Aaron Stein
Gender	Male
Job	Geopolitic Commentator
	Director of the Middle East and National Security Programs
	doctoral fellow at the Geneva Center for Security Policy
	Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute
	Nonproliferation Program Manager at the Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies
Desc	Aaron Stein is an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). He is also the nonproliferation program manager at the Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies in Istanbul, where he works on security and proliferation issues in the Middle East

Affiliation

Org	Foreign Policy Research Institute [FPRI]
	Geneva Center for Security Policy
	Royal United Services Institute
	Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies

2019 01 02

Effectively Aaron Stein will succeed Tally Helfont as Director of FPRI’s Program on the Middle East.

2014 09 05 Retrieve

[Predator Drone Reportedly Sighted Circling Raqqa] According to local activists, the drone has been circling over the city for three hours. If the reports are true, this would suggest that the air environment over Raqqa is permissive. Drones are visible on radar and easy to shoot down with air defense systems. The evidence thus far suggests that the drone is acquiring imagery - and possibly signals intelligence (SIGINT) - of Islamic State positions in the group’s most important stronghold. There is little doubt that this mission is intended to give US policymakers more information about IS positions in Raqqa. However, it does not necessarily signal the imminent use of force against IS positions in Syria.

2019 10 21 Retrieve

[President Erdogan] Seemed to be using nuclear weapons as a straw man to make a broader argument about Ankara’s place in the world, and how the American and Western systems with which Turkey had long associated itself are unfair and require change. He was expounding on a more personal, deeply held grievance about Turkey’s global role

Ankara is not leaving NATO, nor will it turn East. Instead, the current leadership rejects the current rules of the road and wants to change them. That may actually be worse for Washington

2020 04 22 Retrieve

[The United States’ ambiguous stance with Turkey on the Patriot missiles, on the other hand, seems more political than technical] The United States tabled its Patriot offer before Ankara was officially removed from the F-35 consortium, but pulled it once the S-400 was delivered. Now, the agreement is premised on Ankara not using its S-400. The United States is trying to get leverage