11
March 2014
Past Event
Does the Obama Administration Have a Middle East Policy?

Does the Obama Administration Have a Middle East Policy?

Past Event
Hudson Institute, Washington, D.C. Headquarters
March 11, 2014
Default Event Image
11
March 2014
Past Event

1015 15th Street, N.W., 6th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

Speakers:
Hillel Fradkin,

Senior fellow with Hudson Institute, Director of Center on Islam, Democracy and the Future of the Muslim World, co-editor of Current Trends in Islamist Ideology

Adam Garfinkle,

Editor of The American Interest, speechwriter for both George W. Bush's secretaries of state

Robert Satloff,

Executive director of The Washington Institute, author of Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust's Long Reach into Arab Lands

Tamara Cofman Wittes,

Senior fellow and the director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, former deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs from November of 2009 to January 2012

Lee Smith,

Senior fellow at Hudson Institute, Senior Editor at the Weekly Standard, columnist for Tablet Magazine

Recent statements by President Obama suggest that he has a coherent strategy for American policy in the Middle East. As he told the New Yorker, he wants to create “geopolitical equilibrium” in the region by balancing Washington’s longtime ally Saudi Arabia against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has had an adversarial relationship with the United States for 35 years. This balancing act, the president suggests, will bring some stability to an especially volatile part of the world, now engaged in what appears to be a sectarian civil war.

However, the fact that this Sunni-Shiite conflict is only getting more deadly, reaching now from the Iraqi desert to the shores of Lebanon, is evidence that the White House’s efforts at creating a regional stability are failing. Moreover, it suggests that maybe, in spite of the president’s compelling vision for the Middle East, there really is no coherent strategy. The question then is, does the Obama administration have a real Middle East policy, or is it just, as editor of The American Interest Adam Garfinkle recently put it, “distracted ad hocery”?

On March 11, Hudson Institute senior fellow Lee Smith will moderate a panel with Hillel Fradkin, Adam Garfinkle, Robert Satloff, and Tamara Cofman Wittes to discuss whether or not the Obama White House has a real strategy for the Middle East.

Related Events
22
May 2025
Virtual Event | Invitation Only
US-China Rivalry in the Middle East Conference
Featured Speakers:
Senator Ted Cruz
Congressman Kevin Hern
Elliott Abrams
Michael Doran
Mary Kissel
Bernard Haykel
Joshua Meservey
John Lee
Aaron MacLean
Ray Takeyh
Thomas J. Duesterberg
Jonathan Hessen
Joel Scanlon
Jason Hsu
Dan Blumenthal
Michael Sobolik
Garrett Exner
Ilan Berman
Mike Watson
Moderators:
Liel Leibovitz
Zineb Riboua
Ethan Gutman
Adhwaa Alsaleh
Daniel Samet
(US-China Rivalry in the Middle East logo)
22
May 2025
Virtual Event | Invitation Only
US-China Rivalry in the Middle East Conference

Former policymakers and leading national security experts will join Hudson to assess how China’s growing influence is reshaping the regional order—and how the US should respond.

(US-China Rivalry in the Middle East logo)
Featured Speakers:
Senator Ted Cruz
Congressman Kevin Hern
Elliott Abrams
Michael Doran
Mary Kissel
Bernard Haykel
Joshua Meservey
John Lee
Aaron MacLean
Ray Takeyh
Thomas J. Duesterberg
Jonathan Hessen
Joel Scanlon
Jason Hsu
Dan Blumenthal
Michael Sobolik
Garrett Exner
Ilan Berman
Mike Watson
Moderators:
Liel Leibovitz
Zineb Riboua
Ethan Gutman
Adhwaa Alsaleh
Daniel Samet
23
May 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Trump and the Gulf
Featured Speakers:
Michael Doran
Bernard Haykel
Moderator:
Zineb Riboua
Saudi and United States flags fly as Air Force One arrives at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 13, 2025. (Getty Images)
23
May 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Trump and the Gulf
Saudi and United States flags fly as Air Force One arrives at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 13, 2025. (Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Michael Doran
Bernard Haykel
Moderator:
Zineb Riboua
03
June 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Unbroken: One Uyghur’s Fight for Freedom with Rushan Abbas
Featured Speakers:
Rushan Abbas
Dean Baxendale
Damon Wilson
Moderator:
Olivia Enos
Getty Images
03
June 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Unbroken: One Uyghur’s Fight for Freedom with Rushan Abbas

Join Hudson for a discussion of the book and the ways the United States and other countries can support the Uyghur people in their time of need.

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Rushan Abbas
Dean Baxendale
Damon Wilson
Moderator:
Olivia Enos
15
May 2025
Past Event
Motwani Jadeja US-India Dialogue Series | Strategic Technology and the US-India Relationship
Featured Speakers:
Lisa Curtis
Lindsey Ford
Jeffrey Bean
Daniel Markey
Moderator:
Aparna Pande
Getty Images
15
May 2025
Past Event
Motwani Jadeja US-India Dialogue Series | Strategic Technology and the US-India Relationship

Hudson will host an expert panel to discuss how increased technology collaboration will benefit the US and India and why these agreements could help both nations expand their partnerships in the Indo-Pacific. 

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Lisa Curtis
Lindsey Ford
Jeffrey Bean
Daniel Markey
Moderator:
Aparna Pande