Great Power Rivalry and the Middle East

(This event is organised by MEI Political Economy research cluster.)

As China deepens its engagement in the Middle East, the United States is relooking its posture in the region. These moves will impact ties between Washington and its traditional partners. Join us as experts from the Washington Institute, dissect the issue.

This public talk will be conducted both in-person and online via Zoom on Tuesday, 15 Nov 2022, from 4.00 pm to 5 pm SGT.

All are welcome to participate. This event is free, however, registration is compulsory. Successful registrants will receive a confirmation email with the Zoom details closer to the date of the event.

(Please indicate your choice of attendance upon registration.)

Image caption : State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in Riyadh. (Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People’s Republic of China)

Watch the Talk here.

Listen to the Podcast here.

About the Speakers

Michael Singh
Managing Director at The Washington Institute

Grant Rumley
Goldberger Fellow
The Washington Institute’s program on Great Power Competition and the Middle East

Anna Borschevskaya
Senior Fellow
The Washington Institute’s program on Great Power Competition and the Middle East

Michael Singh is the Managing Director at The Washington Institute, and the interim director of the Institute’s program on Great Power Competition and the Middle East. He is a former senior director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council, where he served from 2005-2008. In that role, he was responsible for devising and coordinating U.S. national security policy toward the Middle East. Previously, Mr. Singh served as special assistant to secretaries of state Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell, and at the U.S. embassy in Israel.

Grant Rumley is the Goldberger Fellow in The Washington Institute’s program on Great Power Competition and the Middle East, where he specializes in military and security affairs. From 2018 to 2021, Grant served in both the Trump and Biden administrations as an advisor for Middle East Policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, where he focused on Syria, Jordan and Israel. He is the co-author of The Last Palestinian: The Rise and Reign of Mahmoud Abbas.

Anna Borshchevskaya is a senior fellow in The Washington Institute’s program on Great Power Competition and the Middle East, focusing on Russia’s policy toward the region. A former analyst for a U.S. military contractor in Afghanistan, she has also served as communications director at the American Islamic Congress and was a fellow at the European Foundation for Democracy. She was previously with the Atlantic Council and the Peterson Institute for International Economics. She is the author of the 2021 book, Putin’s War in Syria: Russian Foreign Policy and the Price of America’s Absence.