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Michael Rubin returns to the show to analyze the ongoing events in Syria and provide a greater perspective on Turkey’s relationship with the Kurds. We also discuss what a post-Erdogan Turkey could look like, how Assad and Iran might react to Turkish troops invading Syria, and what the United States’ overriding objective in the Middle East should be.
Michael Rubin is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, where he researches Arab politics, the Gulf Cooperation Council, Iran, Iraq, the Kurds, terrorism, and Turkey. He concurrently teaches classes on terrorism for the FBI and on security, politics, religion, and history for US and NATO military units.
A former Pentagon official, Dr. Rubin has lived in post-revolution Iran, Yemen, and both pre- and postwar Iraq, and he spent time with the Taliban before 9/11. He is the author, coauthor, and coeditor of several books exploring Iranian history, American diplomacy, Kurdish studies, and Shi’ite politics, including “Kurdistan Rising” (AEI Press, 2016), “Dancing with the Devil: The Perils of Engaging Rogue Regimes” (Encounter Books, 2014); and “Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos” (Palgrave, 2005).
Dr. Rubin has a Ph.D. and an M.A. in history from Yale University.
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I was a little puzzled by history PhD Michael Rubin stating that unreliability of the United States as an ally is new or unusual.
You could ask the White Russians, the South Vietnamese, the Marsh Arabs, and the Libyans to give their opinion on this subject.
You’d have to use a Ouija board to contact them, of course.