Michael Rubin

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For other uses, see Michael Rubin (disambiguation).

Michael Rubin (born 1971) is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). He previously worked as an official at the Pentagon, where he dealt with issues relating to the Middle East, and as political adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority.[1]

Michael Rubin
Born1971
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
EducationYale University, B.S. Biology, 1994 Yale University, Ph.D. History, 1999

Biography[]

Early life[]

A native of Philadelphia, Rubin earned both his B.A. in biology (1994) and his Ph.D. in history (1999) from Yale University.[1] His dissertation, The Making of Modern Iran, 1858–1909: Communications, Telegraph and Society won Yale's John Addison Porter Prize.[2]

Career[]

Rubin has lectured in history at Yale University, Hebrew University, Johns Hopkins University, and worked as visiting lecturer at Universities of Sulaymaniyah, Salahuddin, and Duhok, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. From 2002 until 2004, Rubin served as a staff adviser on Iran and Iraq for the Office of the Secretary of Defense.[3] Between 2003 and 2004, Rubin worked as a political adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad.[4]

Between 2004 and 2009, he was editor of the Middle East Quarterly. He has received fellowships from the Council on Foreign Relations,[5] and the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.

Since 2007 and 2021, he taught senior U.S. Army, U.S. Marine, and U.S. Navy leadership prior to their deployment to Iraq, the Persian Gulf, and Afghanistan as a lecturer at the Naval Postgraduate School.[6]

Human Rights Watch criticisms[]

Rubin has repeatedly criticized Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. In 2014, for example, he questioned whether policymakers could trust Human Rights Watch reports after the group held a fundraiser in Saudi Arabia. [7] That same year, he alleged Human Rights Watch had incorporated information that was provided by Alkarama, a group whose founding president the US Treasury Department had designated an Al Qaeda financier.[8] He also accused Human Rights Watch of fabricating statistics. [9]

In 2014, the Intercept, in an article about an alleged UAE campaign through the public relations firm Camstoll, mentioned Rubin as a "target" to "plant" stories favorable to the UAE government[10]

In 2016, Rubin wrote an article on the case of UAE Five activist economist Nasser bin Ghaith, criticizing Human Rights Watch's calling for bin Ghaith's release.[11] Rubin criticized HRW for "cherry-picking" and not mentioning that bin Ghaith was charged with "working to overthrow the state" and was a member of the Emirati Ummah Party. HRW amended their report to include the Ummah party accusation which they said had been omitted from the English translation due to an error. Bin Ghaith's family denied those accusations, saying the Ummah party unilaterally appointed bin Ghaith after he was already in prison and one day before the trial session in order to harm him.[12] [13] Rubin reiterated the claims in subsequent articles. [14][15]

Amnesty International analyst Mansoureh Mills and Ahmed Mansoor accused Rubin of having been paid by the UAE to write the piece on Ghaith.[16] When challenged for proof, Mills deleted her tweet. Former HRW analyst Nicholas McGeehan said in a self-published article that emails to Yousef Al Otaiba from advisors that were leaked mention Rubin's articles as positive, but the email he references do not suggest Rubin was paid.[17] Rubin has denied any payments from foreign sources, note his articles are cited by governments from Iran to Morocco and states that his writings were consistent with long criticism of both HRW and the Muslim Brotherhood agenda [18]


Bounty[]

In December 2017, Turkish national offered a reward of 3-million Turkish lira (almost $800,000) for help in delivering Rubin to Turkey to answer Turkish terrorism allegations in connection with the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt.[19]

Ethiopia[]

Rubin has written extensively regarding human rights abuses in Ethiopia and was among the first to call for legal sanctions against Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed for mass murder if not genocide in Tigray [20]

Bibliography[]

  • Seven Pillars: What Really Causes Instability in the Middle East? (Co-editor with Brian Katulus, AEI Press, 2019)
  • Kurdistan Rising (AEI Press, 2016)
  • Michael Rubin. Dancing with the Devil: The Perils of Engaging Rogue Regimes. New York: Encounter Books, 2014. (ISBN 978-1594037238)
  • The Shi'ites of the Middle East (co-author, AEI Press, 2014)
  • Dissent and Reform in the Arab World (editor, AEI Press, 2008)
  • Patrick Clawson and Michael Rubin. Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. (ISBN 978-1403962768)
  • Michael Rubin. Into the Shadows: Radical Vigilantes in Khatami's Iran. Washington: Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 2001. (ISBN 9780944029459)

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Michael Rubin | AEI Scholar". AEI. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  2. ^ Yale University, "Democracy, Security, and Justice" lecture series, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-05-15. Retrieved 2008-05-29.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link).
  3. ^ Press Release, "Michael Rubin Appointed Middle East Quarterly Editor", http://www.meforum.org/press/613.
  4. ^ "Seven Years In, Assessing Value Of Iraq War". NPR.org. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  5. ^ Council on Foreign Relations Annual Report (2002), http://www.cfr.org/content/about/annual_report/ar_2002/032-39.pdf.
  6. ^ "Michael Rubin | AEI Scholar". AEI. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  7. ^ "Should Human Rights Watch be Trusted?". 3 September 2014.
  8. ^ "Alkarama Doubles Down on Al-Qaeda". 7 February 2014.
  9. ^ "Does Human Rights Watch Make up Its Numbers?". 4 September 2014.
  10. ^ "How Former Treasury Officials and the UAE Are Manipulating American Journalists". The Intercept. Retrieved 2021-05-23.
  11. ^ "Human Rights Watch doubles down on terror apologetics". AEI. 19 May 2016. Retrieved 2021-05-23.
  12. ^ @Wedad562 (May 5, 2016). "... appointment came on May 1, i.e. one day before the trial session of Dr. Nasser. Signed: The family of and on behalf of Dr. Nasser bin Ghaith" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  13. ^ @Wedad562 (May 5, 2016). "Emirati Umma Party ... unilateral decision to appoint Dr. Nasser" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  14. ^ "Political bias cripples human rights advocacy". AEI. June 2016. Retrieved 2021-06-08.
  15. ^ "Is Human Rights Watch's UAE campaign collapsing?". AEI. 5 July 2016. Retrieved 2021-06-08.
  16. ^ "Ex-US official accused of pushing UAE propaganda by targeting jailed activist". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 2021-05-23.
  17. ^ McGeehan, Nicholas (2017-12-18). ""The Men Behind Man City: a documentary not coming soon to a cinema near you"".
  18. ^ https://twitter.com/mrubin1971/status/1055394988782166016. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  19. ^ Kredo, Adam (2017-12-12). "Turkey Places Bounty on Two Former U.S. Government Officials". Washington Free Beacon. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  20. ^ https://nationalinterest.org/feature/abiy-ahmed-first-nobel-laureate-trial-international-criminal-court-178481. Retrieved 2021-08-25. Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links[]

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