"There won't be a civil war, but there may be some peaceful demonstrations and violent unrest,” Daniel Serwer, a professor of the practice of conflict management, tells the Mehr News Agency.
On October 3, US President Donald Trump, who is facing Joe Biden in November 3 elections, was flown to a military hospital for treatment after testing positive for coronavirus. The news sparked many debates about Trump's policies in containing the COVID-19, especially after the first presidential debate.
Serwer says Trump is trailing badly in the polls and his handling of COVID-19, citing his hospital stay and return to the White House as the main reasons.
Commenting on a tweet by Richard Hass in which he has said, "We finally have the word that defines @realDonaldTrump's presidency: Denialism. Denial of Covid-19, of climate change, of N.K.'s growing nuclear inventory, of Russian interference in American politics. In short, denial of facts," Serwer says that is "largely correct."
On remarks by US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman who has said that a Joe Biden win in next month's US elections would result in a shift in American policy on Iran in a way that would be damaging to Israel and the Persian Gulf states, the American academic says, "Washington will remain committed to the security of Israel and the (Persian) Gulf states, but Biden will also seek renewal of the JCPOA obligations (both American and Iranian) as well as a wider agreement on security in the region."
In his remarks, Friedman also claimed that Iran was the "most consequential issue of the election."
Serwer, director of the Conflict Management and American Foreign Policy Programs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, says through such remarks Friedman "wants to motivate Arabs and Israel against Biden."
The professor also says, "Friedman's main intention is to motivate American Evangelical Christians against Biden."
Regarding Biden’s pledge to "reassess" the US relationship with Saudi Arabia, Serwer argues "it is hard to know the result, but re-assessment is definitely in order."
The academic adds, "He (Biden) will be tougher on both Saudi Arabia and Iran when it comes to human rights abuses; I hasten to add he'll be tougher on abuses in the US as well."
Interview by Hamid Bayati
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