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Archive for July, 2016

Dr. Sheehan Serves as Academic Observer at 2016 Conference for Democracy in Iran

Posted in @TheIranDeal, advisory board, analysis, ashraf, assad, assessment, baghdad, ballistic missiles, bipartisan, camp liberty, CIA, civil unrest, clinton, college of public affairs, congress, congressional oversight, council on foreign relations, counterterrorism, covert, crimes against humanity, delisting, democracy, democrat, Department of Homeland Security, deterrence, diplomacy, dissident, Dr. Ivan Sascha Sheehan, european union, foreign policy, foreign policy analysis, freedom, fundamentalism, gingrich, global, haider al-abadi, hostages, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism and Non-Proliferation, human rights, human security, IAEA, inspections, intelligence, international relations, international security studies, interview, iran, iraq, irgc, ISIS, Ivan Sascha Sheehan, leadership, media, MEK, middle east, military, NCRI, negotiation, nonproliferation, nuclear, obama, P5+1, paris, PMOI, policy, political science, politics, preemptive, Professor Ivan Sascha Sheehan, regime change, regime change from within, republican, research, rouhani, sanctions, scholarly, securitization, security studies, senate, senate foreign relations committee, sheehan, shiite, social science, state department, suicide terrorism, sunni, syria, tehran, terror tagging, terrorism, the hill, threat, Tom Ridge, u.s. foundation for liberty, war, weapons, white house, yemen with tags @ProfSheehan, @PublicAffairsUB, College of Public Affairs, Congress, Counterterrorism, Dr. Ivan Sascha Sheehan, Global Affairs and Human Security Graduate Program, Iran, Iraq, ISIS, Ivan Sascha Sheehan, MEK, Middle East, NCRI, Negotiation and Conflict Management Graduate Program, nuclear agreement, nuclear deal, PMOI, Policy, Professor Ivan Sascha Sheehan, Regime Change, School of Public and International Affairs, Sheehan, Terrorism, University of Baltimore, White House on July 26, 2016 by Professor Sheehan

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In July 2016, Dr. Ivan Sascha Sheehan – Associate Professor of Public and International Affairs – traveled to Paris as part of a distinguished research delegation examining the Iranian opposition on the first anniversary of the conclusion of negotiations that resulted in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran.

A guest of the organizing committee, Dr. Sheehan met with a series of bipartisan U.S. officials in Paris to discuss U.S.-Iran policy and his research on regime change. He also chaired a panel featuring former U.S. Attorney General Judge Michael Mukasey. While in Europe, Sheehan met with a recently released American hostage detained at Iran’s notorious Evin Prison and examined the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran through a series of interviews with Iranian dissidents.

The annual conference – which featured crowds estimated at more than 100,000 – is the largest annual gathering of the democratic Iranian opposition in exile. The July event featured remarks by leaders from more than fifty countries, a bipartisan delegation of senior U.S. officials, and prominent academics from around the world. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran, democracy, human rights, the rule of law, and the deteriorating situation in neighboring Syria and Iraq were discussed.

Dignitaries in attendance included former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich; former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge; former U.S. Attorney General Judge Michael Mukasey; and former National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush, Frances Townsend, among many others.

Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, a former Director of the Saudi General Intelligence Directorate, Saudi Arabia’s Intelligence Agency, pledged his commitment to regime change from within via the Iranian resistance. Clare M. Lopez, Vice President for Research and Analysis at the Center for Security Policy, reflected on the significance of the new alliance between the former Saudi Ambassador to the U.S., a member of the House of Saud, and the principal Iranian opposition:

Although not openly stated by bin Faisal, the new NCRI-Riyadh alliance may be expected to involve funding, intelligence sharing, and possible collaboration in operations aimed at the shared goal of overthrowing the current Tehran regime.

Dr. Sheehan has written and spoken extensively on the concept of regime change from within in the context of Iran in both scholarly and news outlets and for the U.S. policy community. Sheehan is the Director of the graduate programs in Negotiations & Conflict Management and Global Affairs & Human Security in the College of Public Affairs at the University of Baltimore.

For additional research or media related updates or to learn more about Dr. Sheehan, follow him on Twitter @ProfSheehan or link to his research profiles.

Social Media: @ProfSheehan / @PublicAffairsUB

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SHEEHAN| Iran Nuclear Deal One Year Later: Reconsidering Western Optimism | The Hill

Posted in @TheIranDeal, analysis, arak, ashraf, assad, assessment, baghdad, ballistic missiles, bipartisan, camp liberty, CIA, civil unrest, clinton, college of public affairs, congress, counterterrorism, covert, crimes against humanity, democracy, democrat, diplomacy, dissident, Dr. Ivan Sascha Sheehan, foreign policy, foreign policy analysis, freedom, fundamentalism, global, gulf cooperation council, haider al-abadi, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism and Non-Proliferation, human rights, human security, IAEA, inspections, intelligence, international relations, international security studies, iran, iraq, irgc, ISIS, israel, Ivan Sascha Sheehan, kerry, media, MEK, middle east, military, NCRI, negotiation, netanyahu, nonproliferation, nuclear, obama, P5+1, parchin, paris, PMOI, policy, political science, politics, Professor Ivan Sascha Sheehan, protest, rajavi, regime change, regime change from within, republican, research, rouhani, sanctions, sectarian conflict, security studies, senate, senate foreign relations committee, sheehan, social science, state department, suicide terrorism, syria, tehran, terror tagging, terrorism, the hill, think-tank, threat, u.s. foundation for liberty, unrest, war, weapons, white house, yemen with tags @ProfSheehan, @PublicAffairsUB, College of Public Affairs, Congress, Counterterrorism, Dr. Ivan Sascha Sheehan, Global Affairs and Human Security Graduate Program, Iran, Iraq, ISIS, israel, Ivan Sascha Sheehan, MEK, Middle East, NCRI, Negotiation and Conflict Management Graduate Program, nuclear agreement, nuclear deal, PMOI, Policy, Professor Ivan Sascha Sheehan, Regime Change, School of Public and International Affairs, Sheehan, suicide terrorism, Terrorism, University of Baltimore, White House on July 6, 2016 by Professor Sheehan

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SHEEHAN | Iran Nuclear Deal One Year Later: Reconsidering Western Optimism | The Hill | Op-Ed | 5 July 2016

In the lead up to the first anniversary of the conclusion of negotiations that resulted in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran, Dr. Ivan Sascha Sheehan – Associate Professor of Public and International Affairs – assesses the wisdom of Western optimism in the face of a deteriorating situation in the Middle East. Writing in the congressional newspaper The Hill, Sheehan concludes that “Western support for a regime engaged in repressive and destabilizing activities in Syria and Iraq – resulting in forced migration with global security implications – is not sustainable or sensible.” #PDF

Excerpts:

…policymakers viewed Rouhani’s election as a vindication of the 2009 protests on the Iranian street. The uprising was brutally repressed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp after Western powers turned a blind eye to the regime’s domestic violence and intimidation.

Rouhani’s reformist rhetoric, with its emphasis on domestic liberalization and the loosening of restrictions, stood in stark contrast with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s firebrand style. The liberal veneer was appealing and the regime successfully leveraged the appearance of moderation.

The charm offensive gave hope to Western policymakers desperate for a kinder, gentler leader in Tehran with whom to negotiate and ultimately resolve the nuclear issue.

The hope of moderation proved as false as it was naïve.

Not only was the rhetoric inconsistent with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s repressive stances on free speech, academic freedom, minority rights, religious pluralism, gender equality, and democratic activities but Rouhani’s follow-through on promised reforms proved elusive. Though it may not matter to Western officials, the failure to enact reforms greatly impacted Iranian citizens who came to rue their initial support for the apparent moderate.

Dr. Sheehan is the Director of the graduate programs in Negotiations & Conflict Management and Global Affairs & Human Security in the College of Public Affairs at the University of Baltimore.

For additional research or media related updates or to learn more about Dr. Sheehan, follow him on Twitter @ProfSheehan or link to his research profiles.

Social Media: @ProfSheehan / @PublicAffairsUB

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SHEEHAN: Trump’s Torture Stance is Bad Counterterrorism Policy | The Hill | Op-Ed

Posted in analysis, assad, assessment, baghdad, bipartisan, CIA, clinton, college of public affairs, congress, council on foreign relations, counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, debate, democracy, democrat, deterrence, Dr. Ivan Sascha Sheehan, education, evidence-based, foreign policy, foreign policy analysis, gingrich, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism and Non-Proliferation, human rights, human security, intelligence, international relations, international security studies, ISIS, Ivan Sascha Sheehan, media, middle east, military, policy, political science, politics, Professor Ivan Sascha Sheehan, republican, research, romney, scholarly, security studies, senate, senate foreign relations committee, sheehan, social science, state department, suicide attacks, suicide terrorism, syria, terrorism, the hill, threat, trump, united nations, white house, zakaria with tags @ProfSheehan, @PublicAffairsUB, American Political Science Association, College of Public Affairs, Congress, Counterterrorism, Dr. Ivan Sascha Sheehan, Global Affairs and Human Security Graduate Program, ISIS, Ivan Sascha Sheehan, Middle East, Negotiation and Conflict Management Graduate Program, Policy, Professor Ivan Sascha Sheehan, School of Public and International Affairs, Sheehan, suicide terrorism, Terrorism, White House on July 2, 2016 by Professor Sheehan

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SHEEHAN: Trump’s Torture Stance is Bad Counterterrorism Policy | The Hill | Op-Ed | 1 July 2016

In the aftermath of terrorist attacks in Istanbul on June 28, Dr. Ivan Sascha Sheehan – Associate Professor of Public and International Affairs – questions the wisdom of Donald Trump’s embrace of torture as an appropriate counterterrorism tool. The criticism is situated in the context of studies Dr. Sheehan has undertaken over the past ten years on matters related to evidence-based counterterrorism policy. #PDF #PR

Excerpts:

When force disintegrates into barbarism in asymmetric conflicts, as it was shown to do in footage released in 2003 depicting abuse and humiliation of Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison, the negative effects are magnified. The photographs of U.S. soldiers and CIA personnel abusing Iraqi prisoners was not simply, as Fareed Zakaria (2005) put it, just “bad public relations”:

Ask any soldier in Iraq when the general population really turned against the United States and he will say, ‘Abu Ghraib.’ A few months before the scandal broke, Coalition Provisional Authority polls showed Iraqi support for the occupation at 63 percent. A month after Abu Ghraib, the number was 9 percent.

The lesson: When you brutalize the enemy, there are negative consequences.

Dr. Sheehan is the Director of the graduate programs in Negotiations & Conflict Management and Global Affairs & Human Security in the College of Public Affairs at the University of Baltimore.

For additional research or media related updates or to learn more about Dr. Sheehan, follow him on Twitter @ProfSheehan or link to his research profiles.

*PRESS RELEASE via University of Baltimore*

Social Media: @ProfSheehan / @PublicAffairsUB

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