Please refer to my yesterday's posting (http://d.hatena.ne.jp/itunalily2/20140204). (Lily)
1. Washington Institute (http://www.washingtoninstitute.org)
Institute Expresses Condolences on Passing of Dr. Barry Rubin, 3 February 2014
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy expresses its deepest condolences to the family of our friend and former colleague Dr. Barry Rubin on his passing yesterday at age sixty-four of cancer.
"Barry was a brilliant scholar who was passionately committed to the pursuit of truth," says Dr. Robert Satloff, the Institute's executive director. "He brought this determination to his fight against cancer. His death is a loss to the broader community of Middle East scholars."
Dr. Rubin had a long association with the Institute, serving as a senior fellow from 1988-1993 and as a visiting fellow frequently thereafter. He was the author of numerous Institute studies on a broad cross section of subjects including Arab-Israeli relations, Syria, Jordan, and the Gulf states.
Rubin served as director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the journal Middle East Review of International Affairs. Dr. Rubin’s books include The Truth about Syria (Palgrave-MacMillan, July 2007), The Future of the Middle East (Sharpe, September 2007), and the edited works Iraq after Saddam and Global Survey of Islamism (Sharpe, September 2007). Dr. Rubin was published in such leading print media the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and Foreign Affairs. He made frequent appearances on network television as a Middle East analyst.
A former Fulbright fellow, Dr. Rubin received his Ph.D. from Georgetown University and taught at the American University, Bar-Ilan University, Georgetown University, the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Tel Aviv University, and other institutions of higher learning. He served as a Council on Foreign Relations fellow and was the recipient of numerous awards, grants, and fellowships from institutions such as the U.S. Institute of Peace and Hebrew University's Leonard Davis Center.
2. Algemeiner (http://newsle.com/article/0/121235246/)
Mourning Barry Rubin, a Fierce Defender of Israel , 4 February 2014
Barry Rubin, a true scholar and wonderful man, passed away Monday morning after a battle with cancer. He was 64.
Barry was a staunch defender of Israel. His writings were accurate, clear, and powerful. He didn’t mince words.
Rubin was also the director of the Gloria Center in Israel. Last year, I believe after his diagnosis, Rubin did the unthinkable – he placed 13 of his books on the website of the Gloria Center to be freely downloaded.
Just looking over some of the older articles I’ve quoted from him on this blog over the years shows that they haven’t aged at all – they are all still spot on in their analysis.
I had the privilege of meeting Barry a few years ago in Tel Aviv, and he was just as nice a man in person as he was formidable in his writings.
A long time ago, I wrote what I thought was a piercing analysis of Syria. After I posted it, I sent a copy to Barry, since he had written a book I admired on the topic. Within a half hour, he responded with a devastating fisking of my piece – a fisking that was so good that I appended it to my post.
Another time, Barry thought I should write something for the Jerusalem Post, so I wrote up an op-ed. Again, within less than an hour, he completely rewrote my piece and made it orders of magnitude better.
People might compliment me, but whenever there is a danger of those compliments going to my head, I think of Barry – because he was in a different league.
Barry Rubin’s clarity of thought and encyclopedic knowledge was unmatched. He dedicated his life to pursuing and spreading the truth, no matter how politically incorrect or uncomfortable it may be. We should all follow in his footsteps.
(End)
