McFaul's October 2023 Newsletter
My most recent projects and publications
Dear friends and colleagues,
Since I left the government in 2014, I have been writing a monthly newsletter sharing my activities and publications. Here is the one I wrote for October 2023! As always, I welcome your feedback!
Tragically, on October 7, Hamas carried out horrific, barbaric acts of terrorism against innocent Israeli civilians, triggering what could turn into a broader regional conflict in the Middle East. By now, thousands of Israelis and Palestinians, and at least 29 Americans, have lost their lives. My heart goes out to all those affected.
As I wrote on Substack days after the initial attack, regarding this conflict, we need especially nuanced explanations and prudent prescriptions that don’t compromise on essential truths. In this piece, I also called on both the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and Hamas leadership to abide by international law, stop using non-combatants as human shields, and minimize civilian casualties and civilian suffering. Not enough is being done to reduce civilian deaths.
In these challenging times, Americans and the world are lucky to have President Biden and his foreign-policy team in charge now. They have the expertise and knowledge to defend our interests and values not just in Asia or Europe, but globally. For details, read my recent essay in The Atlantic.
While I continue to advocate for Ukraine’s victory in my day-to-day, it is important to recognize that the wars in Ukraine and Israel are intertwined. Unfortunately, the House of Representatives seems to fail to understand this fact, as Speaker Johnson has still not authorized a vote on new aid to Ukraine. In my 10-minute micro-lecture at Stanford Reunion, I explain why we – Americans and all small d democrats – should care about Ukraine, which you can watch here. On Substack, I wrote about the strategic significance of a single vote on aid to Israel and Ukraine. Read it here.
At the Stanford Reunion, I also moderated a terrific panel of FSI scholars on hot spots around the world – Israel/Hamas, Russia/Ukraine, China/Taiwan, democracy, and climate. You can watch our discussion here.
This month, I traveled to Northwestern University to deliver the 34th annual Richard W. Leopold Lecture on great power competition between China, Russia, and the United States. I visited Montana State University too, to give a lecture on the Causes and Consequences of Putin's Invasion of Ukraine. If you want to understand why Putin invaded Ukraine and how the war might end, check it out here.
In October, I also had a chance to interview Rachel Maddow on her recent book, Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism. I have been on Rachel’s show many times through my work at NBC, but this time the roles were reversed! It is a fantastic book that covers a lot of American history in the 1930s that I didn’t know about.
Also, I joined Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s team via YouTube to discuss (in Russian!) the effectiveness of sanctions and Russia’s ties to Hamas, and held an hour-long Ask Me Anything session over Zoom for my Substack readers (paid feature). Thank you to everyone who joined me. Let’s do it again! I will see you at the next one on December 1.
Additionally, I continue to coordinate the International Working Group on Russian Sanctions. This month, our working group released another important paper, outlining why and how the West should seize Russia’s sovereign assets to help rebuild Ukraine. If you have any, please share!
To stay updated on events, opportunities, and policy recommendations by scholars at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, please sign up for FSI email blasts and follow us on LinkedIn. As always, feel free to share your comments on the content below and any suggestions for improving this newsletter. To sign up for the newsletter, please click here. And if you don’t already, follow me on Twitter at @McFaul. And join me on Substack at McFaul’s World!
Keep in touch,
Mike
While I do not really know if "The Atlantic" is a liberal or conservative - libertarian publication, people should nonetheless read the article along with the latest F.S.I. International Working Group report, and give Rachel Maddow's book a try. Why? More people are going to need an informed view on the future of Russia and Ukraine and this would be an easy way, more or less, to capture and to form opinions about the hows and whys of the tragic invasion and its possible outcomes. Consider at least the comfort of your reading chair and the state of the war in Ukraine with bitter cold, and the pitched battles at that. It is also important to understand the coercion and blackmail of the Putin regime vis - a - vis the war in Ukraine and its response to sanctions that has Russian Federation attempting to pulverize Ukraine for the sake of grinding down the hopes and optimism for democracy in Eastern Europe and the efforts of EU and the U.S. to make Ukraine successful.