On December 5, a lecture by historian and Arabist Jean-Pierre Filiu was held for the students of the Certificate Program in European Studies.
European decision-makers and public opinion have long underestimated the deep connection between Putin’s aggressive policies in the Middle East and against Ukraine. But it seems clear now in retrospect that the US backdown on its own “red line”, after the chemical bombings in Damascus, in August 2013, convinced the Kremlin of the feasibility of its annexation of Crimea, six months later. More generally, the terror tactics waged by Russia against the Syrian people and cities since September 2015 have been replicated with a similar ruthlessness against Ukraine. The recent wave of Iranian drone attacks tragically demonstrated the threat of the “alliance” described by President Zelensky between Moscow and Teheran, an alliance forged and consolidated in Syria. The European Union reacted swiftly and forcefully by imposing sanctions on Iranian leaders, showing how seriously this threat, originating from the Middle East, is now taken into consideration.
Jean-Pierre Filiu is professor of Middle East Studies at Sciences Po (Paris). A historian and an Arabist, he has also held visiting professorships at the universities of Columbia (New York) and Georgetown (Washington). Prof. Filiu was a career diplomat from 1988 to 2006, posted in Syria, Jordan, Tunisia and the USA, but also serving as a diplomatic adviser to the Minister of Interior, the Minister of Defense and the Prime Minister. Hurst (London) and Oxford University Press (New York) published in 2015 his From Deep State to Islamic State, the first historical study about corruption networks in the Arab dictatorships. His books have been translated in more than fifteen languages.