LFG - Brewers Vibes Only

Last week was a busy one. I voted, I gave a talk to a wonderfully engaged audience at Amherst College, I ran a workshop at the University of Wisconsin alongside Steven Brooke on the regional effects of the Iran war, and I celebrated the first Milwaukee Brewers World Series championship after nearly half a century of watching and cheering. The Brewers' dominance, determination to win their way, and astonishing resilience in bouncing back every time the Padres, Dodgers, or Rays landed a blow showed good things can happen and that catastrophe isn't always lurking around every corner. There's a lesson there for all of us heading into tonight's election returns. Brewers vibes, America - LFG!!! (That's "Let's Fucking Go" for those of you who don't speak Brewer.)

In the middle of all that, I joined Akbar Shahed Ahmed, author of the blistering new book Crossing the Red Line, at the Elliott School for an extended conversation about Biden, Gaza, and the moral responsibility of the men and women who worked in his administration. I have a longer essay on Ahmed's book which really delves into his arguments and evidence about the Biden administraiton and Gaza coming out soon, so I'll hold off on an extended discussion here. But this conversation brought out many of the critical themes of my thoughts on the book. Watch it here:

I'll be talking about my own book, America's Middle East, with Negar Mortazavi this Thursday at Busboys and Poets (14th/V). The conversation will range well beyond the book of course – as in my recent Foreign Affairs article, I expect we will talk about the Iran war's impact on the United States and its position in the Middle East and the profound risks of the renewal of war (which, let's face it, may have already begun by the time we sit down to talk). If you're in DC, you definitely want to be there – RSVP now!

I also wanted to highlight a few recent episodes of the Middle East Political Science Podcast that I didn't have time to blog about earlier. A few weeks ago I spoke with Anne Kirstine Rønn of Aarhus University about her new book, Anatomy of an Opposition: The Struggle Against Sectarianism in Postwar Lebanon. It's a fascinating theoretical and empirical exploration of the practice of sectarianism in Lebanon, the limits of the state, and the challenges of opposition to such a system. Listen here:

Then last week I spoke with Jacob Eriksson of University of York about his book, A Victor’s Peace in Iraq: ISIS and the Mediated State. Eriksson's book explores the logics and contradictions of peacebuilding in Iraq since 2003, but with a particular focus on the aftermath of the war with the Islamic State. It adds one more fascinating contribution to the growing literature on the state in Iraq, including Inna Rudolf's book which kicked off this season of the podcast. Listen here:

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