On the ride from the St. Albans campus, which is located on the grounds of the Washington National Cathedral in the Cathedral Heights neighborhood, to the Wilson Center, just blocks from the White House, Mr. Eagles filled us in on all of the necessary background, from Sunnis and Shiites, to Israel's violent history in the Arab world, to Russia's interest in leveraging its power on the world stage in Syria while keeping Iran at bay. By the time I was taking all my things out of my suit pocket at the security checkpoint, I felt I was at least somewhat prepared for what lay ahead.
Inside the Wilson Center, we took the elevator up three stories to a conference room, filled with academics, military personnel, and, most notably, a large of cluster of Israeli officials conversing in to-the-point, no-frills Hebrew (as Israelis tend to do). Seeing two seats open at the front of the horseshoe-shaped table setup where the event was to take place, my friend Chris and I decided to claim them, sticking us front-and center next to Dmitry Adamsky, a professor at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzeliya, former Director of Policy and Political-Military Affairs at the Ministry of Defense Major General (Res.) Amos Gilead, and former deputy head of the National Security Council of Israel and IDF historian Dr. Col. (Res.) Saul Shay.
If I had come looking for sympathy for Iran and a level-headed look at the current status of the Middle East, boy was I in the wrong place. Gilead and Shay practically borrowed from our very own Ronald Reagan, calling Iran what amounted to an "evil empire" and asserting their absolute, diametric opposition to everything Israel holds dear. The most interesting part of the presentation however, was not Iran, a predictably inflammatory topic for ex-IDF, but on Russia, which the three panelists made sure to assert was not a friend of the Israelis, but rather an ally by convenience whom they would be keeping a very close watch on. "Frozen conflict" was the big buzzword in the discussion, with the panelists comparing the current situation in the Middle East to Eastern Europe in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union. Was the conflict really "frozen," why was it in Russia's best interest to keep it "frozen," and what were Russia ultimate motivations for increasing Middle Eastern hegemony were some of the many questions raised during the event.
Toward the end of the program, when they opened it up for a Q&A, I stood up, heart pounding out of my chest, and asked how the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action would affect the balance of power in the Middle East, and if those effects would be felt in the Syrian proxy war. After giving a short answer about how it was best to keep Iran from having nuclear weapons in the first place, Dr. Shay turned my question over to a balding Israeli man named Ofer in the audience, who proceeded to launch into a passionate rant attacking the JCPOA, Iran's behavior after agreeing to the JCPOA, and Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the JCPOA, ultimately concluding that although the deal had been flawed and Iran's behavior had been provocative, pulling out was still a grave mistake.
On the way out of the event, Mr. Eagles told me the enthusiasm of people like me was what kept him doing these "Ted Trips," and he would try to get me on as many as he could, so I am looking forward to more international relations-themed in the future, but possibly without as many confrontational Israelis.
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| Spot me doing my best to comprehend the forces at play in Syria. |
