If the US and the EU require other countries to...
Read MoreEmil 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].
(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]
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.
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.
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.
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.
(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.
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]
(Ph.D. Bar-Ilan University) Specializes in inter-Arab relations, the Arab-Israeli conflict, terrorism, Jewish communities in the Arab world. Email: [email protected]
(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]
(Ph.D. Tel Aviv University) Specializes in Arab markets and economies, Palestinian economic development, Mideast economic cooperation and Israel-Arab trade. Email: [email protected]
(Ph.D. University of Maryland) Specializes in international and domestic conflict, especially ethnic and religious conflict. Email: [email protected]
(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]
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]
Ph.D. Walden University, M.S University of Maryland. Dissertation Editing and Proofreading specialist | Best Selling Writer | Faculty | Researcher | Financial and Performance Management Specialist
(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]
(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]
(Ph.D. Tel Aviv University) Specializes in the history and politics of modern Iran, Iran-Israel relations, Iranian foreign policy. Email: [email protected]
Alex Joffe (Ph.D. University of Arizona). Specializes in ancient and modern Middle Eastern studies, American foreign policy, and American cultural politics.
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]
(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]
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]
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]
(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]
(Ph.D. Hebrew University) Specializes in East Asian security, the Korean Peninsula (foreign, security, politics and history), and Asian international organizations. Email: [email protected]
(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]
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]
(Ph.D. Hebrew University) Specializes in East Asian security, the Korean Peninsula (foreign, security, politics and history), and Asian international organizations. Email: [email protected]
(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]
(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.
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.”
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]
(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]
(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]
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
(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.
(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]
(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]
(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]
(Ph.D. Tel Aviv University) Expert on the Gulf states, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Arab economies, and pan-Arab issues. Email: [email protected]
(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]
Dr. George N. Tzogopoulos (Ph.D. Loughborough University) specializes in media and international relations as well as Chinese affairs. Email: [email protected]
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]
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]
Post-Soviet Conflicts Research Program
PSCRP is a platform for analysis of FSU conflicts
and involvement of regional superpowers.
Arming Ukraine: How Russia Forces US and EU to Foot the African Kingdom’s Bill
Municipal Ethnopolitics, Reputation and Party System: The Case of Estonia
Not Yet a Peace Treaty: Understanding the Border Delimitation Agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan
Russia vs. Ukraine: From Interstate to Interethnic Conflict
The Challenging Task of Armenia’s Multi-vector Policy: How to Prevent the Transfer of Western Nuclear and Missile Technologies to Iran?
Ukraine, Russian Identity and Prospects for Its Evolution
Kazakhstan Debates Changing the Coat of Arms — a Symbol of Departure from the Soviet Past
BESA Post-Soviet Conflicts Research Digest No. 6 (March 2024)
Can Iran Take Over Russia’s Position in the South Caucasus and Create New Threats to Israel?
Mission statement
The Post-Soviet Conflicts Research Program (PSCRP) was established in 2023 as a unit/research initiative at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. It is envisioned as a platform for academic and professional exchange among leading experts in the fields of politics, society, and international relations of the USSR-successor states (the FSU states, or post-Communist Eurasia).
The PSCR Program aims to conduct academic and applied research focused on:
- geopolitics and security in the post-Soviet space;
- political and social conflicts within and between the former USSR states;
- role of the global and regional superpowers in the post-Communist Eurasia;
- the Middle Eastern policies of Russia and other FSU states and their implications for Israel and the region;
- bilateral relations between Israel and Eurasian post-Communist countries;
- the social and political status of the Russian-speaking Jewry in the FSU and countries of their emigration in the context of local societies and politics;
- other issues relevant to the scope of the program’s mission.
As a part of the BESA Center activities, the PSCRP puts out a series of analytical articles BESA-PSCRP Reports, opinion and research papers, as well as conducts seminars, forums, and conference panels on contemporary FSU issues.
Arming Ukraine: How Russia Forces US and EU to Foot the African Kingdom’s Bill
Morocco, like many other African countries, maintained neutrality regarding arms...
Read MoreMunicipal Ethnopolitics, Reputation and Party System: The Case of Estonia
The events that occurred on 26 March 2024, in Tallinn,...
Read MoreNot Yet a Peace Treaty: Understanding the Border Delimitation Agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan
Technically, by agreeing to return to the demarcation of the...
Read MoreRussia vs. Ukraine: From Interstate to Interethnic Conflict
In an attempt to change the vector of the Russian-Ukrainian...
Read MoreThe Challenging Task of Armenia’s Multi-vector Policy: How to Prevent the Transfer of Western Nuclear and Missile Technologies to Iran?
Armenia, like other post-Soviet countries, particularly in the southern region,...
Read MoreUkraine, Russian Identity and Prospects for Its Evolution
Since the onset of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war in February...
Read MoreKazakhstan Debates Changing the Coat of Arms — a Symbol of Departure from the Soviet Past
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict has given Kazakhstan a new impetus in...
Read MoreBESA Post-Soviet Conflicts Research Digest No. 6 (March 2024)
In March 2024, the PSCRP program of the BESA Center...
Read MoreCan Iran Take Over Russia’s Position in the South Caucasus and Create New Threats to Israel?
Iran would become Armenia’s new patron and it could eventually...
Read More