The Eastern Mediterranean in the Cross Hairs:

The Opportunity and Challenges for U.S. Policy in 2023 

DOUG BANDOW
SENIOR FELLOW AT THE CATO INSTITUTE

Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan. He previously was affiliated with the Heritage Foundation and Competitive Enterprise Institute.  He writes weekly columns for the American Conservative online and Antiwar.com. Previously a columnist for Forbes online, a nationally syndicated columnist with Copley News Service, and editor of the monthly political magazine Inquiry, he has been widely published in such periodicals as Foreign Policy, Orbis, National Interest, Time, Newsweek, and Fortune, as well as leading newspapers including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. He has written several books, including Foreign Follies: America's New Global Empire (Xulon Press), Tripwire: Korea and U.S. Foreign Policy in a Changed World (Cato Institute), and The Politics of Plunder: Misgovernment in Washington (Transaction). He is co-author of The Korean Conundrum: America’s Troubled Relationship with North and South Korea (Palgrave/Macmillan). 

He received his B.S. in Economics from Florida State University in 1976 and his J.D. from Stanford University in 1979.  He is a member of the California and Washington, D.C. bars.

DR. MICHAEL RUBIN
RESIDENT SCHOLAR, THE AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE

Dr. Michael Rubin is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, where he specializes in Iran, Turkey, and the broader Middle East. He also regularly teaches classes at sea about Middle East conflicts, culture, terrorism, and the Horn of Africa to deployed US Navy and Marine 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 diplomacy, Iranian history, Arab culture, Kurdish studies, and Shi’ite politics, including “Seven Pillars: What Really Causes Instability in the Middle East?” (AEI Press, 2019); “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 PhD and an MA in history from Yale University, where he also obtained a BS in biology.

Please see more on Dr. Rubin’s professional work here.