Joseph Sarkisian

Bio

Joseph graduated with a Master of Science in international relations from the University of Massachusetts Boston and was an intern at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, DC. He completed his BA at Arizona State University in political science as well as studied Arabic language, terrorism/counterterrorism, and religion. Joseph also lived in Egypt where he studied Arabic at the American University in Cairo in 2007. Joseph was the Secretary of the Executive Committee for the University of Massachusetts Graduate Student Government, a teaching assistant in his department, and teaches a class on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. His main areas of interest are the Af/Pak region, Iran, Syria, and other current foreign policy issues.
It's the future of war: killer mecha-birds, 13-foot tall robots with Gatling guns and missile launchers and even microdrones that look like pigeons, hunt in swarms and can silently fly through windows, blowing their tiny warheads up next to a…
RT, the Kremlin-funded mouthpiece of Vladimir Putin and quasi-official news organization from Russia, has a weird obsession with Steven Seagal. While I could fill a book with the shear amount of stupidity that has been said on RT in general since…
House of Cards, the all too enraging show from Netflix about the American political system that is likely more documentary than drama, has an unexpected and very large fan base: the Middle East. It may seem a natural jump to assume that Arab viewers…
Scarlett Johansson has managed to unwittingly embroil herself in an international conflict. The actress recently made headlines by becoming a brand ambassador for the Israeli-owned company, SodaStream. The problem? SodaStream sits directly on top of…
Here we go again. Just as world powers start to close the gap of mistrust between themselves and their Iranian counterparts about Iran's nuclear program, the U.S. Senate decides to ramp up the pressure on Iran by trying to push through harmful…
Throughout his tenure in various positions, including Prime Minister, or as head of the conservative Likud party, Ariel Sharon was widely seen by many in the Middle East and elsewhere as hateful of Arabs, careless of their plight, and unflinching in…
As Americans, we love a good controversy. But sometimes we go overboard, getting angry at what irrelevant celebrities say and do, as though they have serious implications for where the country is headed. At the end of the day, these people only have…
Season's greetings from Congress! This time of year our nation's lawmakers engage in their typical smuggery, like taking what should be illegal recesses and kissing your own ass on national television. But amidst all of Congress' asinine…
On July 21, 2012, the emir of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, made an online announcement about the start of a new campaign, which he named "Breaking the Walls." The purpose of the campaign was to prove to the world that not only was…
God is dead. Trust me. Google it. Well, not really. But what is clear is that the majority of the nation, and millennials specifically, are dropping their religious affiliations in record numbers and lifestyle brands are filling the void.  In the…
Rob Ford is a perfect mayor: loyal, honest, altruistic, frugal, and friendly. If only we had more mayors like this, instead of the typical, boring, out of touch kind of politician that we’re all too familiar with. What’s endearing about him is the…
Most people understand by now that the Tea Party is largely to blame for Congressional woes. What they don’t understand is the core reason that such people are so powerful, and the disastrous effects this could have for the future of the…
Ever been at a loss for how to handle those awkward silences that come in conversation at a Halloween party? You know the kind — the ones that happen before everyone is hammered enough to throw social norms to the wind, get up on the kitchen table,…
As the UN mission to rid Syria of the Assad regime’s chemical weapons stockpiles goes off with only minor hiccups — so far — one can’t help but ask the question, “If it works, what happens next?” The answer: Business as usual, which means more…
As world leaders gathered at the 2013 meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York, all eyes were focused on the interaction — hot or cold — between Iran and the U.S. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has shown what appears to be a sincere…
As U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discuss what to do about Syria's chemical weapons stocks in Geneva this week, the Assad regime, Russia, and a host of other factions and stakeholders are…
The Obama administration seems likely to embark upon a relatively fruitless campaign to punish Bashar al-Assad’s regime for using chemical weapons against their own people. While noble, the administration and the loose coalition of foreign powers…
Adding to the list of closures throughout the region coinciding with the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the U.S. State Department has issued a travel warning and has closed the consulate in Lahore, Pakistan for non-essential personnel.…
Iran has never been touted as a bastion of human rights, economic equality, or political freedom. But although many of Iran’s problems can be blamed on the regime itself, the U.S. is increasingly playing a major hand in hurting the innocent…
“Nadia” has the thousand-yard stare of a shell-shocked Vietnam vet. As she uses it to burrow into the soul of her interrogator, after forcing him to enunciate the word “riot” and telling him not to fear it, he asks, “what’s the translation?" She…