MEF staff
Michael Rubin
Director of Policy Analysis
Opens an email to info@meforum.org with the request details laid out.
Profile
Michael Rubin is the Forum's director of policy analysis, covering Iran, Turkey and the Horn of Africa. A former Pentagon official, he has worked in Iran, Yemen and Iraq and taught U.S. Navy and Marine units about regional conflict and terrorism. His books include Dancing with the Devil and Eternal Iran. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in history and a B.S. in biology from Yale.
Summarized from the MEF bio of Michael Rubin, read October 4, 2026.
Writes on: U.S. Middle East policy; Iran's proxies and militias; military affairs and strategy; terrorism and counterterrorism; history of the region; Iran; Turkey; Iraq; Kurdish regions; Yemen and Horn of Africa; South Caucasus; the United States.
Topics are this site's tags, assigned from the subjects of Michael Rubin's bylined MEF pieces, the MEF bio and the topics MEF lists on its Speakers Bureau page.
MEF Work (754)
Bylined pieces published by the Middle East Forum, newest first, 2004 to 2026. Titles are quoted as MEF published them and link to the original on meforum.org.
Showing 754 of 754
2026 (178)
- The State Department’s Replacement of Flags Should Only Be the Start
- India Must Prepare for a Drone War with Pakistan
- Oil Might Be Flowing Through the Strait of Hormuz, but for All the Wrong Reasons
- The U.S. Can’t Win If It Keeps Rebuffing Allies
- Is Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Gay?
- Kurds Are Key to Tightening the Economic Noose on Iran
- The Choices Saudi Arabia Must Now Make
- Trump’s $24 Billion F-35 Stealth Fighter Sale to Saudi Arabia Won’t Solve the Houthi Problem
- Schrödinger’s Turkey
- To Combat Iranian Proxies, Trump Should Target Their Penetration of Iraqi Telecom
- Europe’s Misreading of Libya Compounds Its Energy Crisis
- To Stop the Houthis, Recognize Somaliland and South Arabia
- The Talabanis Should Start Thinking About Exile
- U.S. Counterterrorism Officials Are Replicating Their Pakistan Mistakes in Somalia
- Is Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Reign Over?
- On the Anniversary of 9/11, U.S. Ambivalence toward the New ‘Axis of Ikhwan’ Undermines U.S. Security
- Democratic Socialists of America and the Risk of a New 9/11
- Whatever Happens in Washington, Somaliland Must Prepare Legally for Recognition
- Congress Should Embrace Somaliland as Conservation Leader, Not Just Defense Partner
- Amid 9/11 Anniversary, Former U.S. Ambassador Appears to Profit from Taliban Deal
- Duplicitous Allies Deserve Trump’s Scrutiny
- Before the ‘Gulf of America’ There Was the ‘Arabian Gulf’
- Starlink in Yemen Can Undermine the Houthis
- The Next Iran Crisis: Starvation
- Can Abdul el Sayed Be Trusted With Intelligence Community Secrets?
- Middle East Tolerance Requires Attention to Pre-Islamic Past
- Democrats Need to Offer Alternatives Rather Than Just Partisan Opposition to Iran War
- End Major U.S. Non-NATO Ally Status for China's Cronies
- Decapitation as Strategy: The Case for Targeting Iran’s Command Structure
- Ukraine Should Target Bashar Al-Assad in Moscow
- Iran Needs an Insurgency
- Has Iran Stored Chemical Weapons? Are the Marines Ready for Them?
- Does Spain Understand the Irony Underlying the Crisis in Ceuta?
- Can the U.S. Navy Continue Replenishment at Sea for Its Iran and Houthi Operations?
- Armenia Should Recognize Somaliland
- China Offered Somaliland More than a Quarter of a Billion Dollars to Drop Taiwan. Somaliland Said No
- Any U.S. Bet on Eritrea Is a Losing Move
- The U.S. Should Embrace Somaliland to Break Iranian and the Houthi Trade Chokeholds
- Saudi Arabia Bought off the Houthis. Now They Are Blockading Its Ports
- Dbeibeh and the Grand Mufti Are the Main Impediments to Libyan Unity. Both Must Go
- Deliberate Blindness Undercuts U.S. Diplomacy in Libya
- Visa Ban Will Undercut American Interests for a Generation
- Compromising with Turkey on Cyprus Will Lead to War in the Aegean
- Marco Rubio Must Confront Lazy, Outdated State Department Travel Warnings
- There’s One Move That Could Keep Iran’s Hated Regime in Power, And Washington Insiders Keep Pushing for It
- Benghazi 2026 Is Dubai 1994
- Sirte as Libya’s New Capital Could Advance Unity and Security
- Erdogan Has Become Turkey’s Most Successful Coup Leader
- If UNRWA Is a Problem, Don’t Kill Its Alternative
- Israel Must Start Arming the PKK
- Israel’s Recognition of the Armenian Genocide Isn’t Enough
- What Happens When Lebanon’s Nabih Berri Dies?
- Turkey is Testing Trump Ahead of the NATO Summit
- Congressional Testimony from MEF’s Michael Rubin on Turkey’s Occupation of Cyprus
- Trump Must Expect an Iranian October Surprise
- Iran Now Sees the Strait of Hormuz as a Cash Cow, And the Toll-Free Deal May Not Last
- Hezbollah Celebrates the Iran Deal as a Clear Victory
- Why the U.N.’s Refugee Work Deserves Trump’s Support
- Trump’s Libya Unity Policy Welcome, But Should Not Ignore History
- The Lebanon Trap Inside the Iran Deal
- The Iran Deal Has Serious Faults
- Should Spain Be Banned from the 2026 World Cup?
- Iran Thinks Time Is Its Best Weapon Against America. Trump Needs to Take That off the Table
- Congressional Testimony from MEF's Michael Rubin on Turkey’s Authoritarian Crackdown
- Deal or No Deal, Expect Iranian Assassinations
- Trump Needs a Tougher Iran Negotiating Strategy
- Turkey’s New Missiles Target India, Presage a New Kashmir Push
- Israel Should Deport European Flotilla Activists to Sudan
- Reza Pahlavi Can Take Inspiration from Taiwanese Presidents to Visit Arab States
- The U.S. Military Should Replace Rota with Gibraltar
- Europe Will Have No Credibility Until Cyprus Is Resolved
- Albania Is the World’s Newest Narcostate Threat
- Weekend at Mojtaba’s
- To Counter the Islamic State in Africa, the U.S. Must Rely on Libya, Somaliland, and Rwanda
- Lifting Sanctions on Eritrea Will Lead to U.S. Strategic Defeat
- A Burhan Victory in Sudan Would Mean a New Round of Chaos
- Saudi Arabia Bungles Yemen, Again
- Has the Iran War Made Its Regime More Radical? Yes, and Easier to Eliminate
- Iran Can’t Make Its Own Gasoline. A U.S. Naval Blockade Exploits That, and Will Be Painful
- Africa Command Shows the Way in Libya
- Will Iraq’s New Prime Minister Uphold Rule of Law?
- Iraqi Prime Minister Sudani Lies to President Trump About Militias
- Trump’s Iran Blockade Has a Back Door, Not the Gulf, but a Lake the Size of Germany That Russia and Iran Share
- Time to Close U.S. Bases in the Middle East
- Trump Will Likely Oppose Basim al-Badri as Iraqi Prime Minister
- Trump’s Iran Talks Repeat Clinton’s Yasser Arafat Disaster
- The Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity Through Armenia Hits a Pothole
- Will Iranians Build a New Intelligence Service Upon the Current One?
- The Biggest Intelligence Failure of the Iran War
- The End of Schrödinger’s Ayatollah?
- No, Trump Is Not Committing War Crimes in Iran
- Trump’s Iran Strategy Has a 170-Year-Old British Playbook
- The State Department Gets Libya Wrong. Trump Should Force a Correction
- Designate as Terror Financiers Those Who Pay Iranian ‘Tolls’
- U.N. Accusations About ‘Oil Smuggling’ in Libya Miss the Mark
- The State Department Makes Energy Crunch Worse with Backwards Libya Policy
- Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani Is No Longer Acceptable to Washington
- The United States Should Retaliate Against Iranian Embassies
- Don’t Snatch Defeat from the Jaws of Victory by Antagonizing Ordinary Iranians
- Rumors of Dubai’s Demise Are Silly
- It’s Time for the U.N. To Shut Down the Polisario Front Camps in Tindouf
- Top U.S. Official Resigns, Blaming Israel, but Iran’s Decades of Terror Tell a Different Story
- Pakistan Embraces Cowardice, Throws Saudi Defense Pact Out the Window
- After Khamenei and Larijani, Lebanon’s Nabih Berri and Iraq’s Hadi Amiri and Ali Nizar Must Go
- Iran’s Declining Ability to Fight Hormuz Battle
- Morocco Should Send a New Green March into Ceuta and Melilla
- Repeating the ‘Mashhad Strategy’ Will Not Save the Islamic Republic
- Iranian Opposition Leaders Should Remember the Lesson of Sharif Ali
- The Strike on Kharg Island Prevents Saddam-Like Sabotage
- Is Iran’s Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf the New Delcy Rodriguez?
- How Should Trump Respond to the Missile Strike at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad?
- The British Have Voided Any Reason to Retain Sovereign Bases in Cyprus
- Iran’s Blockade of the Strait of Hormuz Is Destined to Fail
- The Three Crises in Shi’ism Today That the Iran War Exposes
- Madrid Bashes Israel, but Spain Is the Colonial Power
- The Intelligence Community Fails on Iran
- How Will the Islamic Republic Retaliate Once the Guns Go Silent?
- Has the United Arab Emirates Forfeited Its Claims to Abu Musa and the Tonbs?
- Transform Ruhollah Khomeini’s Tomb Into a Museum on Regime Crimes
- Trump Should Do Three Things to Win over Ordinary Iranians
- Don’t Snatch Defeat from the Jaws of Victory with Ghalibaf or Larijani
- Kurdish Gamble: Why A U.S.-Backed Insurgency Could Be A 'Gift' To Iran
- Why the U.S. Strike on Iran Is Nothing Like Russia’s War on Ukraine
- Donald Trump’s War Against Iran Was Inevitable
- Will the Mojahedin-e Khalq Try to Kill Pahlavi?
- Keep the Turks Out of Iran
- Will Trump Snatch Defeat in Iran by Appointing a Khamenei Quisling?
- Khamenei Is Dead: The 2026 Iran War Could Become a Giant Power Vacuum Crisis
- Trump Wants to Bomb His Way to Regime Change in Iran. History Says That Might Not Be Possible
- The Houthis Can Survive Iranian Regime Change
- China’s Aircraft Carrier Killer Missiles Might Have ‘Fast-Forwarded’ the Iran War of 2026
- Be Careful About Blaming the United States or Israel for Killing Iranian Schoolgirls
- Just Bombing Iran Is a Strategy That Will Fail
- India Must Worry About a Turkish Nuclear Weapon
- If Turkey Doesn’t Have Colonial Ambitions in Syria, It Should Return Hatay
- It’s Time for India to Support the Dissolution of Pakistan and Turkey
- Iran’s Nuclear Negotiations Are Designed to Deceive
- Vance Should Bypass Azerbaijan After Its ‘Kangaroo Court’ Sentencings of Armenians
- Iranians Must Decide What They Will Do with Informers and Records
- Did Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Bin Salman Just Repeat Turkey’s Deception?
- What Lessons Has Turkey Learned from Iran’s Massacre of Protestors?
- If Saudi Arabia Flips to the ‘Axis of Ikhwan,’ What Happens to Qatar?
- Turkey’s F-16 Deployment to Somalia Reinforces Danger of Arms Sales to Ankara
- Syrian Kurds Need a No-Fly, No-Drive Zone
- In the Saudi Arabia, UAE Rivalry, the Saudis Are Wrong
- Establish a Humanitarian Corridor to Kobane
- The Fall of Kobane Will Mark the Rebirth of a New Islamic State
- Why Making Iran 'Pay' For Regime Change Would Backfire Fast
- Ending Iran’s Regime Won't Be Easy
- Send U.S. Navy Hospital Ships to Dubai to Help Iranians
- Will Syria-Kurdish Fighting Spark Civil War in Turkey?
- After Trump Takes Kharg, He Should Set up a Free Iran Sovereign Wealth Fund
- Is the World Ready for Waves of Iranian Refugees?
- As Iran Teeters, It Is Time to Offer Iraqi Leaders an Off-Ramp
- ‘Take the Oil’: Seizing the Kharg Island Terminal Is the Ultimate Checkmate to Iran
- Is Shi’ism in Crisis?
- Iran Turns to Iraqi Militias to Save Its Revolution
- Add Australia to the Religious Freedom Watch List
- Will Washington Learn the Lessons of Tiananmen in Tehran?
- The Ways Iran Regime Change Could Undermine Azerbaijan
- Development of Post-Communist Cuba Should Take Inspiration from Oman
- South Yemen Cannot Be Erased
- Could a Successful Revolution in Iran Spread?
- To Win Over Iranians, Rubio Should Re-Designate the Mujahedin-e Khalq
- Reza Pahlavi Must Leave His Trolls Behind If He Returns to Iran
- Did Minnesota’s Somali Welfare Fraud Finance a War?
- Recognizing Somaliland Won’t Cause War; It Will Prevent One
- U.S. Should Push for a New U.N. Resolution to Stop Saudi Arabia on Yemen
- How Will Reza Pahlavi Return to Iran? And Can He Stay Alive When He Gets There?
- Coming Soon: The Iran Civil War of 2026?
- Yemeni President Rashad Al-Alimi Must Resign
- Is Maduro’s Past Erdoğan’s Future?
- The U.N. Should Sponsor a Referendum on South Yemen’s Future
- The Fall of Iran Could Change Everything
- How Should the United States Approach Justice in Iran?
- Why Not Force Djibouti to Join Somalia Too?
- Greece and Cyprus Get Somaliland Wrong
- End the Fiction of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council
2025 (198)
- The State Department Must Remove Its Yemen Embassy from Saudi Arabia
- Rubio and Landau Risk Oversleeping on Somaliland Opportunity
- Will Trump’s Gaza Coalition Repeat Bush’s Afghanistan and Lebanon Mistakes?
- Saudi Arabia Thumbs Nose at Trump on Muslim Brotherhood
- Israel Recognises Somaliland: Why India Should Follow Suit
- Greece Should Recognize Somaliland
- Prepare Iran’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission
- Recognizing Somaliland Would Be Trump’s Ultimate Response to Ilhan Omar
- After Somaliland, Israel Should Recognize South Yemen
- U.N. Ineffectiveness in Yemen Shows Cyprus Was Right to Reject 2004 Annan Plan
- After Australia, Will Jewish People in Europe Be Next?
- Is Turkey’s Erdoğan the New Gadhafi?
- Release the Bob Levinson Files
- The European Union Should Ban Turkish Soldiers, Foreign Tourists Who Visit Occupied Cyprus
- Greece Must Be Proactive on U.N. Refugee Post
- Try Turkish Army Veterans for Human Rights Violations
- Transferring Islamic State’s Camp to U.N. Is a Terrorist Time Bomb
- There Is a Path to Sell F-35 Stealth Fighters to Saudi Arabia
- Iran Changing Its Capital? It Won’t Solve Anything
- The Healthy Uncertainty of Iraqi Elections
- Is the United Nations Antisemitic? Here's Proof
- Why Fall for Hamas’s False Statistics?
- Keep the United Nations Out of Gaza
- The Worst May Be Yet to Come in Syria
- Transfer the U.N. Relief and Works Agency’s Budget to the Deserving U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees
- To Disarm Hezbollah, Look to the Past
- Rally for Ghouta over Gaza
- For India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor to Succeed, Delhi Must Invest More in Greece and Cyprus
- For Turkey, Israel Is the Appetizer but India Is the Main Course
- For Peace in Cyprus, Arrest Outgoing Northern Cypriot President Ersin Tatar
- Add Turkey to Financial Action Task Force Blacklist for Northern Cyprus Laundering
- Could Trump’s Gaza Deal Unlock Peace in Cyprus, and Even Kurdistan?
- Turks in Gaza Will Mean Dead Americans
- Europe’s Anti-Israel Protests Expose Its Antisemitism and Racism
- There Will Be No Peace in Gaza Until Hamas Surrenders Unconditionally
- State Department’s Model for Somaliland Should Be Taiwan, Not Kurdistan
- Somaliland Recognition Won’t Cause Al-Shabaab Backlash
- How the United States Should Understand and Act on the Intra-Iraqi Kurdish Fight
- Want to Defeat the Houthis? Here’s How to Do It
- To Defeat the Houthis, Yemen’s Government Must Return to Yemen
- Turkey to Declare S-400 ‘Inoperable’ to Gain F-35 Stealth Fighter Deal
- Tony Blair’s Gaza Critics Are Deluded
- U.S. Can’t Ignore the Battle of the Mosques in Africa
- Kill Mojtaba
- Time for Trump to Recognize Somaliland
- Hezbollah Is Bloodied but Far from Beaten
- For the Sake of Diplomacy, Israel Must Disband the Palestinian Authority
- Experience, Not Diversity, Should Drive State Department Hiring
- Making America’s Diplomats Work Better
- America Is Repeating Its Somalia Mistakes in Yemen
- Trump Should Punish Terrorist Flirtations from Qatar and Turkey
- The Problem with Doha: Why Israel’s Hamas Attacks Outraged Qatar
- Should the Foreign Missions Travel Controls Program Extend to Turkey?
- Why Is the State Department Embracing Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi?
- What America Could Learn from Israel and Ukraine
- The Future of the Israel-Azerbaijan Partnership: Will It Survive Iran Regime Change?
- Is Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi Collaborating with the Houthis?
- Qatar Should Seize the Opportunity for a Fresh Start
- Israel Just Struck Hamas in Qatar: Turkey Could Be Next
- The Sadrists’ Rebranding Collapses When It Aligns with the Kurdistan Democratic Party
- It’s Time to Ban Turkish Air from U.S. Airspace
- Iraq’s Presidency Should Belong to a Kurd but Not to a Kurdish Political Party
- False Genocide Charges Don’t Help Palestinians
- South Yemen Is Test Case for Post-USAID Humanitarian Relief
- Reza Pahlavi Must Address His ‘White Russian’ Problem
- Intra-Family Fighting Shows Kurds Aren’t Serious American Partners
- Trump’s Peace or Not, Nagorno-Karabakh’s Exiles Must Continue Their Democracy
- Europe Should Not Abandon Monitoring in Armenia
- Steve Witkoff Needs to Visit Baghdad
- France, U.K.’s Recognition of Palestine Will Open Pandora’s Box of Terrorism
- Cyprus Should Reject Palestinian Refugees
- There Will Be New States in the Middle East, but Palestine Isn’t at the Front of the Line
- The Zangezur Corridor: The Geopolitical Flashpoint You’ve Never Heard Of
- Making America Great Again Means Protecting Americans from Autocrats
- Europe Is Encouraging a New Age of Terrorism
- Independent Palestine Would Be a Disaster for Palestinians
- Can South Yemenis Fight Independently?
- Saudi Ambivalence to Houthis Encourages Terrorism
- Has Macron Just Laid the Ground for a Major Middle Eastern War?
- To Save Yemen, Destroy Its Ports?
- Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council Failed. Dissolve It
- The U.S. Needs a New Yemen Strategy
- Move the U.S. Embassy for Yemen to Yemen
- Kick Islah Out of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council
- It’s Time to Cut Off Somalia’s Military Assistance
- How to Bring Peace to Yemen? Start by Blacklisting the Islah Party
- To Fight the Houthis, Work with the South Yemen and Somaliland Coast Guards
- Time to Demand Full Transparency of Iranian Resistance Groups
- Iran’s Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization Is Now Irrelevant. Will It Disband?
- Qatar’s Hypocrisy on Somaliland
- Waiting for the Dust to Clear After U.S. Strikes
- Get Ready for Assassinations in Iraqi Kurdistan
- U.S. Leaders Should Stop Seeking the Nobel Peace Prize
- Is Trump Repeating Obama’s Iran Mistake and Bush’s Iraq Disaster?
- Will the Houthis Survive If Iran Cuts Them Off?
- Qatar's Missile Strike Was a 'Performative Attack'
- The United Arab Emirates Should Seize Back Its Islands
- The Next Iran 'Nightmare': The Nuclear Material
- Iran May Close Strait of Hormuz: 'Take the Oil' and Sink the Navy
- Destroy Iran’s Ethnic Azeri Revolutionary Guard Units
- The Problem with Iran’s Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi
- Einstein’s Definition of Insanity: Repeating the Pakistan Mistake on Iran
- The West and U.N. Should Withdraw Recognition of the Islamic Republic
- Iran Now Must Drink ‘A Chalice of Poison’
- The Incredible Disappearing Mujahidin al-Khalq
- Israel Should Bomb Iran’s Evin Prison
- Iran's Nuclear Program Should Be Destroyed. America Should Help
- ‘Dirty Bomb’ Attack: This Could Be Iran’s Next Move Against Israel
- Israel Strikes Iran with a Mighty Roar
- Iran with Nuclear Weapons Is the Real Threat, Not an Israeli Strike
- If Iran Falls, America Must Hunt Down Those Who Killed Its Troops
- After the Strike: Is the U.S. Ready for the Diplomatic Fallout in Iran?
- After Regime Change: Iranian Leaders Must Stand Trial
- Donald Trump Should Shun Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
- Human Rights in Turkey Today
- U.S. Should Learn, Not Lecture: Israel & Ukraine Show Tactical Brilliance
- Azerbaijan’s Aggression Will Soon Get Worse
- Azerbaijan: Tourist Attraction or Hell on Earth?
- The U.S. Must War-Game an Israel-Turkey Conflict
- Is Turkey's Arms Industry a Loser in the India-Pakistan War?
- Rawalpindi Goes Hezbollah: India Must Push to Label Pakistan a Terror State
- America Failed to Stop Pakistani Nukes. Will It Repeat the Error with Iran?
- Lifting Sanctions on Syria Is Al Qaeda’s Dream Come True
- Seize Iranian Money in Qatar to Fund Lebanese Reconstruction
- Should India’s Response to Pakistani Terror Go Further?
- India Must Now Embrace Israel’s ‘Operation Wrath of God’
- If Pakistan Is Recognizing Occupied Cyprus, Why Shouldn’t Cyprus Recognize Baluchistan?
- Every Houthi Strike on Israel Merits an Israeli Strike on Iran
- Biden Flew to Israel After Hamas Attacked. Trump Should Fly to India Now
- Will Qatar Add Bangladesh to its 'String of Misbaha?'
- Is Turkey Following China’s Overfishing Model?
- Is the U.S. Repeating Its Somalia Mistakes in Syria?
- Erdoğan Keeps Pulling Fast Ones on Trump to Harm American Business
- Congress Needs to Ensure Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge Against Turkey
- It’s Time to Make Turkish Intelligence an Offer They Can’t Refuse
- Don’t Default to Polisario on Sahrawi Representation
- B-2 Bombers Are in Diego Garcia; What Happens if Iran Attacks?
- It’s Time to End the Houthi Stranglehold over Humanitarian Aid
- Will Lebanon Insult Donald Trump with a Pro-Hezbollah Ambassador?
- Trump Shouldn’t Back a Loser in Turkey. It’s Time to Dump Erdoğan
- Turkey’s Trail of Terror and American Foreign Policy
- Yes, the State Department Should Move Turkey to Its Near East Bureau
- What the Iran War of 2025 Might Look Like
- Mujahedin-e Khalq's Tactics Undermine Iranian Regime Change
- Regime Change Is Coming to Turkey
- Arrest Erdoğan
- Does Iran Want a War with America?
- Where are Mujahedin-e Khalq Schoolchildren?
- Don't Believe the Nonsense About the New Syrian President's Reform
- Oman Remains the Weak Link in the Counter-Houthi Fight
- Is It Possible to Be Both Pro-Turkey and Anti-Hamas?
- Will Lebanon’s Joseph Aoun Miss His Opportunity to Rescue Lebanon?
- Somaliland’s Abaarso Network Should Be the New Model for USAID
- Is Turkey Holding NATO Hostage to Get a Nuclear Bomb?
- Kurds Would Be Foolish to Trust Turkey’s Peace
- Greece Must Match Turkey’s Aggressiveness
- Will Bitcoin Mining Bring Iran Down?
- How Did So Many Yemenis End Up in California?
- Indian Support for Kurds Could Counter Turkey-Pakistan Bonhomie
- Why Sanctions Alone Won’t Stop Iran, The IRGC Must Be Fractured
- Give Greece Carrier-Killer Missiles: The West Should Take Turkey’s Ambitions Seriously
- Could a Future President Use Trump’s Ukraine Flip-Flop to Betray Israel?
- The U.N. Must Stop Being the Houthis’ Willing Hostage in Yemen
- Voice of America’s Kurdish Service Needs Top-to-Bottom Reform
- Is There a Jewish Exception to the Red Cross?
- U.N. Bloat Fleeces Taxpayers and Fuels War from Israel to Congo
- Trump’s Gaza Population Transfer Plan: A Historic Gamble?
- It’s Not Just USAID: Marco Rubio Needs to Reset the State Department
- Could Donald Trump Give Pakistan’s ISI Head the Qasem Soleimani Treatment?
- Blankets, Bombs, or Bribes: Why Give Foreign Aid? with Daniel Pipes
- Why the West Can’t Defeat the Houthis Without Securing Yemen’s Ports
- Israel Should Leave Jerusalem’s Armenian Quarter to the Armenians
- Will France Snatch Defeat in Lebanon by Re-Empowering Hezbollah?
- Designate Turkey’s Intelligence Service to Be a Terror Organization
- The PKK Is Truer to Atatürk’s Vision than Erdoğan
- Is Iran Sincere About Renewed Nuclear Negotiations with Trump?
- Turkey’s ‘Neo-Ottomanism’ and Pakistan’s ‘Neo-Mughalism’ Are a Clear and Present Danger
- Virtue Signaling Gets People Killed. There Are No Shortcuts to Palestinian Statehood
- The Final Nail in Lebanon’s Coffin Will Be Its New Central Bank Governor
- What Russia’s Exit from Its Syrian Base Should Teach the United States
- On Day One, Rubio Should Reverse Blinken and Power’s Azerbaijan Cowardice
- Cyprus’ CYCLOPS Is the Perfect Partnership for the Trump Age
- Lesson Israel Should Learn: Take No Prisoners
- It’s Not Just Gaza. After the Ceasefire, Hamas Will Win the West Bank Too
- India Needs to Consolidate Its Control in the Western Indian Ocean
- Hamas Ceasefire Deal Means One Thing: Israel Loses
- Biden Made Progress with the Arab Gulf States; Trump Should Embrace It
- Trump Must Address Russia’s Sudan Naval Base Threat
- Abandoning Syrian Kurds Will Derail Trump’s Agenda
- Trump Should Strip Designation of Faux Major Non-NATO Allies
- Syrian Kurds Should Embrace Taiwan
- It’s Make or Break for Christians Under Siege. Is Trump Ready?
- The Wars That Could Define the Donald Trump Presidency
- Trump Shouldn’t Repeat Reagan’s or Biden’s Mistakes with Lebanon
- Will Turkey Become as Great a Nuclear Threat as Iran?
- The Kurds Will Never Succeed Without Great Leaders
- America Abandoning Iraq Only Helps Iran
- The Tragic ISIS Comeback of 2025 Has Begun
2024 (138)
- Turkey Tries to Skirt F-35 Fighter Jet Ban
- Trump and Rubio Should Appoint a Special Envoy for the Kurds
- Washington Must Address Turks’ Ignorance and Detachment from Reality
- Erdoğan’s Demands on Jerusalem Could Raise Questions About Istanbul’s Sovereignty
- Syrian Kurds Need a No-Fly Zone
- Western Tourists Should Leave Istanbul
- What Is Qatar Doing in the Eastern Mediterranean?
- The United States Needs to Prepare to Kill Turks in Syria
- Will Trump Fund Islamist Extremists in Syria?
- Could Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev Collapse Like Assad?
- Will Syria Become the Dumping Ground for Hamas?
- Syrian Rebel Leader Borrows a Page from Khomeini and Erdoğan’s Playbook
- Is Jordan’s King Abdullah II a ‘Dead Man Walking’?
- Will Assad’s Fall Lead to the Islamic State’s Rebound?
- The Lesson from Bashar al-Assad’s Collapse
- Should the West Trust the Syrian Opposition’s Sudden Moderation?
- How America Could Takeover Russia’s Tartus Naval Base in Syria
- Could There Be an Arab Uprising in Iran?
- Assad Is Gone. Make the Houthis Follow
- Resignations Followed Trump’s Betrayal of the Kurds; Is Biden’s Team as Principled?
- It’s ‘Put Up or Shut Up’ Time for Israel on Kurdistan
- It’s Nagorno-Karabakh All Over Again in Northeastern Syria
- Trump Must Confront Canada’s Sympathetic Treatment of Terrorism
- Reasserting American Power in the Middle East: A Blueprint for the Trump Administration with Gregg Roman, Jonathan Spyer, Jim Hanson, Winfield Myers, Benjamin Baird, Sam Westrop, Eric Navarro, Dexter Van Zile, Alex Selsky
- Would an Islamist Syria be Worse than a Weak Assad?
- How Marco Rubio Can Save the State Department
- Rubio Should Reverse Blinken’s Shameful Anti-Christian Bias as Secretary of State
- Don’t Celebrate Israel’s Ceasefire with Hezbollah Yet
- Defeating Hezbollah Inside Lebanon Is Only Half the Battle
- If Biden Really Opposed the ICC, He Would Invite Netanyahu to the Oval Office
- Azerbaijan Treats the Khojaly Massacre as Original Sin, but Its Narrative Is Fiction
- Speech Before the 20th Annual Economist Cyprus Forum
- Trump Should Not Replicate Pre-9/11 Saudi Mistakes with Turkey
- Choosing Mojtaba Khamenei as Successor Highlights the Islamic Republic’s Weakness
- The Fiction of Yemen’s Government Shouldn’t Be a Straitjacket
- With Trump Returning, Saudi Arabia Should Stop Appeasing the Houthis
- Is Turkey’s Military the World’s Latest Paper Tiger?
- UNRWA Ban Is 70 Years Overdue
- Egypt Should Bet on Somaliland, Not Somalia
- U.S. State Dept.’s Bureaucratic Blindness Enables Rogue Regimes to Evade Sanctions
- Israel’s Restrained Iran Retaliation Is a Deadly Mistake
- It Is Time to End the U.N. Mission in Morocco
- Give Benjamin Netanyahu Next Year’s Nobel Peace Prize
- Biden’s Iran Diplomacy Is Killing Iranians
- Northern Cyprus Is Turkish President Erdoğan’s Sudetenland
- The Lessons from Yahya Sinwar's Death
- Somaliland Deserves Independence Before Palestinians
- Foreign Aid Is Ruining Lebanon
- Is Turkey as Dangerous as Iran?
- U.N. Peacekeepers Do More Harm than Good
- Israel Learned a Lesson on Oct. 7: Has the United States?
- Iran and Russia Build Unexpected Military Ties
- Iran Admits Its Oil Fields in Decline
- How Joe Biden May Be Empowering Iran’s Aggression Against Israel
- Did Erdoğan’s U.N. Speech Pave the Way for Kurdish Independence?
- Israel Must End the Islamic Republic of Iran
- Can Iraq Avoid Becoming the Next Lebanon?
- Is Iran’s Khamenei Dead Man Walking? Is Erdoğan?
- Nasrallah’s Death Should be a Lesson to the United States
- Biden Revives F-35 Deal for Turkey: Congress Must Stop It
- An Israeli Victory over Hezbollah Would Change the Strategic Paradigm
- With Hezbollah Hobbled, U.N. Must Enforce Security Resolution 1701
- Biden Can Improve Legacy by Holding Azerbaijan to Account for Ethnic Cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh
- Israel Killed Ibrahim Aqil: The United States Should Have Instead
- Blinded Hezbollah Terrorists Shouldn't Expect Sympathy in Iran
- The Great Pager Detonation: The End of Phones and Computers on Airplanes?
- The Silver Lining in Iraq’s Wiretapping Scandal
- Turkey’s BRICS Bid Is the Diplomatic Equivalent of Its S-400 Purchase
- How to Deter Iran’s Export of Ballistic Missiles
- Is Erdoğan the Sick Man of Europe?
- Could AI Bring Down the Islamic Republic?
- Port Calls to Turkey Endanger U.S. Sailors
- The Next Administration Needs a Kurdistan Policy Review
- Turkey Can't Ever Get the F-35 Fighter
- Blinken Is Wrong. Negotiating with Hamas Ruined the Last Chance to End the Gaza War
- Break the Revolutionary Guard's Monopoly over VPNs in Iran
- Norway Is Wrong in Diplomatic Dispute with Israel
- To Defeat the Houthis, Starve Their Military Resupply
- Blinken Says U.S. Not Responsible for Ismail Haniyeh Killing; That's Too Bad
- If Turkey Invades Israel, It Will Be with American Weapons
- Biden's Betrayal of Israel Will Jump-Start Nuclear Proliferation
- Ignore the Reformer Charade in Iran
- U.S. Strategy Fails When It Bashes Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Coddles Adversaries
- The West Should Stop Acquiescing to Turkey's Aggression in Northern Cyprus
- Could Masrour Barzani Be the Next Manuel Noriega?
- America's Cloistered Diplomats in Baghdad Could Accomplish Just as Much from D.C.
- Will Biden Spark an Israel-Hezbollah War?
- Is Albania Replicating Turkey and Qatar's Teflon Strategy?
- Are the Iraqi Kurds Still a Wise Military Investment?
- Will Activists Apply the Palestine Strategy to Kashmir or Khalistan?
- After the Second Dreyfus Affair, Will the ICC Target the U.S.?
- Get Ready for More 'Hard Landings' in the Middle East
- Can the United States Extricate Itself from a Turkey Gone Bad?
- Will the Turkey-Israel Split Doom Azerbaijan-Israel Relations?
- Will Turkey's Agents Kidnap Israelis?
- Does Jake Sullivan See Israel as a Liability?
- Donor Revolts Won't Reform Universities; Blacklisting Students Will
- Refusing to Call Cyprus Occupied Isn't Sophisticated; It's Stupid
- Why Is the Biden Administration Whitewashing Azerbaijan's Crimes?
- Turkish Corridors Are a Tool of Imperialism; It's Time to Turn the Tables
- Why Does the United States Operate Blind in Yemen?
- Why Does Biden Reward Adversaries and Ignore Allies?
- Has Egypt Been Playing a Double Game with Hamas?
- Does Biden Support the Anti-Israel Boycott?
- Why Does Biden Treat Christianity with Disdain?
- Criticism of Israel's Damascus Strike Is Dead Wrong
- Does Diplomacy Work with Rogue Regimes? Two Tests Expose the Truth
- The West Must Ostracize, Not Reward, Hostage Takers
- Is Biden Normalizing Hamas?
- Don't Play the Ethnic Card in Iran
- The Problem Isn't Just the Houthis; It's Yemeni Unity
- How Far Can Turkish Lira Fall before Erdogan Starts a War?
- Do Not Let the Taliban Dictate the International Community's Interlocutors
- Condescension and Virtue Signaling Don't Help Palestinians
- Is Hakan Fidan Seeking U.S. Endorsement to Succeed Erdoğan?
- Is U.S. Military Assistance Subsidizing Turkey's Occupation of Cyprus, Syria, and Iraq?
- The U.N. Won't Reform until Its Employees Lose Diplomatic Immunity
- Gaza Is Not the Real Crisis in the Middle East, Jordan Will Be
- Recognizing Palestinian State Would Render All American Diplomacy Meaningless
- Dynastic Succession Will Underscore the End of the Islamic Republic's Claim to Legitimacy
- Did Biden Just Accidentally Ban Arms Sales to Turkey?
- Playing Politics with Terrorist Designations Defeats Their Purpose
- Accelerating Palestinian Statehood Would Be Dead Wrong
- Turkey Threatens to Invade Greece and Armenia
- Do Iraqis Really Want the Americans to Withdraw?
- Did Iraqi Kurdish Allies Kill a U.S. Government Employee in Cold Blood?
- Greece and Cyprus Should Link Turkey F-16s to Ending Occupation
- Turkey Humiliated NATO; If NATO Can't Expel It, Here's Plan B
- How the US Should Respond to Turkey's Strings-Attached Gift to Sweden
- Is Qatar Putting the Squeeze on the Anti-Taliban Resistance?
- Don't Ban Muslim Immigrants; Just Choose the Right Ones
- Does Khamenei Want Iran to Be Bombed?
- The Islamic Republic Wants a Referendum? Start in Iran
- Al Jazeera Doesn't Deserve the Benefit of the Doubt
- No, Erdogan Should Never Again Step Foot in the White House
- South Africa, Turkey, Norway Must Face Consequences for Terror Support
- Exiling Hamas Is a Good Idea, but to Where Matters
- U.S. Should Endorse Somaliland's Independence
2023 (10)
- Is It Time to Sink the Iranian Navy?
- Should the State Department Designate Malaysia a Terror Sponsor?
- AOC's Moral, Religious, and Historic Christmas Confusion
- How the Houthi Attacks Could Net Iran Billions of Dollars
- Forget a Two-State Solution for Palestinians; Three or Four Is More Realistic
- Did North Korea Play a Role in Hamas Terrorism?
- Congress Should Compel Ban Ki-moon and António Guterres to Testify
- Why Iran Is Going on the Offensive
- We Need a Two State Solution (in Turkey)
- Israel Should Ignore Jake Sullivan
2015 (5)
2014 (5)
2012 (7)
- Iran: Israel Is Our Target [incl. Juan Cole]
- ISNA's Anti-Semitic, Anti-Bahai Speaker [incl. Seyyed Hossein Nasr]
- Liberals Comparing Conservatives to the Muslim Brotherhood? [incl. John Esposito and Juan Cole]
- Preventing a Nuclear Iran
- Israel's Iranian Allies of Convenience [incl. Juan Cole]
- The Politics of National Geographic? [incl. Juan Cole]
- The Girl Scouts Aren't Alone in Inappropriate Endorsements [incl. Juan Cole]
2011 (4)
2010 (10)
- Yale's Ahmadinejad Class Meeting Isn't the Real Scandal [incl. Hillary Mann Leverett]
- Calling All Yalies [incl. Yale University Press]
- Journalists as Polemicists: A Case Study [incl. Juan Cole]
- Of Juan Cole, David Frum, and Shoddy Journalism...
- Honest Disagreement, or Anti-Semitism? [on Juan Cole]
- About that 2003 Iran 'Grand Bargain'. . . [incl. Flynt Leverett]
- A Watershed Election
- Tariq Ramadan vs. Issam Abu Issa
- Perspective about Hysteria [incl. Yale University Press]
- Syria's Path to Islamist Terror
2009 (36)
- The Enduring Iran-Syria-Hezbollah Axis
- Not Nearly Enough On Afghanistan
- Quran vs. Quran [incl. Khaleel Mohammed]
- Don't Sacrifice Human Rights for Iran Diplomacy
- Bad Options on Iran
- It takes much more than talk to stop Iran's stonewalling
- Yale and Censorship
- British government's deal involving Lockerbie bomber shatters 'Special Relationship' with U.S.
- Capitulation at Yale, cont'd cont'd
- Iran: Recent Developments and Implications for U.S. Policy
- Our Common Foe
- Kurdish leaders are drunk with power
- The Troop Drawdown Could Be Costly for Iraq
- Iran, technology, and revolution
- Silence Is Not Neutrality
- Protests aren't enough to topple the Islamic Republic
- Don't meddle, but help create a template for Iranians to act
- The Obama Effect?
- More Rumors on Vali Nasr's Travel to Iran [incl. Haleh Esfandiari]
- Sixty Miles from the Capital
- Just the beginning
- Farideh Farhi Redux [incl. Hamid Mowlana]
- Paul Kerr, Farideh Farhi, and Iranian Sincerity
- A Target of Convenience
- Kurdistan's Troubled Democracy with Scott Carpenter
- Leaders' mortality may sway Iraq's health
- What Iran Really Thinks About Talks
- Khatami is just Ahmadinejad with a silver tongue
- And Back on the MEPC Website ... [incl. Juan Cole]
- Obama Shouldn't Sacrifice Allies To Please Russia
- An Opening to Iran?
- Diplomatie allein wird im Umgang mit dem Iran nicht funktionieren
- Diplomacy By Itself Won't Work With Iran
- Taking Two to Tango [incl. Juan Cole]
- Local Elections in Iraq [incl. Juan Cole]
- Diplomacy Cannot Quell Gaza Violence
2008 (40)
- The Left's Logic of Conspiracy [incl. Rashid Khalidi]
- Iran Diplomacy? (Ron Kampeas Strikes Again) [incl. Juan Cole, Rashid Khalidi]
- Tehran Is The Obstacle To U.S.-Iran Talks
- Syria Can't Be Flipped
- Can a Nuclear Iran Be Contained or Deterred?
- The U.S. Should Not Open an Interests Section in Tehran
- Rashid Khalidi and the PLO
- Rashid Khalidi
- Iran's Economy Runs Out Of Steam
- Obama or McCain, Iran stance won't change
- Getting Religion Wrong
- Boxed In: Containing a Nuclear Iran
- Iran's Revolutionary Guards - A Rogue Outfit?
- Biden's Blink on Iran
- . . . And Foreign Policy Moves Front and Center
- Erdogan, Ergenekon, and the Struggle for Turkey
- Bush's Disastrous Flip Flop
- Obama in Berlin
- The Way Forward: Ken Pollack's 'A Path Out of the Desert' [incl. Middle East studies, Fawaz Gerges]
- Now Bush Is Appeasing Iran
- Turkey: Erdogan, the AKP, and Secularism
- Iran's Faltering Economy
- The Case Against Turkey's Ruling Party
- Return of the Purple Fingers with Scott Carpenter
- Turkey's Putin Deserves to Go
- Hillary Clinton's right to say 'obliterate'
- Turkey's Uncertain Future
- Salzman and Middle East Studies
- Turkey's Turning Point
- Rose-Colored Foreign Policy
- Iran's Global Ambition
- Turkey and Democracy
- The Iranian Elections
- European Libyan Policy is Cynical
- Unintelligence on Iranian Nukes
- ElBaradei's Real Agenda with Danielle Pletka
- The Proposed U.S. Security Commitment to Iraq
- Juan Cole [U. of Michigan history professor]
- Is Iraqi Kurdistan a Good Ally?
- Dissident Watch: Mahmoud Salehi
2007 (29)
- The Extension of the United Nations Mandate for Iraq
- Turkey's Terror Problem Is Ours
- Iran's nuke news shows danger of trusting this regime
- Are President Bush's recent statements on Iran dangerously provocative?
- The Guldimann Memorandum
- A Lever of Change in Iran
- Grandstanding Has Consequences
- Russian Roulette on Iran
- Free-Speech Hypocrisy [on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Columbia U.]
- Middle East Studies Self-Parody
- More on Alms for Jihad [refs. the Middle East Forum's Legal Project]
- Librarians Say No to Censorship While MESA Stays Silent [on the Middle East Studies Association, "Alms for Jihad," Cambridge University Press]
- Book Banning and the Middle East Studies Association [on "Alms for Jihad," Khalid bin Mahfouz, Cambridge U. Press, Juan Cole]
- President Bush's Broken Promises
- U.S. Policy Options in the Iraq Crisis
- Opposing view: Don't blink, don't back down
- Was Wiping Israel off the Map a Misquote? [ref. Juan Cole]
- Middle East Studies Association Hypocrisy [refs. Haleh Esfandiar, Juan Cole, Walid Phares]
- U.S. Policy: Back to the Future
- Asymmetrical Threat Concept and its Reflections on International Security
- Enabling Kurdish Illusions
- Iraq in Books
- Table Talk with Danielle Pletka
- Hamas' international strategy works
- Privatize the CIA
- Will Turkey Have an Islamist President?
- Türkiye'nin Islamci Bir Cumhurbaşkanı Olacak Mı?
- How to make '07 Ahmadinejad's last year in power
- Dissident Watch: Mansour Osanlou
2006 (50)
- Specter, colleagues travel abroad, but bid for dialogue yields little
- Is American Support for Middle Eastern Dissidents the Kiss of Death?
- What went wrong: A sober look at Iraq
- "Arabs may one day miss George W. Bush"
- Right war, botched occupation
- Nurture Iraqi democracy, from the ground up
- Rumsfeld and the Realists [describes book review by Hamad Dabashi]
- Rumsfeld and the Realists
- Why withdrawal from Iraq is the worst option
- Conclusion First, Debate Afterwards
- Misguided reconciliation with Baathists
- "Mr. Erdogan's Turkey"
- Türkiye'nin içişlerine karışan Wilson istifa etmeli
- To end Iran standoff, plan for war
- The U.S. vs. Iran
- Last Chance for Iraq?
- هل يمكن الوثوق بإيران؟
- آیا میتوان به ایران اعتماد کرد؟
- Can Iran Be Trusted?
- "Is the West Racist Toward Muslims and Arabs?"
- An Arrow in Our Quiver
- All Talk and No Strategy: The limits of diplomacy
- Sending in the peacekeepers is a fool's game
- Multilateralismus - ein diplomatisches Mantra
- Multilateralism - A Diplomatic Mantra
- Iran Against the Arabs
- Eradication First: Before diplomacy
- Fight for Mideast democracy faltering
- Political Strategies to Counterterrorism with Suzanne Gershowitz
- The US defends its allies
- Dangerous Cycle
- Bubba Dubya?
- Dissident Watch: Yücel Aşkın
- Diplomacy is not enough
- Damage Is Done
- The Tyranny Doctrine with Danielle Pletka
- Popular Notions Laid Bare [rev. of Matthew Levitt, Hamas; J. Millard Burr & Robert Collins, Alms for Jihad; Fawaz Gerges, Journey of the Jihadist]
- I Was an Icelandic "War Criminal"
- Putting politics before pacifism with Suzanne Gershowitz
- Cole is poor choice for Mideast position
- Nuclear Hostage Crisis
- Patterns of Discontent: Will History Repeat in Iran? with Patrick Clawson
- Dissident Watch: Kamal Sayid Qadir
- Are We Playing for Keeps?
- Hitting the Mark on Iran
- Iran Means What It Says
- The Radioactive Republic of Iran
- Monsters of the Left: The Mujahedin al-Khalq
- For the Record
- Don't Dismiss Iranian Rhetoric
2005 (38)
- Iraqi Beacon
- Turkey's No Casual Dining
- How to Deal with Kidnappings in Iraq with Suzanne Gershowitz
- Iraq's Comeback Kid
- The Middle East's real bane: corruption
- Domestic Threats to Iranian Stability: Khuzistan and Baluchistan
- The Same War
- Iraq, Unplugged
- From Baghdad to Beirut, Arab Leaders Being Held To Account
- Turkish Turn Back?
- With Freedom Comes Politics
- Iraq and the Democratization of the Middle East
- Only threat of force will tame Tehran
- Will They or Won't They?
- Lebanon's Tenuous Transformation
- Who killed the Bush doctrine?
- "The Arafat Model"
- The Future of Iraq: Democracy, Civil War, or Chaos?
- Less Is More in Iraq
- The Price of Compromise
- Fried in Turkey
- Washington Must Plan Today For Democratic Iran of Tomorrow
- Academic Standards, R.I.P.
- Our Ally Down Under: The strongest Anglosphere link
- Islamists are intrinsically anti-democratic
- Let Iraq handle Sunnis
- Soothing rhetoric - scary reality
- Beroligende ord - skræmmende virkelighed
- That Occupation Feeling
- A comedy of errors: American-Turkish Diplomacy and the Iraq War
- Will Washington Support Democracy in Iran?
- Iraq has voted
- Unilateral withdrawal is irresponsible
- Bush Marches Into a Second Term, His Agenda Set by Mideast Foes
- A Fresh Start
- Democracy on the Wing
- Listen to the Iraqis
- Green Money, Islamist Politics in Turkey
No piece matches these filters.