While the current cease-fire between the United States, Israel, and Iran is far from perfect, military aggression has largely tamped down in the region, with the stark exception of Lebanon. However, the conflict has thrown the Middle East and especially the Gulf countries into serious disarray. Heavy Iranian attacks on those neighbors hosting US military bases shattered the sleek image of prosperous, business-friendly havens the Gulf countries had spent decades cultivating. More importantly, the attacks upended existing assumptions about current security alliances and encouraged much greater hedging by regional states. Where does the region go from here? Is a new Middle East security architecture necessary?
To assess the ramifications of this war on the regional order, The Middle East Institute invites you to join a discussion tomorrow with Dr. Yasmine Farouk and MEI Senior Fellow Mirette F. Mabrouk. The panel will be moderated by MEI’s Vice President for Policy Dr. Kenneth M. Pollack.
Speaker Biographies
Yasmine Farouk
Project Director, Gulf and Arabian Peninsula, International Crisis Group
Mirette F. Mabrouk
Senior Fellow, Middle East Institute
Kenneth M. Pollack (Moderator)
Vice President for Policy, Middle East Institute
Extended Speaker Biographies
Yasmine Farouk is the Project Director of the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula at International Crisis Group. Dr. Farouk has over 20 years of experience in research and practice focused on the Gulf region and Egypt. Before joining Crisis Group, she served as a Senior Adviser at the European Institute of Peace, was a Visiting Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and held the position of Nonresident Scholar at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.
Mirette F. Mabrouk is a Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute (MEI), where she focuses on economic development, regional security, and sustainable development issues in the Middle East and North Africa. Prior to joining MEI, Ms. Mabrouk served as the Deputy Director and Director for research and programs at the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East at theAtlantic Council. She was also a Fellow at the Project for US Relations with theMiddle East at the Brookings Institution and was based in Cairo, where she was the Director of Communications for the Economic Research Forum (ERF).
Kenneth M. Pollack (Moderator) is Vice President for Policy at the Middle East Institute. Dr. Pollack began his career as a Persian Gulf military analyst at the CIA and served twice on the National Security Council, first as Director for Near East and South Asian affairs and then as Director for Persian Gulf affairs.
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