Pieper commented on the nuclear interim deal struck in Geneva between the P5+1 and Iran. His article can be accessed here: http://www.theatlanticpost.com/foreign-policy/historic-iran-deal-seals-beginning-new-middle-east-5714.html
Pinkard wrote on the role of the Kurds in Syria’s civil war and on Turkey-EU relations. His articles can be accessed here: http://www.theatlanticpost.com/security/increasingly-pivotal-role-syrias-kurds-civil-war-5745.html,
http://www.theatlanticpost.com/politics/turkey-eu-remain-intimate-strangers-5471.html
Together, they wrote on prospects for the upcoming Geneva II peace conference on Syria, published in The Daily Star (Lebanon). The article can be accessed here: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Commentary/2013/Dec-03/239682-much-of-regional-security-rides-on-how-geneva-ii-takes-shape.ashx#axzz2mWVovv9f
The focus of Moritz Pieper’s research is on regional and inter-regional power dynamics in the Middle East and Central Asia, with a special interest in non-Western foreign policies toward the Iranian nuclear programme. His PhD dissertation analyzes Chinese, Russian and Turkish foreign policy toward the Iranian nuclear programme, reflecting on the emergence of alternative narratives of diplomacy in a world of conflicting power centres and on changing conceptions of security cultures toward Iran. He is supervised by Dr. Tom Casier.
Octavius Pinkard’s research has a focus on Lebanese politics and the regional power and security dynamics of the Levant, with a particular emphasis on sub-state actors such as Hezbollah and the states that support them, including Syria and Iran. His doctoral thesis examines the political mobilization of the Lebanese diaspora in Europe, and analyzes its attempts to both inform and influence European foreign policy towards Lebanon. He is supervised by Dr. Elise Feron.