Barry Rubin, a prominent Middle East policy analyst, died in
Israel on Monday following an 18-month struggle with lung cancer. Prof. Rubin survived just past his 64th birthday. He is survived by his journalist wife, Judith Colp Rubin, and their daughter and son.
Barry Rubin’s reach in the world of Middle East scholarship was broad and deep. He served as director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center, a columnist at The Jerusalem Post, the editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs and a contributor to the PJ Media website.
 |
| History-buff Rubins participated in Civil War re-enactments |
Rubin, a D.C. native, had been a Fulbright scholar and a fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations. He received his doctorate from Georgetown University in 1978. He was a noted skeptic of Palestinian nationalism, saying that Islamism was too deeply embedded in the region to accommodate a true peace with Israel.
“Clearly, the Obama administration does not understand Middle Eastern regimes and terrorist organizations, and if it doesn’t, it will meet miserable defeats,” he wrote on Jan. 12 at PJMedia.
His passing revives interest in his ideas. We re-publish an article of Mr. Rubin's on the Obama administration's Middle East policy, supplemented with a TV interview he did with us in 2011.
"The Solution: How to Deal with Obama Middle-East Policy" by Barry Rubin
It is likely that the efforts of the Obama Administration during its second term will fail, not only because of its lack of understanding of the region and its ideology, but also due to the specific agenda. No Middle Eastern country (only hostile ones or movements) can depend on the United States. And to clarify this further: No country -- including Israel -- can depend on the Obama Administration.
But as I noted above, this U.S. policy of Obama’s second term will fail. For example, the main goals of the second term are four big issues:
1) Israel-Palestinian peace
2) Egypt government coalition with Muslim Brotherhood
3) Syrian civil war resolution with rebel victory
4) U.S.-Iran rapprochement resolving nuclear issue.
Video 1- Leftist journalistic-bias intentionally whitewashes malevolence of Muslim Brotherhood
Yet because of irreconcilable differences, these may well be unresolvable. Due to such failures and hardline radical positions (Palestinians, Muslim Brotherhood, Syrian Islamists and regime, Iranian regime), the next administration would probably be forced back on recognition of extremism, support of allies, and U.S. interests.
Thus, regarding the “peace process,” we may well see the typical pattern in which the Palestinians wreck the peace process by rejecting or demanding even more concessions. Once again, it will only be necessary to wait until American negotiators learn better why their goals are impossible. Radicals will just raise their demands and demonstrate their anti-Americanism, and necessary priorities will shift.
