Program Details

Russia vs the U.S. in the Middle East:  The New Cold War?

Instructor
Samuel M. Edelman
SUM09212
Video Catch-up
Available

Course Description

Putin's Russia is on the verge of supplanting the U.S. as the major force in the Middle East. Russia has eagerly stepped into the vacuum caused by the U.S. seeming to lose focus in the Middle East. Decisions under both the Obama and Trump administrations have permitted this shift to happen. How has Putin been so successful? How has the Syrian civil war expedited this process? What does Russia hope to achieve? What is its relationship with Turkey, Iran, Israel, and the Kurds? What are the possible responses the U.S. might take under President Biden to thwart this power shift? These questions and more will be explored.

About the Instructor

  • Samuel M. Edelman, Ph.D., is the former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles. He has served as the executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East. He is also an academic fellow for Israel Studies and Zionism at the University of Miami’s Miller Center for Judaic Studies. Dr. Edelman was also co-director and co-founder of the State of California Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, Human Rights and Tolerance. Edelman is also a frequent lecturer on world affairs issues for the high-end cruise ship industry.