The MENA Mix: Regional Recap is a monthly video podcast, produced by the Institute for Middle East Options (IMEO). Each episode features rotating experts who unpack and analyze key news stories shaping the Middle East and North Africa.
Our September episode brought together Mickey Bergman (Global Reach Chief Executive Officer) and Stacia George (Global Reach Chief Engagement Officer). They examined September’s regional developments through a negotiator’s lens, exploring how trauma, political pressures, and public messaging shape decision-making. Using UNGA as a springboard, they discussed public threats alongside continued U.S.–Iran diplomacy, Israel’s upcoming elections, and Syria’s challenges of rebuilding trust and state institutions, while looking ahead to Lebanon, Yemen and Saudi Arabia, and the competing political pressures shaping President Trump’s approach.
Mickey Bergman is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Global Reach, a nonprofit organization dedicated to negotiating the release of political prisoners and hostages worldwide. He has led teams facilitating the release of individuals detained in North Korea, Myanmar, Russia, Venezuela, Iran, and Gaza. Alongside former Governor Bill Richardson, Mr. Bergman was nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize, in 2019 and 2023, for his work in international hostage diplomacy and conflict resolution.
Mr. Bergman is the author of In the Shadows: True Stories of High-Stakes Negotiations to Free Americans Captured Abroad, published in June 2024, which draws on his experience negotiating the release of Americans detained overseas. In 2023, he received the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation's American Hostage Freedom Award in recognition of his work securing the freedom of hostages and political prisoners.
Stacia George is the Chief Engagement Officer at Global Reach, where she supports families of Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained and contributes to international negotiations and conflict resolution efforts. She has more than 25 years of experience in global negotiations, security sector reform, conflict resolution, and countering violent extremism, advising governments and organizations on complex security and political challenges.
Prior to joining Global Reach, Ms. George oversaw conflict resolution efforts in Israel/Palestine, Syria, Mali, and Sudan at The Carter Center and led programs in West and Central Africa and Haiti at Chemonics. She also spent 14 years at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and served as an international affairs fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. She holds an MA in international relations, international economics, and conflict management from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
