Joshua Landis is Sandra Mackey Chair and Director of the Center for Middle East Studies and the Farzaneh Family Center for Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies at the University of Oklahoma in the Boren College of International Studies. He writes and manages SyriaComment.com, a daily newsletter on Syrian politics and publishes frequently in policy journals such as Foreign Affairs, Middle East Policy and Foreign Policy. His book, "Syria at Independence: Nationalism, Leadership, and Failure of Republicanism," will be published by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies this coming year. He is a frequent analyst on TV, radio, and in print and is a regular on NPR and the BBC and has received three Fulbright grants to support his research in Syria.