“The Obama administration is right to focus on fixing a faltering war in Afghanistan and shoring up a weak and unstable Pakistan. But it has been less attentive to one of the most important bipartisan achievements of the Clinton and Bush years–the creation of a long-term US friendship and partnership with India.”

Nicholas Burns, a member of the Belfer Center’s board of directors, wrote “Ways Obama can tend bonds with India,” which the Boston Globe published on November 24, 2009.

For the full oped, go to: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/11/24/ways_obama_can_tend_bonds_with_india/

Time to renew sense of trust with India
Hindustan Times (India)
November 20
Quoted: Nicholas Burns, Belfer Center
Topic: U.S.-Indian relations

The United States-China joint statement that has rankled India by its mention of relations between India and Pakistan has underscored the major issue that American President Barack Obama will face when he meets with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Washington next week — renewing the sense of trust that had been developed when George W Bush was in office….

In an interview, former US Undersecretary in the State Department Nicholas Burns said, “It will be important for the Obama Administration to signal more clearly than it has to date that India’s rise to power is in the strategic interest of the United States as our long-term interests are symmetrical.”

Burns, now a Professor at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, is considered one of the architects of the India-US civilian nuclear deal.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/americas/Time-to-renew-sense-of-trust-with-India/Article1-478237.aspx

“The Chimerican era is drawing to a close. Given the bursting of the debt and housing bubbles, Americans will have to kick their addiction to cheap money and easy credit. The Chinese authorities understand that heavily indebted American consumers cannot be relied on to return as buyers of Chinese goods on the scale of the period up to 2007.”

Niall Ferguson, a member of the Belfer Center’s board of directors, and Moritz Schularich co-wrote “The Great Wallop,” which the New York Times published on November 16, 2009.

For the full oped, go to: http://belfercenter.org/publication/19696/

Sino-US climate talks helpful, but too late for Copenhagen
Xinhua (China)
November 14
Quoted: Robert Stavins
Topic: China-U.S. climate negotiations

Sino-U.S. exchanges on climate issues will boost global negotiations in the long run, but are unlikely to facilitate a substantial climate change deal at Copenhagen talks in December, say experts in the run-up to U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to China. …

Robert Stavins, director of the Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements, said the meeting of Hu and Obama would certainly facilitate mutual understanding on climate change issues. …

But it appeared that U.S. Congress was unlikely to complete climate legislation by the time of Copenhagen, due to great political challenges in the midst of a recession with high unemployment and other domestic priorities, Stavins told Xinhua in an e-mail interview.

“There have been dramatic changes in the political climate for climate change policy in the U.S. since President Obama took office. The timing, however, is difficult for Copenhagen,” Stavins said.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/14/content_12455539.htm

“China’s policy of keeping the renminbi weak means that the US dollar must decline more rapidly against the euro, yen and other currencies to achieve the same overall trade-weighted fall of the dollar. China’s weak renminbi policy therefore not only prevents remedying China’s large current account surplus but also reduces Europe’s exports.”

Martin Feldstein, a member of the White House Economic Recovery Advisory Board and the Belfer Center’s board of directors, wrote “Why the Renminbi has to Rise to Address Imbalances,” which the Financial Times published on October 30, 2009

For the full oped, go to: http://belfercenter.org/publication/19665/

Feldstein also wrote “The Global Impact of America’s Health Care Debate,” which the Daily News Egypt published.

For the full oped, go to: http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/19666/

Yes, Virginia, There is a Mideast Nuke Deal

Newsweek

October 23

Quoted: Matthew Bunn, Project on Managing the Atom

Topic: Nuclear agreement between the U.A.E. and U.S.

… What’s groundbreaking is that the U.A.E. has promised not to construct its own uranium-enrichment facilities. Instead, it will outsource the entire fuel cycle—from enrichment to reprocessing—to an established nuclear country, probably France. The program will also be subject to strict inspections from the International Atomic Energy Agency. The fact is that roughly three quarters of the countries around the world with nuclear-power plants today rely on the international market for fuel from the major producers in France, Europe, Russia, and the U.S. Only a minority actually do their own uranium enrichment and reprocessing.

The Bush administration inked the nuclear-cooperation deal, known as a “123 agreement,” in January, Obama approved it in May, and the Emirates just put it into law by decree early this month. The final diplomatic legalities—called the exchanging of diplomatic notes—are expected to be finished next week. “It is a breakthrough,” says Matthew Bunn, who heads the Project on Managing the Atom, a nuclear-issues research group at Harvard. “The U.A.E. is saying they want to be an exemplar of how to do a peaceful nuclear program properly.” And it exemplifies the Obama administration’s seemingly counterintuitive strategy: to plug proliferation, it is spreading nuclear power, but keeping the process closely supervised.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/219233/

“The Nobel Peace Prize Committee cited Obama’s dedication to arms control and nonproliferation when announcing last Friday his selection as this year’s laureate. If he creates a positive, mutually reinforcing dynamic in the way he presents and sequences the two treaties, it will give momentum and coherence to follow-on negotiations and the agreements that they produce.”

Nicholas Burns and Joseph S. Nye, members of the Belfer Center’s board of directors, wrote “U.S., Russia Must Lead on Arms Control” with Brent Scowcroft and Strobe Talbott, which Politico published on October 13, 2009.

For the full oped, go to: http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/19631/

“Those Jewish Americans, who share a deep concern for Israel’s trials and travails, have the right, even the duty, to express their criticism within the Jewish community, the public at large, pretty much anywhere — except before the administration and Congress. There, we have to present one voice — not ‘pro’ every Israeli policy, but united, unswerving support for Israel and a strong US-Israel relationship.”

Chuck Freilich, a senior fellow with the Belfer Center’s International Security Program, wrote “AIPAC, J Street, or JDate?” which the Jerusalem Post published on October 12, 2009.

For the full oped, go to: http://belfercenter.org/publication/19632/

“For the foreseeable future the US will be growing at a much lower rate while China is in fact growing at a much faster rate.”
- Niall Ferguson, member of the Belfer Center’s board of directors
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US to host Netanyahu-Abbas talks
Aljazeera.net
September 21
Quoted: Chuck Freilich, Belfer Center
Topic: Upcoming three-way talks among Israel, Palestine, and the U.S.

The US president is to host three-way talks with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Tuesday, the White House has announced. …

Chuck Freilich, a former Israeli national security adviser currently with the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, told Al Jazeera that the Palestinians’ demand for a total end to all settlement building was ultimately impossible.

“The demand that there be a total and complete Israeli freeze not only in the West Bank as a whole, but including Jerusalem, was an unrealistic demand,” he said.

“No Israeli prime minister could have agreed to that.”

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