Sunday, September 18, 2016

The Rubin Center Needs Your Support / 2016 Activities Update

The Rubin Center needs your support
to continue its groundbreaking research
 

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Founded by the late Professor Barry Rubin, the Rubin Center is one of the most versatile and active Mid-East research centers in the world. Through its groundbreaking frontline reporting and research, the center makes the most up-to-date, accurate, often otherwise inaccessible information available to policymakers, the broader public, and the media.

As a non-profit organization, the Rubin Center depends on your contributions to continue its work.

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UPDATE:  Some of the projects your tax-deductible donations have supported so far in 2016…

Frontline reporting

Throughout 2016, Rubin Center Director Dr. Jonathan Spyer has continued his frontline reporting of the wars in Syria and Iraq.  Spyer recently visited the Turkish-Syrian border area, reporting on the Turkish-supported rebel militias currently at the forefront of the Turkish incursion into northern Syria; and in Iraqi Kurdistan, reporting on preparations for the offensive to liberate Mosul from Islamic State (IS).  His articles have appeared recently in Jane’s Intelligence Review, The Spectator (UK), and The Australian.  Spyer also recently spent time in Syria with the Syrian Democratic Forces militia, reporting for these and other publications.

Primary research
 

Rubin Fellow Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi has continued to build up his unique archives of over 500 Islamic State documents, creating a vital public resource on the inner workings of the organization (financial accounts, personnel lists, and more). These archives and collections have included many previously unseen documents and texts leaked by Jawad, including important works like Principles in the Administration of the Islamic State (a bureaucratic position paper outline of the state project) and a manual guiding commanders in planning and executing military missions. Britain’s The Guardian has called Jawad’s archive “the most thorough log of Isis documents available to the public.”
 
Jawad also wrote a widely publicized paper for West Point’s CTC Sentinel assessing the Islamic State’s strengths and weaknesses based partly on internal documents.  While with the Rubin Center, Jawad has profiled numerous militias in Syria, including native Syrian Hizballah and the integration of Shi’i militias into the Syrian state apparatus.
 
Rubin Center Director Dr. Jonathan Spyer recently authored a paper on Israel’s strategic doctrine for the Friends of Israel group, and a paper on Iranian regional strategy for the Henry Jackson Society think tank, for which he interviewed senior serving Israeli officials.
 
We are also happy to welcome new Rubin Center Associate Neri Zilber, a journalist and researcher on Middle East politics and culture and an adjunct fellow of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Media and Consultancy
 

As specialists on the ground throughout the Middle East, the Rubin Center frequently consults for governments, including the United States, UK, China, Israel, India, Canada, and the Czech Republic, news media, and academic research. Rubin researchers have been sought out by the White House, the British Parliament, and other Western governments, as well as media bodies and human rights NGOs.
 
In 2016 alone, Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi has been quoted in a wide range of media outlets, academic journals, and government briefings—including in a U.S. House of Representatives memo on investigating financing for terrorism, and by the United Nations on the subject of crimes against the Yazidis in Syria.
 
Jonathan Spyer has recently visited Beijing, Prague, and Washington, D.C.—addressing meetings at Capitol Hill.  He will soon visit New Delhi and Copenhagen as part of the center’s ongoing ties with a number of foreign embassies.

Publications
 

Covering the latest developments in the region from a wide variety of viewpoints, including U.S. policy, radical movements, and minorities, the Rubin Center’s quarterly journal MERIA has a circulation of over 25,000.  Get your free email subscription today!
 
In a crucial geographical and political location, Turkey’s importance is growing rapidly throughout Europe, the Middle East, and the Caucasus. With an upsurge in interest in its history, politics, and foreign policy, Turkish Studies quarterly—listed in the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI)—offers scholarly discussion on these topics and more.
 
Books

The Rubin Center has produced numerous books on subjects related to the modern Middle East.  These include:
With all this going on and much more, the Rubin Center needs your support more urgently than ever.  Donations are tax-deductible within the U.S. (including via PayPal), Israel, and the UK.

Monday, September 12, 2016

Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Summer 2016)

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Huffington Post Reviews Rubin & Schwanitz's Nazis, Islamists: "What We Got Wrong About Nazis And Terrorists"

By Steve Mariotti
Huffington Post, July 7, 2016

“Terrorism, the Skorzeny Syndrome, is flourishing in the modern world, a reminder that Hitler and Nazism are still taking their toll more than three decades after the Third Reich collapsed.”— Glenn B. Infield, biographer of Nazi commander Otto Skorzeny

On November 28, 1941, Adolf Hitler and Arab leader Mohammed Amin al-Husaini had a pivotal 90-minute meeting. New research has revealed that Hitler and the Mufti verbally cemented a pact to exterminate the Jewish population in Europe and in the Middle East.

Adolf Hitler and Mohammed Amin al-Husaini meet in Berlin, 1941

This critical meeting changed the course of history, and it likely represents the dawn of modern-day terrorism, according to the riveting book by Barry Rubin and Wolfgang Schwanitz Nazis, Islamists, and the Making of the Modern Middle East.

"Riveting book... The Nazi link to Islamic extremism and terrorist tactics is clear... Why aren't our leaders talking about this?"


ISIS’s dream of a border-melting Islamic State echoes Hitler’s efforts to create a Third Reich in Europe. The escalating terror attacks in Orlando, Turkey, Dhaka, the Medina and Baghdad in response to ISIS’s recent loss of territory are reminiscent of terrorist tactics the Nazis resorted to as their dream was crushed near the end of World War II.

Shortly after al-Husaini and Hitler met, Hitler and his inner circle began to plan at the Wannsee Conference how they would carry out the genocide of Europe’s Jews. The alliance between al-Husaini and Hitler would eventually culminate in Nazi leaders relocating to the Middle East after World War II. There, they would spread their socialist and genocidal ideologies while training Arab jihadists in terrorist tactics.

The Nazi Origins Of Modern-Day Terrorism

During the final months of World War II, Hitler saw his dreams for a Third Reich crumble as Allied Forces turned the tides of war. Hitler became increasingly desperate for results and for propaganda wins to maintain morale. He sought counsel from Otto Skorzeny, the leader of Operation Greif, which used German soldiers to infiltrate their opponents by adapting enemy languages, uniforms and customs. Skorzeny was the twisted genius who had dressed Nazi soldiers in American uniforms in an effort to spread rumors of Eisenhower’s assassination and demoralize the Allies. In 1943, Skorzeny led the rescue mission that freed Benito Mussolini from prison. In 1944, he organized a secret unit of German suicide bombers.

To read the full article, click here.

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Spring 2016)


World Values Survey

THE CIVIC CULTURE OF THE ARAB WORLD: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS BASED ON WORLD VALUES SURVEY DATA

Click here for PDF This study attempts to estimate the development of civil society in the Arab World by using comparative opinion survey data based on the author’s evaluation of the World Values Survey. Certain basic assumptions of current Middle East studies are evaluated, which are also reflected in the Obama administration’s Presidential Research Directive […]
Flag of Jabhat al-Nusra

THE JIHADI THREAT ON ISRAEL’S NORTHERN BORDER

Click here for PDF This article seeks to explore the dynamics surrounding the various Sunni jihadi groups in the south of Syria near the border with the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, examining whether they pose a significant and imminent threat to Israel’s security. It is based on a presentation given by the author at a Rubin […]
DAVOS/SWITZERLAND, 21JAN04 - H.E. Hojatoleslam Seyed Mohammad Khatami, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, delivers a speech during the Welcome to the Annual Meeting 2004 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2004.

Copyright World Economic Forum (www.weforum.org) swiss-image.ch/Photo by Jean-Bernard Sieber

IRANIAN REFORMISTS: BETWEEN MODERATION AND REVOLUTION

Click here for PDF Iranian moderates made significant gains in the country’s February 2016 legislative elections. The reformists won 85 out of 290 seats compared with 75 seats for the conservatives. However, the reformists represented in the new parliament have no historical continuity with the reformist camp of the former President Mohammad Khatami; those reformists […]
Flag of South Azerbaijani Awakening Movement (Source: WikiCommons, Qutlu)

THE MINORITY RIGHTS OF AZERBAIJANI TURKS IN IRAN

Click here for PDF This article discusses the minority rights of Iran’s Azerbaijani Turks and human rights violations in its majority Azerbaijani-populated provinces of Iran by the Iranian central government. With the conclusion of the second Russo-Persian War (1826-1828) and the signing of the Turkmenchay Treaty, Azerbaijan was divided into north and south, with the […]
Fethullah Gulen
(Source: http://www.fgulen.com)

THE BREAKING UP OF TURKEY’S ISLAMIC ALLIANCE: THE AKP-GULEN CONFLICT AND IMPLICATIONS FOR MIDDLE EAST STUDIES

Click here for PDF Turkey’s Islamic movement increased its power dramatically during the first decade of the 2000s, benefiting from the cooperation of the AKP and the Gulen movement. This alliance allowed Islamic actors to control major state functions following several decades of struggle against secularist elites. Yet, to the surprise of most observers, the […]

Monday, January 25, 2016

Invitation: Symposium in Honor of the Late Prof. Barry Rubin: “Israel in a Changing Middle East”



The Rubin Center for Research in International Affairs cordially invites you to

A Symposium in Honor of the Late Prof. Barry Rubin:
“Israel in a Changed Middle East”

Sunday, February 7th, 2016, at 8:30am
Carol and Joey Low Lecture Halls
Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya

8:30 | Reception

8:45 | Opening remarks

Prof. Uriel Reichman, President and Founder, IDC Herzliya.

Judith Colp Rubin, Honorary President, Rubin Center for Research in International Affairs, IDC Herzliya.

Dr. Jonathan Spyer, Director, Rubin Center for Research in International Affairs,      IDC Herzliya.

Symposium on “Israel in a Changed Middle East”
Panel Chair: Dr. Jonathan Spyer, Director, Rubin Center for Research in International Affairs, IDC Herzliya.



9:00 | Session 1: State-to-State Issues and the Changed Region

Dr. Dan Schueftan, Director, The National Security Studies Center, The University of Haifa.
"Strategic implications of regional change for Israel, and the impact of U.S. Middle East policy."

Alex Grinberg, Research Associate, Rubin Center for Research in International Affairs, IDC Herzliya.
"The Iranian threat after the JCPOA."

Prof. Joshua Teitelbaum, Senior Research Associate, Begin-Sadat (BESA) Center for Strategic Studies, Bar-Ilan University.
"Israel and the Gulf countries: A window of opportunity?"

Dr. Bruce Maddy-Weitzmann, Principal Research Fellow, Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Tel Aviv University.
"The current state of relations between Israel and Egypt"

10:40 | Break

11:00 | Session 2: Israel and Non-State Actors
Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, Rubin Fellow, Rubin Center for Research in International Affairs, IDC Herzliya.
"The jihadi threat on Israel’s northern border"

Dr. Eitan Azani, Deputy Executive Director, International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), IDC Herzliya.
"Is Hizballah stronger or weaker as a result of its involvement in the Syrian civil war?"

Prof. Ofra Bengio, Senior Research Fellow, Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Tel Aviv University.
"Israel and the Kurds"
  

The event will be conducted in English
To ensure a place, please RSVP to info@rubincenter.org