Thursday, December 3rd 2015

Fleeing Iran, Assad, Hezbollah, IS

Lecture & discussion

University of Vienna/NIG, Room III
Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Vienna, Austria

NOTE: Event will be held in German!

Hundreds of thousands of people fleeing from the Middle East are currently looking for refuge in Europe. While the "Islamic State" and its atrocities get a lot of attention, hardly anyone wants to talk about the rest of those responsible for this drama: The Iranian regime and its allies Hezbollah and Assad.

We will therefore highlight the role of Iran's policy of regional destabilization and support for Hezbollah and Assad in the Syrian drama. Further we will have a look at why people also continue to flee from Iran itself while the West is cosying up to the regime and calls it "moderate". Is it really a good idea to form an alliance with Assad and Iran against ISIS, so to say with the "Islamic Republic" against the "Islamic State", as some German and Austrian policymakers demand? And what is the connection to the Iran deal and Russia's intervention?

Florian Markl is the Chief Analyst at MENA und co-autor of books on Iran like "Der Iran. Analyse einer islamischen Diktatur und ihrer europäischen Förderer" and "Iran im Weltsystem. Bündnisse des Regimes und Perspektiven der Freiheitsbewegung“

David Kirsch is a commentator and blogger who mainly focuses on Iraq, Syria and asylum law. He works with refugees.

Ljiljana Radonić is a political scientist. She teaches at the University of Vienna and is a researcher at the Austrian Academy of Sciences.