Our weekly online conversations on the global consequences of Russia's war on Ukraine continue in a conversation with Professor Brandon Friedman, Director of Research at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle East and African Studies at Tel Aviv University. The conversation ranged widely over topics related to the Middle East, Israel, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Syria, and more. Topics explored included weapons supplies from Iran to Russia, circulation of oil and how that has been impacted by the war and sanctions on Russia, impacts of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria and efforts to provide assistance across borders, Iran's regional role and its efforts to project influence in Iraq and across the Middle East, Israel's reluctance to support Ukraine, and many other topics.
The video is broken into two parts as a Zoom bomber attempted to squelch Professor Friedman's free expression. The video has been edited to remove the vulgar interruption, so please make sure you didn't miss part 1.
Brandon Friedman is the Director of Research at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle East and African Studies at Tel Aviv University. His research focuses widely on the social origins of political reform in Saudi Arabia in historical perspective, the regional politics of the Arab Spring and the social and political processes driving the breakdown of state order across the region with a particular emphasis on Saudi perception of developments in Iraq and Syria, and China's increased engagement in the Middle East since the early 1990s.
Professor Friedman is interviewed by Cynthia Hooper, Associate Professor of History and head of Russian and Eastern European Studies at the College of the Holy Cross and Steven Barnes, Director of the Program in Russian and Eurasian Studies and Associate Professor in the Department of History and Art History, in addition to taking questions from the audience.
This event is brought to you by the Program in Russian and Eurasian Studies and the Department of History and Art History at George Mason University and the Department of History and the Program in Russian and Eastern European Studies at the College of the Holy Cross.