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2. The Gaza War's Regional Reverberations
- Author:
- Randa Slim and Alistair Taylor
- Publication Date:
- 01-2024
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Middle East Institute (MEI)
- Abstract:
- On this week's episode, President and CEO of the Middle East Institute Paul Salem and Director of MEI’s Conflict Resolution and Track II Dialogues Program Randa Slim speak to MEI's Editor-in-Chief Alistair Taylor about growing concerns over the potential for large-scale regional escalation as the Gaza war continues. *Note: This episode was recorded before drone attacks that killed US soldiers in Jordan on 1/28. *
- Topic:
- Non State Actors, Conflict, Escalation, and Regional Politics
- Political Geography:
- Iran, Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Gaza
3. A Year of War: A Reporter's View of Russia's Invasion of Ukraine (3/23/23)
- Author:
- Joshua Yaffa and Keith Gessen
- Publication Date:
- 04-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- The Harriman Institute
- Abstract:
- Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, Joshua Yaffa, who spent a decade living and reporting in Russia, has traveled across Ukraine—where he also has deep experience as a journalist—witnessing the war up close and publishing regularly in The New Yorker. He will share his impressions from his numerous reporting trips, which began in the early, fraught days in Kyiv, when the capital was the primary target of the Russian military; to Kharkiv, a historically Russian-speaking city that has faced relentless rocket and artillery fire; from the decimated towns of the Donbas to Zaporizhzhia, a regional capital in the south that became a waystation for Ukrainians fleeing the horrors of Mariupol and elsewhere. Yaffa will describe how the conflict looks and feels on the ground, whether for civilians trapped under bombardment or newly enlisted soldiers. He will also discuss a number of key questions at the start of the war's second year. What has been the role and effect of Western military aid? What sort of end to the fighting is possible? And how will both Russia and Ukraine be forever changed as a result?
- Topic:
- Conflict, Journalism, and Russia-Ukraine War
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe
4. A Conversation with Azovstal Defender Illia Samoilenko (2/24/23)
- Author:
- Illia Samoilenko and Elise Giuliano
- Publication Date:
- 07-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- The Harriman Institute
- Abstract:
- 28 year-old Ukrainian Lieutenant Illia Samoilenko was the deputy commander of the National Guards of Azov. Days before the Azovstal surrender in May, Lieutenant Samoilenko held a news conference broadcast live from a bunker beneath the steelworks. At this press conference, he described for two hours the desperate conditions that wounded soldiers faced. He also said that he and all the others saw themselves as “dead men.” Samoilenko was held in solitary confinement as a prisoner of war by the Russian Federation for 120 days before he was released in a prisoner swap last month.
- Topic:
- Armed Forces, Conflict, Russia-Ukraine War, and Azovstal
- Political Geography:
- Ukraine, Eastern Europe, and Mariupol
5. Water Resource Challenges in MENA
- Author:
- Mohammed Mahmoud
- Publication Date:
- 03-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Middle East Institute (MEI)
- Abstract:
- Mohammed Mahmoud, Director of the Climate and Water Program at MEI, hosts a discussion on a variety of water resource challenges across the MENA region with Malak Altaeb, Megan Ferrando, Orestes Morfin, Youssef Wehbe, Zena Agha, and Andrei Covatariu. Questions on water availability, the relationship between water and conflict, future technologies, and more are addressed in the conversation.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Science and Technology, Natural Resources, Water, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and North Africa
6. The debate inside Israel
- Author:
- Eran Etzion and Nimrod Goren
- Publication Date:
- 11-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Middle East Institute (MEI)
- Abstract:
- The Middle East Institute (MEI) hosted an on-the-record briefing titled 'The Debate Inside Israel' on Tuesday, November 21st, 2023, featuring Eran Etzion, former Deputy Head of Israel's National Security Council, and Nimrod Goren, MEI Senior Fellow for Israeli Affairs. The briefing delved into the growing internal debate in Israel over the country’s war aims and its handling of the conflict with Hamas, including discussions on calls for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's resignation, the effectiveness of the war cabinet, and the response to the October 7 Hamas attack.
- Topic:
- National Security, Domestic Politics, Conflict, Hamas, Benjamin Netanyahu, Debates, and October 7
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Gaza
7. Book Talk. Architectures of Violence by Kate Ferguson
- Publication Date:
- 01-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- The Harriman Institute
- Abstract:
- Paramilitary or irregular units have been involved in practically every case of identity-based mass violence in the modern world, but detailed analysis of these dynamics is rare. Through exploring the case of former Yugoslavia, Kate Ferguson exposes the relationships between paramilitaries, state commands, local communities, and organised crime present in modern mass atrocities, from Rwanda and Darfur to Syria and Myanmar. Visible paramilitary participation masks the continued dominance of the state in violent crises. Political elites benefit from using unconventional forces to fulfil ambitions that violate international law—and international policy responses are hindered when responsibility for violence is ambiguous. Ferguson’s inquiry into these overlooked dynamics of mass violence unveils substantial loopholes in current atrocity prevention architecture.
- Topic:
- Crime, Governance, Conflict, Violence, and Paramilitary
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
8. Sanctioning Russia: Implications and Expectation
- Publication Date:
- 03-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- The Harriman Institute
- Abstract:
- Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the West rapidly adopted unprecedented sanctions on Russia. These included a series of export controls and the sanctioning of the Russian Central Bank, major institutions in the financial sector as well as individual “oligarchs” who live and conduct business outside of the country. In addition to these government actions by the United States, the European Union and the UK, hundreds of Western private companies have withdrawn from the Russian market or suspended operations, further exacerbating Russian economic uncertainty. How likely are the sanctions to pressure Russia to halt its campaign in Ukraine, what is their purpose and logic, and what additional measures could be imposed?
- Topic:
- Economics, Hegemony, Sanctions, Conflict, and Russia-Ukraine War
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Ukraine
9. tarr Forum: An Update on Russia's War Against Ukraine
- Publication Date:
- 10-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- What is the status of Russia's invasion of Ukraine?
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Military Strategy, Conflict, Strategic Interests, and Russia-Ukraine War
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Ukraine
10. Starr Forum: Republics of Myth: National Narratives and the US-Iran Conflict
- Publication Date:
- 05-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Why does the rift between the US and Iran persist? A new book by CIS scholars sheds new light on this longstanding conflict.
- Topic:
- Security, Foreign Policy, Bilateral Relations, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Iran, Middle East, North America, and United States of America
11. Starr Forum: The Collapse of the Soviet Empire and the seeds of the new European war
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Vladislav Zubok is professor of international history, with expertise on the Cold War, the Soviet Union, Stalinism, and Russia’s intellectual history in the 20th century. His most recent books are Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union (2021), The Idea of Russia: The Life and Work of Dmitry Likhachev (2017), Dmitry Likhachev. The Life and the Century (in Russian, 2016) A Failed Empire: the Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev (2007) and Zhivago’s Children: the Last Russian Intelligentsia (2009). Co-chairs: Carol Saivetz is a senior advisor in the MIT Security Studies Program. She is the author and contributing co-editor of books and articles on Soviet and now Russian foreign policy issues. Elizabeth Wood is professor of history at MIT. She is the author most recently of Roots of Russia’s War in Ukraine. She is co-director of the MISTI MIT Russia Program, coordinator of Russian studies, and adviser to the Russian Language Program.
- Topic:
- Cold War, Governance, Leadership, Conflict, and Empire
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Soviet Union
12. Starr Forum: The Russian-Ukrainian Conflict: A prologue to WWIII or another frozen conflict?
- Publication Date:
- 01-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Dmitry Gorenburg is a senior research scientist at CNA, where he has worked since 2000. Dr. Gorenburg is an associate at the Harvard University Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. His research interests include security issues in the former Soviet Union, Russian military reform, Russian foreign policy, and ethnic politics and identity. Olga Oliker is the program director for Europe and Central Asia at the International Crisis Group. Her research interests include foreign and security policies of Russia, Ukraine, and the Central Asian and Caucasian successor states to the Soviet Union, domestic politics in these countries, US policy towards the region, and nuclear weapon strategy and arms control. She received her PhD from the MIT Department of Political Science. Serhii Plokhii is the Mykhailo S. Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History and director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University. His research interests include the intellectual, cultural, and international history of Eastern Europe, with an emphasis on Ukraine. Carol Saivetz is a senior advisor in the MIT Security Studies Program. She is a research associate at Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. Dr Saivetz is the author and contributing co-editor of books and articles on Soviet and now Russian foreign policy issues, including an assessment of the “reset,” Russian policies toward the other Soviet successor states, and current US-Russian relations. Elizabeth Wood is professor of history at MIT. She is the author most recently of Roots of Russia’s War in Ukraine (Woodrow Wilson Center and Columbia University Press, 2016). She is co-director of the MIT Russia Program, coordinator of Russian studies, and adviser to the Russian Language Program.
- Topic:
- Security, Defense Policy, War, Military Strategy, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Ukraine
13. Algeria & France: Untangling Past and Present
- Author:
- Intissar Fakir and Francis Gilles
- Publication Date:
- 09-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Middle East Institute (MEI)
- Abstract:
- French President Emmanuel Macron's recent visit to Algeria brought talks of cooperation and reconciliation to the fore in an otherwise frought relationship. France and Algeria share a long and painful history, including 132 years of colonial occupation and an eight year war of devastation. In an effort to unpack the motivations and context behind Macron's visit, MEI Senior Fellow and Director of the North Africa and the Sahel Program Intissar Fakir speaks with Francis Gilles, Senior Research Fellow with the Barcelona Center for International Affairs.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, History, Bilateral Relations, Colonialism, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Europe, France, Algeria, and North Africa
14. Contending with Reality in Palestine & Israel
- Author:
- George Salem, Brian Katulis, and Khaled Elgindy
- Publication Date:
- 10-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Middle East Institute (MEI)
- Abstract:
- Today's two-part episode is a study in contrasts. On one hand, the Partnership for Peace Fund strives to create a social and economic environment in which sustainable peace can become possible. On the other, hard political realities and gridlock undermine cooperation at every turn. The episode begins by discussing peace-building efforts with George Salem, co-founder and Chairman of the Arab American Institute and Inaugural Chair of the Partnership for Peace Advisory Board. The discussion then turns to political realities and facts on the ground with Brian Katulis, Vice President of Policy at MEI, and Khaled Elgindy, Senior Fellow and Director of the Program on Palestine and Palestinian-Israeli Affairs.
- Topic:
- Politics, Territorial Disputes, Conflict, Peace, and Peacebuilding
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
15. Israel & Palestine: Hot topics in Congress
- Author:
- Alistair Taylor, Khaled Elgindy, and Lara Friedman
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Middle East Institute (MEI)
- Abstract:
- Host Alistair Taylor speaks with Khaled Elgindy and Lara Friedman about the release of their recently completed 2022 congressional briefing series on Israel and Palestine: Hot topics in Congress. The eight-part webinar series features an array of Palestinian and Israeli voices, weighing in on some of the most pressing and timely Israel/Palestine-related topics in Congress. Recordings of all eight sessions of the congressional briefing series can be found on the MEI and FMEP websites at www.mei.edu and www.fmep.org.
- Topic:
- Education, Government, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Ukraine, Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and United States of America
16. War in Ukraine: Ukraine and History
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of London
- Abstract:
- n this Mile End Institute Webinar, held on Friday 25 March, Dr Lyndsey Jenkins is joined by Dr Joe Cronin, Dr James Ellison and Dr Andy Willimott from the School of History at @QMULOfficial to talk about the War in Ukraine. In this informative session on such a historic moment which will shape our lives and our politics for years to come, our resident experts to discuss Ukraine, its history and politics, Western relations with Russia after the Cold War, the future of NATO and the post-Cold War order, as well as Vladimir Putin's use of the term 'denazification' and the state of Russian politics in 2022.
- Topic:
- Security, NATO, Regional Cooperation, Military Strategy, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Ukraine
17. The Other Europe
- Author:
- Vaclav Havel Library
- Publication Date:
- 05-2021
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Vaclav Havel Library
- Abstract:
- One half of this year’s theme - The Other Europe - refers back to the epoch when Europe was divided into East and West. The first part of the conference - The Other Europe in the 1980s - refers to a six-part series produced by the British Channel Four television in 1987–1988 about the situation in the communist-dominated countries of Central Europe, based on interviews with the leading opposition figures of the era. The Václav Havel Library is in possession of the complete raw footage of the series. One panel of the conference is dedicated to four interviewees from 1987/88 and their “Facing the younger me” responses. The second half of the conference - The Other Europe Today - will address the current situation: Is there an Other Europe today? Is it drifting apart again from its Western neighbours? What impact has the pandemic had on the EU’s geopolitical standing and internal cohesion? Has the pandemic affected the perceptions of liberal democracy and the opinions of the younger generation? In this second part we aim to explore the possible links between the past and present concepts of the Central European “otherness” and the perspectives of overcoming such divisions. The conference is aimed primarily at secondary and college-level students, as well as scholars, experts, and members of the public interested in European issues. Albeit at a distance, we look forward to a vivid online interaction between the speakers and our international audience.
- Topic:
- International Cooperation, Regional Cooperation, European Union, Democracy, Conflict, and Peace
- Political Geography:
- Europe
18. Book Talk. "There Is Nothing for You Here" by Fiona Hill
- Publication Date:
- 12-2021
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- The Harriman Institute
- Abstract:
- lease join the Harriman Institute and the Institute for the Study of Human Rights for a book talk by Fiona Hill, author of There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century (Mariner Books, 2021). The talk will be chaired by David L. Phillips (ISHR) with Alexander Cooley (Harriman Institute) as discussant and interviewer. In There Is Nothing for You Here, a celebrated foreign policy expert and key impeachment witness reveals how declining opportunity has set America on the grim path of modern Russia—and draws on her personal journey out of poverty, as well as her unique perspectives as an historian and policy maker, to show how we can return hope to our forgotten places. Fiona Hill grew up in a world of terminal decay. The last of the local mines had closed, businesses were shuttering, and despair was etched in the faces around her. Her father urged her to get out of their blighted corner of northern England: “There is nothing for you here, pet,” he said. The coal-miner’s daughter managed to go further than he ever could have dreamed. She studied in Moscow and at Harvard, became an American citizen, and served three U.S. Presidents. But in the heartlands of both Russia and the United States, she saw troubling reflections of her hometown and similar populist impulses. By the time she offered her brave testimony in the first impeachment inquiry of President Trump, Hill knew that the desperation of forgotten people was driving American politics over the brink—and that we were running out of time to save ourselves from Russia’s fate. In this powerful, deeply personal account, she shares what she has learned, and shows why expanding opportunity is the only long-term hope for our democracy. Fiona Hill is the Robert Bosch Senior Fellow at the Center on the United States and Europe in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. From 2017 to 2019, she served as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council. From 2006 to 2009, she served as national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council. She has researched and published extensively on issues related to Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, regional conflicts, energy, and strategic issues. Coauthor of Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin and The Siberian Curse: How Communist Planners Left Russia Out in the Cold, she holds a master's degree in Soviet studies and a doctorate in history from Harvard University and a master's in Russian and modern history from St. Andrews University in Scotland. She also has pursued studies at Moscow's Maurice Thorez Institute of Foreign Languages. Hill is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and lives in the Washington, DC, area.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Military Strategy, Hegemony, Conflict, Violence, and Strategic Interests
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, North America, and United States of America
19. The Palestinian Nakba: What Happened in 1948 and Why It Still Matters
- Author:
- Rashida Tlaib, Rashid Khalidi, Umar Al-Ghubari, Mohammed El-Kurd, and Lubnah Shomali
- Publication Date:
- 05-2021
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Middle East Institute (MEI)
- Abstract:
- Please join a Middle East Institute and Project48 panel featuring Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, Rashid Khalidi and others exploring why the Nakba still matters. Every year on May 15th, millions of Palestinians around the world commemorate the Nakba, or the catastrophe that befell them in 1948. This catastrophe resulted in the dispossession of an estimated 750,000 refugees from historic Palestine, and the uprooting of two-thirds of the Palestinian Arab population and their society in the process of the creation of the State of Israel. 73 years later, the Nakba remains central to Palestinian national identity and political aspirations, as evidenced by the 2018-19 Gaza March of Return and even the recent protests in Jerusalem. However, despite being a core Palestinian grievance, the Nakba continues to be whitewashed or denied outright by pundits, lobbyists, and even policymakers. The Middle East Institute and Project48 are pleased to host an esteemed group of experts to shed light on what transpired in 1948 and why the events of the Nakba still resonate today and remain central to understanding Israel and Palestine. This event is co-sponsored by the Foundation for Middle East Peace, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Institute for Palestine Studies.
- Topic:
- History, Conflict, Nakba, and Palestine
- Political Geography:
- Palestine
20. Narrating Memories of the Homeland Paris Based Syrian Artists Reflect on the War
- Author:
- Vanessa Badre, Lyne Sneige, Kate Seelye, Denis Quenelle, Nagham Hodaifa, and Bady Dalloul
- Publication Date:
- 04-2021
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Middle East Institute (MEI)
- Abstract:
- The Middle East Institute's Arts and Culture Center and The Cultural Services of the French Embassy are pleased to host a conversation with leading Syrian contemporary artists, Bady Dalloul and Nagham Hodaifa. The Paris-based artists will reflect on the past decade of conflict and trauma, its impact and influence on their work and their relationship to their homeland. They will be joined by Lyne Sneige, the Director of the Arts & Culture Center at the Middle East Institute. Dalloul grew up in France, the son of prominent Syrian artists. His work confronts the notion of what is real and imagined while challenging the process of writing history. Hodaifa, who left Syria in 2005 to pursue her studies, explores the human condition through the representation of the body. Both artists are in the current MEI Art Gallery exhibit In This Moonless Black Night: Syrian Art After the Uprising, featuring leading contemporary Syrian artists chronicling the hope, trauma, and pain of the past decade through their practice. The artists will be in conversation with Vanessa Badré, art historian, lawyer, and faculty fellow at American University.
- Topic:
- Arts, Culture, Conflict, Trauma, Syrian War, and Memory
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Middle East, France, and Syria
21. Starr Forum: The Future of US-Russian Relations: More of the Same or Something Different?
- Publication Date:
- 11-2021
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Barry Posen is Ford International Professor of Political Science, MIT. His current research examines whether the diffusion of power away from the United States can best be understood as the emergence of a multipolar structure of power, and if so, how the United States should navigate this change. His most recent book is Restraint: A New Foundation for US Grand Strategy.
- Topic:
- Security, Diplomacy, Bilateral Relations, Conflict, and Rivalry
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, North America, and United States of America
22. Starr Forum: The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter
- Publication Date:
- 11-2021
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Jimmy Carter’s one-term presidency is often labeled a failure; indeed, many Americans view Carter as the only ex-president to have used the White House as a stepping-stone to greater achievements. But in retrospect the Carter political odyssey is a rich and human story, marked by both formidable accomplishments and painful political adversity. In this deeply researched, brilliantly written account, Kai Bird expertly unfolds the Carter saga as a tragic tipping point in American history. Drawing on interviews with Carter and members of his administration and recently declassified documents on Israel, the Iranian revolution and the 1980 October Surprise, Bird delivers a profound, clear-eyed evaluation of a leader whose legacy has been deeply misunderstood.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Governance, Leadership, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- North America and United States of America
23. Starr Forum: Israelis and Palestinians: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
- Publication Date:
- 05-2021
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Experts discuss the current conflict between Israelis and Palestinians while also providing the historical context and a potential path forward.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Military Strategy, Territorial Disputes, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine