The Middle East Institute and the Brookings Institution are proud to co-host the panel Syria Under Growing International Pressure, which will examine recent efforts by Turkey, the Arab League, the UN, and the EU to further isolate and punish the Syrian regime for its continuing repression of protesters. With the death toll exceeding 4,000, Turkey and the Arab League recently joined the US and the EU in imposing sanctions on the Damascus government - a move inconceivable just six months ago. Murhaf Jouejati, Andrew Tabler and Omer Taspinar will examine the impact of growing international pressure on the Assad government and analyze the domestic and regional implications of a weakening Syrian regime and economy.
Speaker Bios:
Murhaf Jouejati is a Syrian-born specialist on Middle East affairs, particularly Syrian politics and the Levant. He is currently a Professor of Middle East Studies at the National Defense University's Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies. Dr. Jouejati is also a Professorial Lecturer in Political Science and International Affairs at the George Washington University, as well as an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC. He was recently appointed a member of the opposition group, the Syrian National Council.
Andrew J. Tabler is a Next Generation fellow in the Program on Arab Politics at The Washington Institute, where he focuses on Syria and US policy in the Levant. Mr. Tabler is author of In the Lion's Den: An Eyewitness Account of Washington's Battle with Syria (Lawrence Hill Books, 2011), and the 2007 Stanley Foundation report "The High Road to Damascus: Engage Syria's Private Sector."
Omer Taspinar is a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He is an expert on Turkey, the European Union, Muslims in Europe, political Islam, the Middle East and Kurdish nationalism. He is a professor at the National War College and an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.
Moderator: Michael Doran is a senior fellow in the Saban Center, where he specializes in Middle East security issues. He has held several academic positions and has served as a deputy assistant secretary of defense and a senior director at the National Security Council.
