claim is likely to justify granting asylum, humanitarian protection or other form of leave, and x If a claim is refused, it is likely or unlikely to be certifiable as ‘clearly unfounded’ under section 94 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002.
    [Show full text]
  • Sectarianism in the Middle East
    Sectarianism in the Middle East Implications for the United States Heather M. Robinson, Ben Connable, David E. Thaler, Ali G. Scotten C O R P O R A T I O N For more information on this publication, visit www.rand.org/t/RR1681 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available for this publication. ISBN: 978-0-8330-9699-9 Published by the RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif. © Copyright 2018 RAND Corporation R® is a registered trademark. Cover: Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims attend prayers during Eid al-Fitr as they mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, at the site of a suicide car bomb attack over the weekend at the shopping area of Karrada, in Baghdad, Iraq, July 6, 2016. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani Limited Print and Electronic Distribution Rights This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited. Permission is given to duplicate this document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial use. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions. The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest. RAND’s publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.
    [Show full text]
  • Assad, Syria's
    Why Syria Matters The Moral Imperative of bringing down the house of Al-Assad By Nader Hashemi n March 15, 2011, the Arab Spring came to Syria. Like the other Arab revolts, it occurred spontaneously and proceeded nonviolently. The core political Ogrievances and aspirations were the same as elsewhere: karama (dignity), hurriya (freedom) and adala ijtima’iyya (social justice). The House of Al-Assad, in power forty-one years at the time and arguably the most repressive regime in the Arab world, faced a legitimacy crisis of unprecedented scale and proportion. What is interesting about this particular revolt is that at the time many experts predicted that the Arab Spring would stop at Syria’s borders. Ammar Abdulhamid, a Syrian dissident and former fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, argued that “Syria is not ready for an uprising” because the preparatory organizing at the grassroots that led to the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt was absent in the Syrian case.1 Similarly, Joshua Landis of the University of Oklahoma suggested an “important factor is that [Al-Assad] is popular among young people.” He explained: “I’m always astounded how the average guy in the street, the taxi driver, the person you talk to in a restaurant or wherever, they don’t talk about democracy. They com- plain about corruption, they want justice and equality, but they’ll look at elections in Lebanon and laugh, saying, ‘who needs that kind of democracy?’”2 Unsurprisingly, Bashar Al-Assad, Syria’s president since 2000, held the same view. As the Arab Spring unfolded, he gave an interview to the Wall Street Jour- nal in which he rejected the idea that Syria was ripe for revolution.
    [Show full text]
  • Syrian Studies Association Newsletter XIV: 1 (2008)
    News of Members Hania Abou al-Shamat, University of Southern California, received her PhD in Political Economy and Public Policy in 2008. Her dissertation is “The Religious Educational Divide in Nineteenth-Century Lebanon: Institutional Roots of Communal Educational Choices”. Dr. Abou al-Shamat was the Graduate Student Representative on the board of the Syrian Studies Association from 2006-2008. Zayde G. Antrim, Trinity College, USA, participated in the SSA-sponsored panel "Before Nationalism: Land and Loyalty in the Middle East" at MESA 2007 with a paper on the idea of "watan" in texts from Ayyubid and Mamluk Syria. In the spring of 2008, Prof. Antrim gave a paper called "'Abode of the Prophets'" on images of Syria in al-Muqaddasi's geography at a Princeton University colloquium called "Landscapes of the Saints: Hagiography and Land in the Near East and Europe, ca. 500-900." She delivered a paper in Istanbul as part of the International Symposium on Baghdad, Madinat al-Salam, held b between Nov. 7-9, 2008 and sponsored by Marmara University and the Organization of Islamic Conference. Prof. Antrim will appear in a documentary film called "Jerusalem: Center of the World," airing on PBS on April 29, 2009. Jere L. Bacharach, University of Washington, was awarded a Mellon Foundation Emeritus Fellowship for 2008-2009 to work on monetary developments in fifteenth-century Egypt and Syria. A second edition of his Islamic History through Coins: An Analysis and Catalogue of Tenth-century Ikhshidid Coinage just appeared with AUC Press. Nimat Hafez Barazangi, Cornell University, was invited by the Austrian Ministry for European and International Affairs to participate in a conference on Inter-religious and Inter-cultural Dialogue from Gender Perspectives.
    [Show full text]
  • Upgrading Authoritarianism in the Arab World
    THE BROOKINGS INSTIT U TION 1775 MASSACH U SETTS AVE ., NW WASHINGTON , D.C. 20036-2103 ANALYSIS PAPER www.brookings.edu Number 13, October 2007 UPGRADING AU THORITARIANISM IN THE ARAB WORLD STEVEN HEYDEMANN ANALYSIS PAPER Number 13, October 2007 UPGRADING AU THORITARIANISM IN THE ARAB WORLD STEVEN HEYDEMANN TABLE OF CONTENTS AC KNO W LEDGMENTS ......................................................................V EXE cu TIVE SU MMARY .................................................................... VII THE AU THOR ...........................................................................IX UPGRADING AU THORITARIANISM ..............................................................1 KEY FEAT U RES OF AU THORITARIAN UPGRADING ...................................................5 EMERGING PATTERNS IN ARAB GOVERNAN C E : THE NORMALIZATION OF ARAB AU THORITARIANISM .............................................27 CRA C KS IN THE WALL ? AU THORITARIAN UPGRADING AND U.S. DEMO C RA C Y PROMOTION ..................31 T HE SABAN CEN T ER A T THE BROOKING S IN st I T U T ION III AC KNO W LEDGMENTS wish to acknowledge, with thanks, the generous support of the Smith-Richardson Foundation for a larger project I of which this analysis paper is a part. Ariel Ahram provided invaluable research assistance in the preparation of this paper. The views presented here are solely those of the author. T HE SABAN CEN T ER A T THE BROOKING S IN st I T U T ION V EXE cu TIVE SU MMARY uthoritarianism in the Arab world is not what it promotion and to recognize, in particular, that Arab Aused to be. Indeed, it might well be stronger, more regimes are converging around policies that are explic- flexible, and more resilient than ever, despite the best itly designed to stabilize and preserve authoritarian efforts of the United States, its European Union part- rule in the context of ongoing demands for political ners, and Arab democrats to bring about sustained and change.
    [Show full text]
  • Landis Al Noor Spring 2016
    ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• A Great Sorting Out: Te Future of Minorities in the Middle East An Interview with Joshua Landis ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Al Noor Staf Joshua Landis is widely recognized as one of the English-speaking world’s foremost experts on Syria and the Levant. Raised in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, he has also lived in Egypt, Turkey and Syria, and speaks Arabic and French fuently. Professor Landis is currently the head of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma; he taught previously at Sarah Lawrence College, Wake Forest University, and Princeton University. He is a regular analyst on television and radio and is regularly quoted in publications such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Time Magazine. His expertise is regularly sought in Washington DC, where he advises government agencies and has spoken at thing tanks such as Brookings Institute, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Woodrow Wilson Institute. Since 2004, Professor Landis has published the blog Syria Comment, one of the primary online forums for news, commentary and analysis on Syria and its neighbors. ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
    [Show full text]
  • Download This PDF File
    Syrian Studies Association Newsletter نشرة رابطة الدراسات السورية Volume XV No. 2 Spring-Summer 2010 Association News... 3 Features……………… 4 Research Notes….. 8 Arts in Syria ……. 21 Members of the Board President Fred Lawson Past President: Peter Sluglett Secretary-Treasurer Geoff Schad Member at Large Elyse Semerdjian Student Member Hilary This issue of our newsletter features articles on the study of Syria in Scotland and Scandinavia and among Scots and Scandinavians. Kalmbach Syria Liaison Beverly From the President Levine June 6, 2010 Prize Committee Peter Dear SSA Members Sluglett and Andrea Stanton Eyjafjallajokull dealt a body-blow to Syrian studies in April. The Webmaster Joshua Landis eruption of the now famous but still unpronounceable Icelandic volcano Newsletter Steve Tamari prevented scholars and journalists from all over the world from gathering Book Reviews Andrea at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University for a major conference on "Bashar al-Asad's First Decade." The meeting has been Stanton rescheduled for early October, and will consist of nine panels, an exhibit of photographs exploring "the secret life of Syrian lingerie" (which I Support the work of the assume builds on a pictorial report that was published on the BBC Syrian Studies website last December), an oud recital featuring Aleppo's Muhammad Association! See inside Qadri Dalal and a performance of folk dancing. for details on how to join, I recognize among the participants several SSA members--including how to contribute articles Paulo Pinto, Thomas Pierret, Cecile Boex, Radwan Ziadeh, Eyal Zisser, and reviews, and how to Samer Abboud, Jonathan Shannon, Ray Hinnebusch, Miriam Ababsa and keep up with our news Joshua Landis.
    [Show full text]