Links:

    -Barry Rubin (Wikipedia)
    -Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center of the IDC
    -Middle East Review of International Affairs
    -BOOK SITE: The Truth About Syria (Palgrave)
    -ESSAY: WHY SYRIA MATTERS (Barry Rubin, MERIA)
    -ESSAY: UNDERSTANDING SYRIAN POLICY: AN ANALYSIS OF FOREIGN MINISTER FARUQ AL-SHARA’S EXPLANATION (Barry Rubin, June 2000, MERIA)
    -ESSAY: THE POLITICS OF THE NEW MIDDLE EAST (Barry Rubin, September 1997, MERIA)
    -ESSAY: Dealing with Communalism (Barry Rubin, January 2006, Journal of Democracy)
    -ESSAY: You can't play nice with Syria (Barry Rubin, May 28, 2007, Ottawa Citizen)
    -ESSAY: Message From Lebanon: Wake Up!: The West doesn't have to play it stupid forever. (Barry Rubin, 5/14/08, Arutz 7)
    -ESSAY: Specter's 17th Visit To Syria Again Produces Nothing (Barry Rubin, January/2008, GLORIA)
    -ESSAY: Syriantoxication: An Infantile Malady (Barry Rubin, December/2007, GLORIA)
    -ESSAY: Inviting a bull into the china shop (BARRY RUBIN, 11/05/07, Jerusalem Post)
    -ESSAY: The rules of Palestinian politics ... (Barry Rubin, 10/31/07, www.JewishWorldReview.com)
    -ESSAY: Getting Serious About Syria (Barry Rubin, July/2007, GLORIA)
    -ESSAY: Getting serious about Syria (BARRY RUBIN, 7/09/07, Jerusalem Post)
    -ESSAY: MEDICINE'S MURDERERS (BARRY RUBIN, July 5, 2007, NY Post)
    -ESSAY: The Syrian Tragedy...and the American One (Barry Rubin, May/2007, GLORIA)
    -ESSAY: The Battle for Lebanon (Barry Rubin, February/2007, GLORIA)
    -ESSAY: Sharaa's Prophecy (Barry Rubin, September/2006, GLORIA)
    -ESSAY: Syria Hooks the West (Barry Rubin, September/2006, GLORIA)
    -ESSAY: Syria and Iran get off scot-free (BARRY RUBIN, 8/13/06, Jerusalem Post)
    -ESSAY: Bashar al-Asad: Fool or Genius? (Barry Rubin, August 8, 2006, GLORIA)
    -ESSAY: Bashar Goes Ballistic (Barry Rubin, August/2006, GLORIA)
    -ESSAY: Bashar al-Asad Fool or Genius? (Barry Rubin, August/2006, GLORIA)
    -ESSAY: Aoun and Jumblatt (Barry Rubin, July/2005, GLORIA)
    -ESSAY: Good News from the North (Barry Rubin, March/2005, GLORIA)
    -ESSAY: After Hariri (Barry Rubin, February/2005, GLORIA)
    -ESSAY: Syria Unsanctioned (Barry Rubin, October 5, 2004, GLORIA)
    -ESSAY: The Real Roots of Arab Anti-Americanism (Barry Rubin, November/December 2002, Foreign Affairs)
    -ESSAY: Reshaping the Middle East (Barry Rubin, Summer 1990, Foreign Affairs)
    -INTERVIEW: The Truth About Syria: Interview with Barry Rubin (Jamie Glazov, 6/01/07, FrontPageMagazine.com)
    -INTERVIEW: The Truth About Syria (Michael J. Totten, 6/06/07, Middle East Journal)
    -INTERVIEW: Barry Rubin on Syria (An Interview by Ryan Mauro, June 15, 2007)
    -INTERVIEW: Experts Assess Mideast Progress Four Decades After Six-Day War (Online News Hour, 6/07/07)
    -ARCHIVES: barry rubin (Foreign Affairs)
    -ARCHIVES: barry rubin (Washington Institute for Near East Policy)
    -ARCHIVES: barry rubin (Middle East Forum)
    -ARCHIVES: barry rubin (Find Articles)
    -REVIEW: of The Truth About Syria by Barry Rubin (Lee Harris, Policy Review)

Rubin’s fascinating and often mordant book aims to overcome the cognitive asymmetry between West and anti-West by presenting an objective analysis of the very different rules by which our geopolitical opponents are operating, and to make it clear to the Western reader why they have different rules from us. It is not because they are ignorant of our rules, and need only to be enlightened about them. They are perfectly aware how our rules work, as Rubin insists. Indeed, it is through their intimate familiarity with our rules that they have been able repeatedly to predict how we will react to their moves — an ability that has allowed them to outwit and outfox us over and over again.

Such a situation might be dubbed cognitively asymmetrical, on the analogy of asymmetrical warfare. A grandmaster in chess playing against a patzer is an example of cognitive asymmetry; so too is a poker sharp playing against an amateur whose face reveals his hand. In both cases, the master player can see what his amateurish opponent will do next, but the amateurish opponent cannot see what the master player has up his sleeves. Hence the master player always holds the advantage. The amateur may begin with a much bigger bank, and hold better cards than the master player, but he is always bound to lose in the long run.

This advantage will be especially great if the master player has the virtue that the Arabs call sumud — steadfastness: the patience to wait as long as it takes to wear down his opponent until he is ready to abandon the game. Sumud yields policymaking in terms of generations and even centuries, whereas Western foreign policy, like Western culture in general, is always looking for a quick fix. We want to make a deal now, and we will settle for less; they want exactly what they want, and they are willing to wait the time it takes to get it, which turns out to be exactly the amount of time it takes for their opponents to throw up their hands in despair.

Taken together, sumud and the cognitive asymmetry between Syria and the West explain one of the central paradoxes of Rubin’s book: How can an economically stagnant and militarily weak nation like Syria get away with murder, both figuratively and literally?

    -REVIEW: of Truth About Syria (Gateway Pundit - 9/25/2007)
    -REVIEW: of Truth About Syria (Kelly McEvers, SF Chronicle)
    -REVIEW: of Truth About Syria (Ya Libnan)
    -REVIEW: of Truth About Syria (Fred Rhodes, The Middle East)
    -REVIEW: of Truth About Syria (Ami Isseroff, MidEast Web)
    -REVIEW: of Truth About Syria (ASAF ROMIROWSKY, Jerusalem Post)
    -REVIEW: of Rubin, Barry, and Judith Colp Rubin. Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography (C.J. Krisinger, Naval War College Review)
    -REVIEW: of The Transformation of Palestinian Politics - From Revolution to StateBuilding, by Barry Rubin (Philip Wilcox, Middle East Policy)
    -REVIEW: of Transformation of Palestinian Politics (Guilain Denoeux, Middle East Policy)
    -REVIEW: of Modern Dictators: Third World Coup-Makers, Strongmen, and Populist Tyrants by Barry Rubin (Samuel T. Francis, National Review)
    -REVIEW: of The Tragedy of the Middle East by Barry Rubin (Rolin Mainuddin, Perspective on Political Science)