“In the final weeks of the presidential campaign, vice presidential candidate Joe Biden offered an inconvenient prediction: ‘It will not be six months,’ he said, ‘before the world tests Barack Obama. We’re going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.’ History is on Biden’s side. …Heightened threat requires extra preparedness during the inauguration and in the months immediately after. Here his team can adapt lessons from the vigilance, coordination of all elements of American power, and direct presidential engagement demonstrated by the Clinton administration’s preparation for the millennium.”

Underlining the inconvenient prediction made by VP-elect Biden in the final weeks of the campaign, Belfer Center Director Graham Allison’s oped from Sunday’s Chicago Tribune offers an uncomfortable reminder. In the early months of the first year of the last two American Presidents, Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda terrorists have conducted lethal attacks on the American homeland. Allison urges heightened preparedness to prevent the third, even more deadly attack Osama bin Laden is surely plotting.

Allison wrote “When Will Osama Test Obama,” published by the Chicago Tribune on December 1, 2008.

For the full op-ed, go to: http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/18699/when_will_osama_test_obama.html

Nicholas Burns, Belfer Center faculty member appointed as Harvard Kennedy School Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations, appeared on the “Charlie Rose Show” Mon., December 1 to discuss U.S. policy in South Asia, India-Pakistan relations, and the impact of the Mumbai attacks on the fight against terrorism.

Watch the interview here: http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/9684

Burns also was interviewed on WGBH TV’s “Greater Boston” about the situation in India, and Obama’s security and foreign relations picks.

“He has been something of a shadow economic minister, laying out in real time how a Democratic administration would have responded to the financial crisis. When other economists and policy makers have questions, they often call Mr. Summers.”

Lawrence Summers, member of the Belfer Center’s Board of Directors, was featured in the article, “Economic Scene: The Return of Larry Summers,” which was published in the New York Times on November 25, 2008.

For the full article, go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/26/business/economy/26leonhardt.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&em

“What a nice change that would be, if political assassinations in Lebanon or genocidal crimes elsewhere in the Middle East, were subjected to the rule of law, a credible, independent court, and the highest standards of international justice.”

Rami Khouri, a senior fellow with the Belfer Center’s Dubai Initiative and director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs and the American University of Beirut, wrote “Law Over Gun,” released by Agence Global on December 1, 2008.

For the full op-ed, go to: http://www.agenceglobal.com/Article.asp?Id=1818

“Engage the Iranians through normal diplomatic channels, treat them with basic respect, abide by the same rules of law and international conventions that you want them to comply with, and negotiate mutually beneficial relationships based on equal rights for all, rather than the primacy of American or Israeli interests in the Middle East.”

Rami Khouri, a senior fellow with the Belfer Center’s Dubai Initiative and director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs and the American University of Beirut wrote “Making Sense of Iran in Washington,” released by Agence Global on November 26, 2008.

For the full op-ed, go to: http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/18698/making_sense_on_iran_in_washington.html

Nature
November 27
Op-ed by: Calestous Juma, Belfer Center
Topic: Genetically modified crops in Africa

The global food crisis that came to the fore last spring may have been overshadowed by the global financial crisis that erupted this autumn, but it has certainly not been solved. That is one reason why many governments and philanthropic foundations are now looking to agricultural biotechnology to improve future food production. Despite the virulent opposition to genetically modified (GM) crops in some quarters, many believe that progress in areas such as drought-tolerant or nutritionally fortified plants could make a big difference in many of the poorest countries.

Indeed, environmentalists, policy-makers, scientists and industry representatives have been meeting both formally and informally over the past few years — first to establish a degree of common ground, and then to approach the trickier business of bridging some of their differences on the role of GM technology in agriculture.

A prime example is the work of the African Union’s High-Level Panel on Modern Biotechnology, which was charged with charting a way forward in what have become known as Africa’s GM wars.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v456/n7221/full/456421b.html

New York Times
December 1
Cited: Research by Joseph Nye
Topic: America’s international image

… But so far, cultural popularity has not translated into new friends. The latest data from the Pew Global Attitudes Project, released in June, shows that the image of the United States remained negative in the 24 countries in which Pew conducted surveys (although in 10 of those the favorability rating of the United States edged up slightly).

Joseph S. Nye Jr., the Harvard professor who coined the phrase “soft power” in 1989 to refer to the ways beyond military muscle that America influences the world, said that “what’s interesting about the last eight years is that polls show a decline in American attractiveness.”

He added: “But then you ask the follow-up questions and you see that American culture remains attractive, that American values remain attractive. Which is the opposite of what the president has said — that they hate us for who we are and what we believe in.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/business/media/01soft.html?_r=1&sq=tim%20arango&st=nyt&scp=2&pagewanted=print

Washington Times
November 30
Quoted: Xenia Dormandy, Belfer Center
Topic: Terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India

The deadly terrorist attacks on Bombay last week threaten to reverse a gradually warming relationship between South Asia’s two nuclear-armed rivals.

Intelligence sources in New Delhi, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the operation that left nearly 200 dead, including several foreigners, appeared to have been planned in Pakistan. …

Xenia Dormandy , a senior associate at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs , said that given the “advanced nature of the attack, [the terrorists are] very likely to have gotten assistance from some other organization at a minimum.”

Ms. Dormandy, who previously served as director for South Asia at the National Security Council, said, “The attack specifically targeted Westerners. Thus, while there has been a huge impact in India, it is more likely that the motivation was primarily against the West, rather than the Indian government or people.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/30/attacks-stoke-tensions-between-india-pakistan/print/

Associated Press
November 30
Quoted: Hassan Abbas, Belfer Center
Topic: Terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India

Pakistan demanded evidence for Indian charges it was involved in the Mumbai attacks and reversed its decision to send its spy chief to aid a probe, muddying efforts to avert a crisis between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

Pakistan’s government Saturday reinforced its pledge to help India identify and apprehend those behind the grisly attacks, which left more than 190 people dead in the financial hub Mumbai. …

Hassan Abbas , a Pakistan expert at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government , said the army was probably riled by Indian and U.S. media reports suggesting that New Delhi was considering a military response, including airstrikes on suspected militant training camps in the portion of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan.

Indian saber-rattling was inevitable as parties pander to nationalist sentiment ahead of general elections due next year, Abbas said, though he estimated the risk of war as slim.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i_THH84S9bUIhGGUr1Hqcm5ssBVAD94OVB100

Boston Globe
November 29
Op-ed by: Elaine Kamarck, Belfer Center
Topic: Using internet innovation for social justice initiatives

AS PRESIDENT-ELECT Barack Obama begins to put together his government, one question reigns supreme. How can he possibly deal with the economic crisis and the war in Iraq, and still have anything left over for the social justice initiatives that are so dear to many of the Democrats who elected him?

The challenge is tough but not impossible. In the past decade, information technology has begun to transform anti-poverty efforts and bring to the poverty world some of the increases in productivity that have been common in the private sector. If Obama can expand on this, the chances for him to make good on a broad social justice agenda will increase in spite of the other challenges he faces.

In the past two decades, electronic database and Internet technologies have driven down the cost of government overhead while significantly elevating the productivity of the nation’s anti-poverty programs. Fraud has been reduced while the needs of the economically distressed are addressed in a more timely manner. This has freed up money for other pressing anti-poverty needs.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/11/29/look_to_the_internet_to_fight_poverty?mode=PF