Director, Regional Studies Center (RSC), think tank in Yerevan, Armenia; former US Senate staffer (Democrat); former lecturer, US Army Special Forces; RI native
Armenia
Joined March 2012
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Richard Giragosian retweeted
Osman Kavala has spent nearly 9 years behind bars unlawfully.
Today, the European Court of Human Rights called his treatment a flagrant denial of justice, deemed his conviction void, & ordered his immediate release for the third time.
The Council of Europe should ensure Türkiye complies. Free Osman Kavala. wapo.st/4qCP8Js
a pleasure to be extensively quoted by this lengthy and insightful piece on the Russian-dominated CSTO security "alliance" by @ShaolinTom for @Newsweek
Putin's NATO-style alliance faces major blow newsweek.com/putins-nato-sty…
Richard Giragosian retweeted
From my interview with @USAMBTurkiye, in which he reveals the content of a Mossad-Syria back channel before Israel bombed a Syrian air base to prevent what Israel says was a Turkish military deployment:
"The director of Mossad, who's also a very good professional, had engaged in a back-channel discussion with the prime minister, the foreign minister of Syria on Friday.
"They had had a discussion about this. Israel had told us for a preceding five days they were concerned about what was going on. We went to our intelligence agencies. Syria talked to Mossad, gave them the information that there were no Turkish military, there was no Turkish convoy, there were no Turkish armaments, and that there was nothing adversarial or offensive going on.
"That was on Friday. They were supposed to meet again the next week. The Syrians, the Americans all thought that was going to be a continued dialogue. We had set up a fusion cell if they needed to keep discussing it. And something went awry, and Israel decided that they needed to bomb the craters on two runways."
pbs.org/newshour/show/u-s-am…
This is the link to my interview with the BBC Newsday radio program on 8 August focusing on the conflict between the Armenian prime minister and the head of the Armenian Church.
My interview starts at the 13:10 mark of the program:
bbc.com/audio/play/w1730c5ny…
Richard Giragosian retweeted
Listen carefully 2 @Richard_RSC as he expertly bestrides the dividing line betwixt church & state in this short @TVPWorld_com interview. The Church should tone down its political activism & the PM should grow up & focus on far more essential challenges: youtu.be/Js-hZO_taLE?si=B5bE…
Richard Giragosian retweeted
I do not say this lightly: As a new and virulent strain of antisemitism spreads via algorithmic media and artificial intelligence, my life's work an an historian has been a failure. What now? A new essay with John-Clark Levin for @TheFP
I was pleased to return as a guest on the Ukrainian language @Slawa_TV on 2 July for a show hosted by @Mariia_Zolkina to discuss the EU’s intensifying cooperation with Armenia and its engagement in the South Caucasus.
youtube.com/watch?v=abE4VaHz…
In an interview with @TVPWorld_com news on 3 July, I assessed the EU "faster than usual" response to Russia's trade restrictions on Armenian exports.
tvpworld.com/94146174/armeni…
I was pleased to be interview by Radio France International @RFI for their 3 July 2026 article entitled, “Why Israel's recognition of the Armenian genocide is raising new questions.”
I stressed that it was "too little, too late."
rfi.fr/en/international/2026…
Richard Giragosian retweeted
Israel recently began taking steps to recognize the Armenian Genocide, the horrific massacre of Armenian people at the hands of Ottoman Turks some 110 years ago. The move is meant in large part to provoke Israel rival Turkey.
Problem is, even the Armenians are telling Israel to bugger off.
On the latest edition of the badlands podcast, I explain how Israel’s ill-timed move to piss off Turkey interferes with Armenia’s historic breakthrough in relations with its Turkic neighbors to the east and west.
Plus, in a conversation with India’s @NewsX , I discuss what the recent rulings by the US Supreme Court mean for the Trump administration.
Listen on Apple podcasts
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…
Spotify
open.spotify.com/episode/5ii…
Or watch on YouTube below
Richard Giragosian retweeted
US-Saudi alliance fractures, triggers secret weapon sanction
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A profound diplomatic rift has opened between Washington and Riyadh after Saudi Arabia actively blocked US military access to its airspace and bases during a critical operational push in the Strait of Hormuz. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, this unprecedented refusal forced the Trump administration to abruptly abort "Project Freedom," a heavy-handed military operation launched to guarantee passage for commercial shipping.
Incensed by the defiance, the White House issued a retaliatory threat to withhold vital air defense interceptors that Saudi Arabia needs to shoot down Iranian missiles, exposing the deepest fracture in the decades-long US-Saudi security alliance.
The strategic fallout has fundamentally shifted the geopolitical landscape of the Persian Gulf, with Washington now actively considering a permanent reduction of its military footprint at Prince Sultan Air Base, as detailed by The Wall Street Journal.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visibly signaled Washington's displeasure during a recent West Asian tour, visiting the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Bahrain, while pointedly bypassing Saudi Arabia. In a mirrored diplomatic counter-punch, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman rejected an invitation to the G7 summit in France to protest the US handling of the war against Iran.
Saudi Arabia's calculated pivot stems from a refusal to allow its territory to serve as a launchpad for broader Western military campaigns that could trigger devastating retaliatory strikes on its own infrastructure, such as the recent Iranian strike that left smoke billowing from the Ras Tanura petroleum complex.
Writing in the Saudi-owned Arab News, senior royal and former intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal confirmed the kingdom's position, stating that the leadership chose to endure the pains caused by a neighbor to protect the lives and property of its citizens rather than enter the furnace of destruction.
While the kingdom temporarily eased base restrictions after US officials threatened to deprioritize defensive weapon deliveries, the collapse of Project Freedom has forced the US Navy to quietly sneak vessels through the strategic waterway under the cover of darkness with transponders switched off.
Richard Giragosian retweeted
Hong Kong police have arrested two booksellers on suspicion of selling “seditious” publications, in the second known case of the city’s national security law being applied against a bookstore in three months bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Richard Giragosian retweeted
The Army confirmed that one of its most prominent generals would soon be retiring. It is the latest example of senior officers leaving the military early, or being fired, under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. to.pbs.org/4f1Uvxp
Richard Giragosian retweeted
Four key disputes clouding the US-Iran talks, and what the agreement actually says thenationalnews.com/news/men…
Richard Giragosian retweeted
This is exactly right. US influence in the region is going to decline considerably, as Gulf nations judge us to be an unreliable security partner. We are unlikely to rebuild many of our damaged military bases, and the Gulf states may not even want us to. The beneficiary is Iran, as its neighbors will try to seek accommodation with it. A big boost in Iran's regional influence, under the same dangerous regime. There will also be openings for our Russian and PRC competitors. These are among many reasons this war was so costly.
Rubio is visiting UAE, Kuwait, & Bahrain to offer reassurance, but the region is moving on, and is diversify away from an erratic & unreliable US.
Till then, expect a mix of detente & deterrence towards Tehran.
Short-term accommodations, including financial arrangements, are necessary. But to overcome the Iranian extortion trap, the GCC will significantly boost its militarily capabilities.
More with @BeckyCNN
Richard Giragosian retweeted
The Kremlin’s cognitive warfare is evolving. Leaked documents from Russia’s Social Design Agency reveal efforts to move beyond planting fabricated stories on social media. Now Russian influence operators are trying to create Wikipedia clones and fake think tanks to shape the information powering search engines and AI chatbots. bloomberg.com/news/features/…
Alan Greenspan was more than an economist or a technocrat, as the insightful Paul Solman of the @NewsHour reflects, the former Fed chair was a master at crafty deflection and confusing discourse. His passing sadly coincides with the sad demise of intellect in today's Washington.
Greenspan's reign as Fed chair coincided with the longest economic expansion in U.S. history, prompting the title "maestro of the U.S. economy." But his reputation quickly reversed with the 2008 financial collapse. to.pbs.org/4vqfU9n
Richard Giragosian retweeted
Alan Greenspan, an economist who served nearly two decades as chairman of the Federal Reserve, died Monday at 100.
His wife, NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell, said in a statement that Greenspan died from complications of Parkinson's disease. She called her husband "a giant of a man who helped shape the U.S. economy for decades under presidents of both parties, but was always honest in acknowledging his mistakes."
In 1987, then-President Ronald Reagan tapped Greenspan, a consultant and former chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President Gerald Ford, to become Fed chairman. That same year, his leadership was put to the test when the stock market suffered the worst single-day percentage loss in U.S. history. In the aftermath of Black Monday, Greenspan won credit for restoring calm to Wall Street.
He oversaw the Fed during one of the largest economic expansions in U.S. history, which included increased globalization and technological advances, like the rise of the internet. He also guided American economic policy during the burst of the dot-com bubble and the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Greenspan, whose tenure ended in 2006, later faced criticism that some of the policies he championed led to the 2008 financial crisis. He said later that he "made a mistake" assuming that the nation's banks could police themselves.
In a 2007 News Hour interview with Jim Lehrer, Greenspan discussed what would constitute a "proper relationship" between a Fed chairman and a U.S. president: "The Federal Reserve is an independent agency, and that means, basically, that there is no other agency of government which can overrule actions that we take. So long as that is in place, and there is no evidence that the administration or the Congress or anybody else is requesting that we do things other than what we think is the appropriate thing, then what the relationships are don't, frankly, matter."
ALT An image of Alan Greenspan sitting in front of a full bookshelf. Below the image is the text of his name and the years "1926-2026."
Richard Giragosian retweeted
Breaking news: Alan Greenspan, the US Federal Reserve chair who dominated global markets in the late 20th century only to see his legacy tarnished by the financial crash, has died at the age of 100. ft.trib.al/gbN48e6
