ANC of Boston to host online lecture with Dr. Michael Rubin

WATERTOWN, Mass. – The Armenian National Committee (ANC) of Boston is hosting a webinar on the current situation in Artsakh. This free and open online event will be held on Thursday, February 9, at 7:00 p.m.

This online presentation, hosted by Dr. Vazrik Chiloyan, will feature Dr. Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he specializes in Iran, Turkey and the broader Middle East. Dr. Rubin’s presentation will be titled “Remedying US Policy in the Caucasus after the Lachin Blockade.”

Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin Corridor and its efforts to starve Artsakh’s population into submission should be a wake-up call for Washington, DC. Azerbaijan’s actions suggest both President Ilham Aliyev’s disrespect for US diplomacy and the ineffectiveness of State Department strategy. As these military and humanitarian crises accelerate in the South Caucasus, what might the White House, State Department and Congress do to ensure US interests and Armenian human rights are paramount in American foreign policy toward the region?

A former Pentagon official, Dr. Rubin has lived in post-revolution Iran, Yemen and both pre- and post-war Iraq. He also spent time with the Taliban before 9/11. For more than a decade, he taught classes at sea about the Horn of Africa and Middle East conflicts, culture and terrorism, to deployed US Navy and Marine units. Dr. Rubin is the author, co-author and co-editor of several books exploring diplomacy, Iranian history, Arab culture, Kurdish studies and Shi’ite politics, including “Seven Pillars: What Really Causes Instability in the Middle East?” (AEI Press, 2019); “Kurdistan Rising” (AEI Press, 2016); “Dancing with the Devil: The Perils of Engaging Rogue Regimes” (Encounter Books, 2014); and “Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos” (Palgrave, 2005). Most recently, he has published a piece entitled “As Genocide Looms Against Armenians, Credibility Requires Action, Not Empty Rhetoric,” outlining the anemic response of the US Government to the looming genocide in Artsakh. Dr. Rubin holds a PhD and an MA in history from Yale University, where he also obtained a BS in biology.

The audience will have the opportunity to engage the speaker in a Q&A session following the presentation. For questions and additional information, please contact the ANC of Boston at sardarabad@arfeastusa.com.

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