From the Middle East to Middle America: Engineering Better Policy with Andrew J. Tabler
Brian sits down with Andrew J. Tabler, the Martin J. Gross Senior Fellow in the Linda and Tony Rubin Program on Arab Politics at The Washington Institute, to trace his unique and distinctive path from Oil City, Pennsylvania, to fourteen years living and working in the Middle East. Tabler discusses his time in Syria under the Assad regime, his service as director for Syria at the National Security Council and as senior advisor to the Special Envoy for Syria Engagement at the US State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs in the first Trump administration, and explains how these experiences shaped his perspective and inspired him to found the Drake Energy Forum.
When the US and Israel launched military action against Iran on February 28, 2026, it set in motion a chain of events that saw violence spread across the Middle East. Yet as the region found itself engulfed in conflict, Syria has experienced its most peaceful months in 15 years, and the government in Damascus appears determined to stay its course toward recovery.
Unlocking the Levant: Why the United States and Syria Must Pursue a Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement
Apart from the brief honeymoon period between 1961 and 1963 under President John F. Kennedy and President Nazim al-Qudsi, US-Syria relations have never held such optimistic potential as they do today. Today, following the fall of Bashar al-Assad regime and the rise of a new government under President Ahmad al-Sharaa at the end of 2024, a new geopolitical window has opened.
MEI’s Syria Initiative seeks to provide insightful and grounded research and analysis on all things Syria in order to better inform a wide range of audiences and to help sustain and shape a more meaningful policy-oriented discussion.
The Middle East Institute, The Atlantic Council, and European Institute of Peace collaborate with subject matter experts and policymakers in the US, Europe, and the Middle East to develop a holistic strategy to sustainably forge a pathway to resolving Syria’s crisis.
Turkey and the Regional Dynamics of the Syrian Crisis
Turkey and the Regional Dynamics of the Syrian Crisis Denise Natali, Omer Taspinar, Mona Yacoubian, Gonul Tol 27 September, 2012 Podcast 31This is the second of four events in a joint lecture series by Middle East Institute’s Center for Turkish Studies and the Institute of Turkish Studies at Georgetown University.
Turkey and the Regional Dynamics of the Syrian Crisis
Turkey and the Regional Dynamics of the Syrian Crisis Denise Natali, Omer Taspinar, Mona Yacoubian, Gonul Tol 27 September, 2012 Podcast 31This is the second of four events in a joint lecture series by Middle East Institute’s Center for Turkish Studies and the Institute of Turkish Studies at Georgetown University.
Turkey and the Regional Dynamics of the Syrian Crisis
Turkey and the Regional Dynamics of the Syrian Crisis Denise Natali, Omer Taspinar, Mona Yacoubian, Gonul Tol 27 September, 2012 Podcast 31This is the second of four events in a joint lecture series by Middle East Institute’s Center for Turkish Studies and the Institute of Turkish Studies at Georgetown University.
Turkey and the Regional Dynamics of the Syrian Crisis
Turkey and the Regional Dynamics of the Syrian Crisis Denise Natali, Omer Taspinar, Mona Yacoubian, Gonul Tol 27 September, 2012 Podcast 31This is the second of four events in a joint lecture series by Middle East Institute’s Center for Turkish Studies and the Institute of Turkish Studies at Georgetown University.
Turkey and the Regional Dynamics of the Syrian Crisis
Turkey and the Regional Dynamics of the Syrian Crisis Denise Natali, Omer Taspinar, Mona Yacoubian, Gonul Tol 27 September, 2012 Podcast 31This is the second of four events in a joint lecture series by Middle East Institute’s Center for Turkish Studies and the Institute of Turkish Studies at Georgetown University.
The first volume of the migration and the Arab World series dealt primarily with the trends in, consequences of, and policy responses to labor migration in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states since the “oil boom” period of the 1970s. This volume focuses on the countries of the Mashreq (i.e., Egypt and the Levant) as source and destination countries for various migrant groups, dating from the late 19th century up to the present day.
This Opinion first appeared in Foreign Policy on May 30, 2012
The massacre in al-Houla, where Syrian military forces and allied militiamen massacred more than 100 civilians in cold blood, leaves no doubt about the intentions of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime: survival at any cost and through any means. Assad does not have a Plan B.
MEI’s Syria Initiative seeks to provide insightful and grounded research and analysis on all things Syria in order to better inform a wide range of audiences and to help sustain and shape a more meaningful policy-oriented discussion. Drawing on the expertise of over a dozen renowned scholars, the Syria Program covers all aspects of Syria and its ongoing crises – from political, economic, legal, social, ethnic and religious dynamics, to conflict, insurgency and terrorism and the country’s history and possible futures.
