Middle East Studies at MCU

04/29/2025

MES Insights to MCU Insights: Larger Scope
Marine Corps University Press The Brute Krulak Center Marine Corps University

Published bi-monthly since January 2010 as the newsletter of MES, MES Insights features short analytical pieces as well as information on events organized by MES and provides a forum for debate with our readers.

04/11/2025

NEW ISSUE from MCU Insights!

"Vladimir Putin as a Mediator between Iran and the United States: Russia's Return to the Middle East Through the Iranian Door," written by Clément Therme, a nonresident fellow at the International Institute for Iranian Studies (Rasanah) and a visiting lecturer at the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po Paris.

🔗https://www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Marine-Corps-University-Press/MES-Publications/MES-Insights/MCU-Insights-vol-16-no-1/

Middle East Studies at MCU The Brute Krulak Center Marine Corps College of Distance Education and Training / MarineNet

12/09/2024

Middle East Studies Director Dr. Amin Tarzi was interviewed in by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) about the advance of Syrian rebel groups southward and their rapid capture of the key cities of Aleppo and Hama as Syrian government forces and their allies retreated.

خبرگزاری فرانسه به حوالۀ سازمان نظارت حقوق بشر درسوریه که مقرآن درلندن است روز چهارشنبه گزارش کرد که ۳۶۱ تن از شورشیان ، ۲۳۳ تن از نیروهای دولتی و ۱۱۰ تن از غیرنظامیا...

12/04/2024

In the August 2023 issue of "MES Insights" published an article, "Strengthening the Brittle Rare Earth Element Supply Chain Amid Revisionist Alignment," which is all the more relevant considering the PRC's rare earth minerals export ban to the United States yesterday. The article was written by a double alumnus (AY23 & AY24) of the Krulak Scholars Program, Capt Lonnie W. Carraway (USMC).

https://www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Marine-Corps-University-Press/MES-Publications/MES-Insights/Strengthening-the-Brittle-Rare-Earth-Element-Supply-Chain/

The Brute Krulak Center

Marine Corps University

The Russia-Ukraine War has significantly affected European energy supplies and demonstrated the varied vulnerabilities associated with a brittle supply chain, leading the International Energy Agency to characterize its impact as “the first truly global energy crisis.” In late 2022, Russia reduce...

11/26/2024

Middle East Studies research assistant professor Dr. Christopher Anzalone was interviewed about reports of cooperation across the Red Sea & Bab al-Mandab, one of the world's key naval chokepoints, between the Houthi Movement in Yemen & Al-Shabaab in Somalia.

Marine Corps University The Brute Krulak Center

Are the Houthis really working with al-Shabaab? Geeska speaks to Christopher Anzalone about the veracity of these reports which began emerging earlier this

10/28/2024

Middle East Studies (MES) published its latest issue of MES Insights, its flagship bimonthly publication in collaboration with Marine Corps University Press. The new issue has a feature article by MES Director Dr. Amin Tarzi, "Israel-Iran Conflict: A Change in Iran's Strategic Assessment?" In it he examines the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran's "forward defense" strategy using allied and proxy non- and quasi-state armed groups as well as how the ongoing conflict in the Middle East may change its strategic calculations.

https://www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Marine-Corps-University-Press/MES-Publications/MES-Insights/MES-Insights-vol-15-no-5/

The Brute Krulak Center Marine Corps University

With its second direct missile and drone attack on Israel on 1 October 2024, the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) may have changed, or has been forced to alter, its longstanding geopolitical strategy of preventing its adversaries, real or perceived, from directly engaging its homeland. Here, after an....

10/27/2024

LEADERSHIP HIGHLIGHT!

Congratulations to our Middle East Studies at MCU Director Dr. Amin Tarzi, for his new book chapter, "Geopolitics in Iran," is featured in a forthcoming new edited book, The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Geopolitics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025). Scan the QR Codes or go to https://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007/978-3-031-25399-7 for the entire book, and to https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-031-25399-7_3-1 for his chapter, via subscription.

10/16/2024

Middle East Studies Director Dr. Amin Tarzi & MES Research Assistant Professor Dr. Christopher Anzalone joined the The Brute Krulak Center's Operations Officer on a new episode of the series "Navigating Complexity" to discuss the latest on the conflict in the Middle East between Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran and its allies & proxies

In this episode we're joined by the professors of Middle East Studies, Dr. Amin Tarzi and Dr. Christopher Anzalone to talk about the events that occurred bet...

08/27/2024

New issue of "MES Insights," the flagship bimonthly publication of Middle East Studies, in partnership with Marine Corps University Press, feat. "Passive Defense Measures in Saving Iran’s Ballistic Missile Arsenal," by Mehran Atashjameh

For decades, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s ballistic missile program has been securitized by the West as a threat to peace. To compensate for economic sanctions, arms sanctions, and limitations on air power, Iran focused on enhancing its ballistic missile program. As a result, its ballistic missi...

08/19/2024

VIDEO: MES Research Assistant Professor Dr. Christopher Anzalone & Naval Postgraduate School's Dr. Tim Jones, "CTX Conversations - The Future of Insurgencies and Radical Groups in Africa"

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07/22/2024

Newly released episode on updates on "Axis of Resistance" groups aligned with Iran (recorded in early June) with MES Research Assistant Professor Dr. Christopher Anzalone, "Navigating Complexity Series: Axis of Resistance II":

https://youtu.be/PcBb1n4rF00?si=fTx41kKtUouR6rFi

The Brute Krulak Center Marine Corps University

On February 7th 2024, we published an episode on the Axis of Resistance (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQdkJBAGv6w) looking mostly at the Houthi's after th...