Besa Geo Energy Insights

Emil Avdaliani

Emil Avdaliani specializes on former Soviet space and wider Eurasia with particular focus on Russia’s internal and foreign policy, relations with Iran, China, the EU and the US. He teaches history and international relations at Tbilisi State University and Ilia State University (Georgia). He has worked for various international consulting companies and regularly publishes various works with BESA on military and political developments across Eurasia. He can be reached at [email protected].

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Dr. Efrat Aviv

(Ph.D. Bar-Ilan University) Specializes in modern Turkey, Turkish history, and the Islamic-spiritual Gulen movement. Senior lecturer in the Dept. of General History at Bar-Ilan University and a research associate at BESA. Email: [email protected]

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Shay Attias

Dr. Shay Attias is a worldwide expert for Diplomatic Studies & International Communications who coined the notion of “Peer-Peer-Diplomacy Network.” His pioneering research of “Global Citizens & Digital Diplomacy” describes the latest development in diplomatic practice, wherein civilians, by virtue of social media, are not only consumers of government information but also information producers, with the potential to bypass existing official government bodies. Dr. Attias’s Ph.D. Dissertation (Political Science – Bar-Ilan Univ.) was dedicated to exploring the “Evaluation of Diplomacy” from “Modern time to the Digital Age” implemented on “US Foreign Policymaking” during the ‘Global War on Terror.’ As a former Senior Public Diplomat who founded the Israeli Agency for Public Diplomacy at the Prime Minister’s Office, Dr. Attias carries vast practical experience in Diplomacy & Security. Today, he is a lecturer in the School of Communication at Bar-Ilan University, where he teaches Public Diplomacy and Global Diplomatic Crisis Management.

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Dr. Dana Barnett

Dr. Dana Barnett (Ph.D. King’s College London). Specializes in the nexus between post-Zionism and the Israeli academy. She focuses on the politicization of scholarship by activist academics who use their position to pursue a radical political agenda.
Barnett is the Director of Israel Academia Monitor (IAM), an NGO by a group of scholars which follows the boycott movement, delegitimization of Israel and anti-Israel activities, such as the writing of radical Israeli academics. She has been operating the israel-academia-monitor.com website since 2004.

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Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Shaul Bartal

Dr. Shaul Bartal, Lieutenant Colonel, IDF reserve. (Ph.D. Bar-Ilan University). Expert in Palestinian Affairs and fundamentalist Islam. specializes in Palestinian groups, the Arab minority in Israel and fundamental Islamic groups. Author of The Fedayeen Emerge, the Palestine-Israel Conflict, 1949-1956 (Bloomington: 2011) and Jihad in Palestine (Abingdon: Rutledge, 2016); New Forms of Palestinian Terror Against Israel: A Profile of the Al-Quds Intifada (New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2017); with Nesya Rubinstein-Shemer, Hamas and Ideology, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi on the Jews, Zionism and Israel (Abingdon: Routledge, 2018) and many articles about the Palestinian problem.

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Edwin Black

Edwin Black is the award-winning, New York Times bestselling international investigative author of 140 award-winning editions in 17 languages in 65 countries. With more than 1.4 million books in print, his work focuses on human rights, genocide and hate, corporate criminality and corruption, governmental misconduct, academic fraud, philanthropic abuse, oil addiction, alternative energy and historical investigation.

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Col (Res.) Dr. Raphael G. Bouchnik-Chen

(Ph.D. Jinan University, China). Specializes in Middle Eastern and international affairs. Served for 26 years in IDF military intelligence in several senior assignments, including Head of the Review Department. Served for 3 years in the Prime Minister’s office and Ministry of Defense, and fulfilled a diplomatic mission in the Far East.

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Brig. Gen. (res.) Moni Chorev

Specializes in military and strategic doctrine, and evaluation of military performance. Former division commander, and commander of the IDF officer school. Email: [email protected]

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Dr. Edy Cohen

(Ph.D. Bar-Ilan University) Specializes in inter-Arab relations, the Arab-Israeli conflict, terrorism, Jewish communities in the Arab world. Email: [email protected]

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Dr. James M. Dorsey

(Ph.D. University of Utrecht). Specializes in the Muslim world’s political, social, and economic fault lines as well as Chinese policy towards the region with a focus on geopolitics, social movements, and political and militant Islam. James also focuses on the nexus of sports, politics, and society. Email: [email protected]

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Dr. Gil Feiler

(Ph.D. Tel Aviv University) Specializes in Arab markets and economies, Palestinian economic development, Mideast economic cooperation and Israel-Arab trade. Email: [email protected]

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Prof. Jonathan Fox

(Ph.D. University of Maryland) Specializes in international and domestic conflict, especially ethnic and religious conflict. Email: [email protected]

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Dr. Gabriel Glickman

(PhD King’s College London) Specializes in U.S. national security and foreign policy, as well as the history of American foreign policy. Email: [email protected]

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Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen

Served in the IDF for 42 years, commanding troops in battle on the Egyptian and Syrian fronts. Was a Corps commander, and commander of the IDF Military Colleges. Email: [email protected]

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Dr. Frank Musmar

Ph.D. Walden University, M.S University of Maryland. Dissertation Editing and Proofreading specialist | Best Selling Writer | Faculty | Researcher | Financial and Performance Management Specialist

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Dr. Eado Hecht

(Ph.D. Hebrew University) Defense analyst specializing in military theory and military history. Lectures at Bar-Ilan University, Haifa University and at the IDF Command and General Staff College. Serves on the Editorial Advisory Panel of The Journal of Military Operations. Email: [email protected]

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Dr. Tsilla Hershco

(Ph.D. Bar-Ilan University) Specializes in Franco-Israeli relations, U.S.-French relations, France and the Mideast conflict, Muslims and Jews in France, E.U.-Israeli relations, and E.U. affairs. Email: [email protected]

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Dr. Doron Itzchakov

(Ph.D. Tel Aviv University) Specializes in the history and politics of modern Iran, Iran-Israel relations, Iranian foreign policy. Email: [email protected]

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Dr. Alex Joffe

Alex Joffe (Ph.D. University of Arizona). Specializes in ancient and modern Middle Eastern studies, American foreign policy, and American cultural politics.

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Prof. Efraim Karsh

Director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. Professor Emeritus of Middle East and Mediterranean Studies at King’s College London; Professor of Political Science at Bar-Ilan University; Principal Research Fellow (and former Director) of the Middle East Forum (Philadelphia), where he also edits the scholarly journal Middle East Quarterly; founding editor of the scholarly journal Israel Affairs, now in its twenty-fourth year, and founding general editor of a Routledge book series on Israeli History, Politics and Society, with over 60 books published. Email: [email protected]

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Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Mordechai Kedar

(Ph.D. Bar-Ilan University) Served for 25 years in IDF military intelligence specializing in Syria, Arab political discourse, Arab mass media, Islamic groups, and Israeli Arabs. Expert on the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups. Email: [email protected]

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Dr. Ardavan Khoshnood

Dr. Ardavan Khoshnood (PhD, Lund University). Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Lund University in Sweden. Criminologist with focus on offender profiling and violent crimes inclusive terrorism. From Malmö University and Lund University he hold degrees in Political Science respective Intelligence Analysis. Specializes in Iranian foreign policy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as well as the Ministry of Intelligence. Email: [email protected]

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Yaakov Lappin

Yaakov Lappin is a Research Associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. He specializes in Israel’s defense establishment, military affairs, and the Middle Eastern strategic environment. He is the author of the BESA study The Low-Profile War Between Israel and Hezbollah. Email: [email protected]

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Prof. Udi Lebel

(Ph.D. King’s College, London U.) Specializes in civil-military relations, especially in the political psychology of bereavement, communities of trauma and national memory, and in the sociology of security communities. An associate professor at the School of Communication, Bar Ilan University. Email: [email protected]

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Dr. Alon Levkowitz

(Ph.D. Hebrew University) Specializes in East Asian security, the Korean Peninsula (foreign, security, politics and history), and Asian international organizations. Email: [email protected]

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Prof. Ze’ev Maghen

(Ph.D., Fordham University) Expert in Turkish Foreign Policy, Turkish-US Relations, Turkish-Israel Relations and American Foreign Policy. Mark is also a lawyer who teaches US Constitutional Law. Associate Professor at SUNY Maritime College [email protected]

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Dr. Doron Matza

Dr. Doron Matza (PhD Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) specializes in Palestinian issues, Israeli – Arabs, the Arab – Israeli conflict and Middle Eastern affairs. Held senior positions in the Israeli intelligence and security systems. Email: [email protected]

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Dr. Mark Meirowitz

(Ph.D. Hebrew University) Specializes in East Asian security, the Korean Peninsula (foreign, security, politics and history), and Asian international organizations. Email: [email protected]

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Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Raphael Ofek

(Ph.D. Ben-Gurion University) Former senior analyst in IDF military intelligence and the Prime Minister’s Office. Specializes in WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) proliferation in the Middle East and North Korea. Email: [email protected]

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Amir Rapaport

(Ph.D. candidate, Bar-Ilan University) Former military correspondent of Yediot Ahronot and current defense analyst for Maariv. Publisher and editor of Israel Defense magazine. Expert on the IDF, military technologies, and Israeli military industries.

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Dr. Asaf Romirowsky

Dr. Asaf Romirowsky (PhD King’s College London) is the Executive Director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME), a fellow at the Middle East Forum and a Professor [Affiliate] at the University of Haifa. He specializes in the Arab-Israeli conflict and American foreign policy in the Middle East. Romirowsky is co-author of “Religion, Politics, and the Origins of Palestine Refugee Relief.”

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Uzi Rubin

Preeminent Israeli expert on missile defense. Founder and director of the Arrow defense program against long-range missiles in the Israeli Ministry of Defense. Email: [email protected]

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Prof. Jonathan Rynhold

(Ph.D. London School of Economics) Specializes in Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli peace process, U.S.-Israel relations, Israeli politics and foreign policy, U.S. public opinion, UK-Israeli relations, and issues related to NGOs and BDS. Email: [email protected]

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Prof. Shmuel Sandler

(Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University) Expert on Israeli electoral politics, Israeli foreign policy and national security, U.S.-Israel relations, U.S. foreign policy, and Palestinian-Israeli diplomacy. Email: [email protected]

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Dr. Yechiel Shabiy

Dr. Yechiel Shabiy (PhD Bar-Ilan University). Specializes in the Arab-Israeli conflict, Islamist movements, and national-religious radicalization among the Israeli Arabs. Cell phone: 0506236001

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Dr. Hanan Shai

(Ph.D from the Hebrew University) expert in military and political strategic thinking and planning, as well as leadership development, decision making and staff work in these fields. His doctoral dissertation on the performance of Israeli leadership in past wars served as the basis for a surge of professional training manuals for the defense establishment as well as other government ministries and agencies and for the overhaul of leadership and staff training programs within the government. In the past few years, he has focused on the study of the roots of the growing moral tension within western democracies and the effects of this tension on their ability to cope with threats and crises.

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Dr. Eitan Shamir

(Ph.D. Kings College) Former head of the National Security Doctrine Department in the Israel Ministry of Strategic Affairs. Expert on insurgencies and combat doctrine. Email: [email protected]

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Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Dany Shoham

(Ph.D. Tel Aviv University) Former senior analyst in IDF military intelligence and the Ministry of Defense. Specializes in chemical and biological warfare in the Middle East and worldwide. Email: [email protected]

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Prof. Shlomo Shpiro

(Ph.D. Birmingham University) Specializes in the study of intelligence services in Israel and Europe, the relationship between media and the security establishment, and NATO. Email: [email protected]

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Prof. Joshua Teitelbaum

(Ph.D. Tel Aviv University) Expert on the Gulf states, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Arab economies, and pan-Arab issues. Email: [email protected]

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Galit Truman Zinman

(Ph.D. Birmingham University) Specializes in the study of intelligence services in Israel and Europe, the relationship between media and the security establishment, and NATO. Email: [email protected]

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Dr. George N. Tzogopoulos

Dr. George N. Tzogopoulos (Ph.D. Loughborough University) specializes in media and international relations as well as Chinese affairs. Email: [email protected]

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Dr. Roie Yellinek

Dr. Roie Yellinek (Ph.D. Bar-Ilan University). Specializes in the growing relationship between the Middle East and China, especially with regard to the soft power component of Chinese diplomacy and the local reaction to it. He is also a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute, and an adjunct researcher at the IDF Dado Center. Email: [email protected]

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Dr. Jiri Valenta

Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University. Ing. Prague School of Economics. Former coord. Soviet and East European Studies, NSA Dept., U.S. Naval PG School. Brookings Fellow. Heritage Foundation Trustee. Received Jan Masaryk medal as head of post-revolutionary Czech think tank. CFR member, NYC,. Strategic Studies expert focusing on Russian Interventions, U.S. Nat’l security, terrorism, rogue regimes, NATO- Israel relations. E-mail: [email protected]

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Post-Soviet Conflicts Research Program

PSCRP is a platform for analysis of FSU conflicts and involvement of regional superpowers.

Architects of Interdependence: Navigating the Convergence of Indo-Mediterranean and Trans-Caspian Corridors

PSCRP

Architects of Interdependence: Navigating the Convergence of Indo-Mediterranean and Trans-Caspian Corridors

By Dr. Andrei Kazantsev-VaismanJune 22, 2026PSCRP

The architecture of Eurasian connectivity is currently undergoing a fundamental transformation, driven by the systemic destabilization of traditional trade routes. As sanctions and geopolitical risks render the Northern and Southern corridors increasingly unreliable, the Middle Corridor is probably evolving from a supplementary diversification tool into an indispensable land artery linking the markets of the East and West. Furthermore, the potential integration of the Middle Corridor with the Indo-Israeli "Spice Route" creates a new "Eurasian arc of connectivity".

Revisiting Abraham’s Iceberg: The Israeli-Azerbaijani Strategic Partnership and the Abraham Accords

PSCRP

Revisiting Abraham’s Iceberg: The Israeli-Azerbaijani Strategic Partnership and the Abraham Accords

By PSCRPJune 17, 2026PSCRP

The insights of this analysis allow a more detailed look at the Israeli-Azerbaijani strategic partnership. Drawing well-thought-out conclusions from this is even more essential for Israel, as many security-related issues depend heavily on the future trajectories of this important partnership. Following this, Azerbaijan’s value to the Jewish state will continue to remain crucial in the near future – even outside the Iranian issue and even if Baku remains outside the AAD.

When Pro-Palestinian Moral Advocacy and Russian MFA Rhetoric Start Speaking the Same Language

PSCRP

When Pro-Palestinian Moral Advocacy and Russian MFA Rhetoric Start Speaking the Same Language

By PSCRPJune 14, 2026PSCRP

Russian official discourse has consistently promoted the claim that smaller states pursuing policies critical towards Russia, especially those aligned with NATO or the European Union, do not possess fully authentic sovereignty.

Decolonization Movements of the Peoples of the Russian Federation and Israel’s Interests

PSCRP

Decolonization Movements of the Peoples of the Russian Federation and Israel’s Interests

By Velvl CherninJune 9, 2026PSCRP

The largest Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, which took place in mid-May, became, in a certain sense, a symbolic event, demonstrating the Russian Army's inability to fully protect even the capital and its immediate surroundings. Against this backdrop, statements about the inevitability of Russia's defeat and possible disintegration as one of the consequences of such a defeat have become increasingly frequent. One of the prominent Russian opposition figures in exile, Garry Kasparov, co-founder of the Free Russia Forum, has repeatedly spoken about this possibility. Discussing the centrifugal forces that could cause the Russian Federation, in the event of a weakening central government, to lose some of the territories currently within its borders, the former world chess champion emphasized the civilizational differences between various parts of the Russian Federation.

How Iranian Narrative Operations Are Quietly Reshaping the Post-Soviet Information Space

PSCRP

How Iranian Narrative Operations Are Quietly Reshaping the Post-Soviet Information Space

By PSCRPJune 7, 2026PSCRP

Iran is already operating across the post-Soviet information space — not through overt propaganda campaigns, but through structural dependencies, ambient cultural connectivity, and indirect amplification chains that function below the threshold of conventional influence-operation monitoring. The post-Soviet space is not a passive recipient of Middle Eastern security dynamics. It is an active front.

BESA Post-Soviet Conflicts Research Digest No. 32 (May 2026)

Homepage, PSCRP

BESA Post-Soviet Conflicts Research Digest No. 32 (May 2026)

By Dr. Petr OskolkovJune 5, 2026Homepage, PSCRP

In May 2026, the PSCRP papers addressed a wide array of topics, including the developments in and around Russia, Armenia, and Central Asian states.

Monthly Monitoring of Analytical Publications on Post-Soviet Conflicts

PSCRP

Monthly Monitoring of Analytical Publications on Post-Soviet Conflicts

By PSCRPMay 31, 2026PSCRP

Just as in the previous issue of our monitoring, readers saw many studies of Central Asia, the April issue contains a significant amount of material on the western flank of the post-Soviet space. As with last month, this wasn't some kind of editorial tactic—it's clear that sometimes coincidences drive the logic of a piece more powerfully than the intended message.

Russia and the Second Iran War: Interim Results

PSCRP

Russia and the Second Iran War: Interim Results

By Vladimir (Ze’ev) KhaninMay 25, 2026PSCRP

At the time this article was written, it was still unclear whether the White House intended to resume large-scale strikes on the infrastructure of the Islamic Republic of Iran — or whether it would heed the recommendations of the leadership of Pakistan, Qatar, and the UAE to continue negotiations with Tehran. It is clear that, in the event of a military decision, Israel would also join the United States — its leadership is unlikely to take such a step without a “green light” from Washington. For now, however, there appears to be no consensus on this issue within the U.S. president’s team.

Russia’s Caucasus Campaign: SVR Handlers, Hired Killers, and Compromised Ex-Officials

PSCRP

Russia’s Caucasus Campaign: SVR Handlers, Hired Killers, and Compromised Ex-Officials

By PSCRPMay 23, 2026PSCRP

With Armenian parliamentary elections set for June 7, Moscow has activated an unusually wide operational spectrum against Yerevan — ranging from clerical intelligence assets and a resident SVR station to a paid foreign lobbyist reportedly financed by Russian-based oligarchs and, most recently, a filmed death threat against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. What looks, in isolation, like a series of domestic political pressures is, on closer inspection, a coordinated effort to replace a pro-Western government with one more amenable to Moscow’s preferences in the South Caucasus.

Russia’s Autumn 2026 Elections: A Plebiscite for the “Systemic Opposition”

PSCRP

Russia’s Autumn 2026 Elections: A Plebiscite for the “Systemic Opposition”

By PSCRPMay 20, 2026PSCRP

Russia’s autumn 2026 elections cannot be characterized as routine. In many respects, they will constitute a plebiscite on the very survival of the “systemic opposition” model - a model that has endured without fundamental change for two decades. Even the Kremlin’s opponents do not dispute United Russia’s commanding electoral advantage. What remains in question is the architecture of the internal-systemic opposition to the party of power - an architecture that, by all indications, will look markedly different from the present one.

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