Selected Articles

Armenia’s democracy erodes amid Russia-West rivalry

Armenian Weekly

May 27, 2026

Israel accusing Iran of lawbreaking is the height of hypocrisy

Responsible Statecraft

March 20, 2026

Why New York Should Rethink Its Investments in Israel Bonds

Democracy in Exile

February 3, 2026

The Perils and Pitfalls of a
U.S.-Saudi Defense Pact

Foreign Policy

November 17, 2025

The rehabilitation of Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman from global pariah to global patron is one of the most extraordinary political feats of our time. This week, the crown prince will triumphantly return to Washington after nearly a decade of banishment. He is expected to dole out $600 billion in promised investments in U.S. companies and, as part of this exchange, obtain a long-desired security guarantee from the United States. This may well be a great deal for the corporations that stand to benefit from the lavish shopping spree, but it remains a raw and risky deal for the American people, who will be stuck with the bill.

Shared Zones of Interest

The American Prospect

September 26, 2024

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, if elected, are sure to produce vastly different outcomes on nearly every domestic issue in contention: women’s reproductive rights, taxation, public education, corporate regulation, the environment, and immigration. There’s far less divergence, however, on foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East. Like the Biden administration before it, a Harris administration may be softer around the edges, a “Trump lite” if you will, with rhetoric and sentiments favoring human rights and international law but no policies to back them.

A US Pivot Away from the Middle East: Fact or Fiction?

The Greatly Exaggerated US Pivot and America’s Failures on Human Rights, chapter in book

September 13, 2023

For the past several decades, one US administration after another has signaled big plans for a new foreign policy centered on a “pivot to Asia” made possible by a “withdrawal” from the Middle East. With each new administration, Middle East governments and their partisan Washington analysts have interpreted every US move in the region as evidence of a withdrawal already underway, and have pushed back against such alleged efforts with furious, alarmist, and even emotional critiques, describing each move as an “abandonment” of friends that justifies expanded ties between Middle East governments and China or Russia as a natural reactionary hedge.

The Human Rights vs. National Security Dilemma is a Fallacy

Foreign Policy

January 10, 2022

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, if elected, are sure to produce vastly different outcomes on nearly every domestic issue in contention: women’s reproductive rights, taxation, public education, corporate regulation, the environment, and immigration. There’s far less divergence, however, on foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East. Like the Biden administration before it, a Harris administration may be softer around the edges, a “Trump lite” if you will, with rhetoric and sentiments favoring human rights and international law but no policies to back them.