IS315_Week EIGHT Lecture_Fall 2025

Wargaming the Middle East

IS315 Week EIGHT Lecture with Dr Nazanin Shahrokni, October 30, 2025

Staging Empire

Diaspora Influence & Military Simulations in the Middle East

Key ideas

25 March 2025

Negar RazaviNomi Stone

Diaspora experts are not just tools of empire — they are its moral compass and its blind spot

Diaspora experts as political brokers in Washington

Empire in Translation: Diaspora, Diplomacy, and the Theater of War in the Middle East

US military rehearses imperial power through simulations

An introduction to think tanks & evidence-informed policy, by Simon Maxwell

Think tanks began in the late 19th century as independent policy advisors, initially on military strategy and governance. Early examples include RUSI (1831) for defense & the Brookings Institution (1916) for research. After World War I, the Council on Foreign Relations (1921) and Chatham House (1920) influenced foreign policy. The Cold War saw the rise of security-focused think tanks like RAND Corporation (1948) & CSIS (1962). The 1970s and 1980s brought ideological divides between conservative think tanks & the liberal ones. Globalization & the post-Cold War era increased their impact on policy, making think tanks key players in political strategy globally.

Are think tanks primarily research institutions or political advocacy groups? How does success at a think tank get measured? What types of expertise are most valued?

Role of Diasporic Experts

Diasporic experts occupy a contradictory position in US foreign policy circles. They are simultaneously valued for their insider knowledge of the Middle East and viewed with suspicion because of their personal and political ties to the region.

Act as "bridge figures" between US & home countries

Provide cultural and political expertise

Trusted for expertise — but that trust has limits

Contradictions of Influence

• Racialized "otherness" as both asset and liability • Potential threats despite holding security clearances

Case Studies of Multiplicitous Diplomacy

Think about the geopolitics of funding

Jamshid’s Code-Switching – Aligned with security elite, opposes war with Iran

Sayyed and the Muslim Brotherhood – Political pressure on analysis

Michael’s Test on Israel – Think tank funding shapes expertise

Simulated Middle Eastern village in North Carolina

Pinelandia as a Theater of Empire

Arabic signs, prayer rugs, market stalls

Soldiers trained to "read" political terrain

Goal: Cultural fluency + tactical advantage

They call it training. But for me, it was just war again."

Emotional labor extracted for training

Iraqi role-players reliving trauma

PTSD among role-players

Human Terrain and the Cultural Turn

Winning hearts and minds through cultural fluency

David Kilcullen – "Armed social work"

Human Terrain System (HTS) – Anthropologists provide intel

Tactical Beards and Soft Power

Afghan elder: "The beard of a man, but the eyes of an occupier"

Soldiers grow beards, mimic local customs

Goal: Gain trust, extract intelligence

Violence and Empire's Moral Contradictions

Simulation vs. real war

Soldiers can walk away – role-players cannot

Real political violence replicated in training

US trains local militias to fight wars

Afghanistan – Afghan National Army

Iraq – Anbar Awakening

Outsourcing Conflict to Proxy Forces

Syria – Kurdish forces vs ISIS

Yemen – Saudi-led coalition

Left of Bang Doctrine

Preventing conflict before it escalates

Intelligence, surveillance, early intervention

Justifies permanent military presence

Peace=Control

Moral Contradictions

• Empire frames itself as a stabilizing force • Stability achieved through militarization • Military control disguised as peace

• Diaspora experts empower + entrench empire• Military simulations train soldiers for control • Politics of the Middle East shaped by Washington and Pinelandia • Diasporic experts = moral compass and blind spot

Conclusion: The Politics of Multiplicity

Thank you!ⵜⴰⵏⵎⵎⵉⵔⵜ

What language might this be?