“The decision making process that led to the surge in Iraq began with a review of the assumptions upon which our strategy had previously been based. It found that most of those assumptions were no longer valid and therefore it pointed to the necessity of changing the strategy in some fundamental ways. Today I would say President Obama has to look at these assumptions and determine the relationships between certain realities on the ground.”

Meghan O’Sullivan, Kirkpatrick professor of the practice of international affairs and member of the Belfer Center’s board of directors, was interviewed for Harvard Kennedy School Insight, which is currently featured on the HKS homepage.

For the full interview, go to: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/news-events/publications/insight/international/meghan-osullivan

“While there is certainly a role for the United States and other nations in moving forward a political agenda in Afghanistan, a partisan intervention, concealed only half-heartedly, that selects one candidate over another subverts all notions of democracy and, more important, begs for trouble.”

Paul Fishstein, a joint fellow with the Belfer Center and Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, wrote “US Prod Against Karzai Reckless, Counterproductive,” which the Boston Globe published on October 29, 2009.

For the full letter to the editor, go to: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/2009/10/29/us_prod_against_karzai_reckless_counterproductive/

“Rather than continuing to evade the relevance of the India factor to AfPak theater, the Obama administration must energetically facilitate and monitor the India-Pakistan peace process (which is lately showing some signs of life courtesy resumption of back channel diplomacy).”

Hassan Abbas, a senior advisor to the Belfer Center, wrote “Obama’s AfPak Metrics Miss the Mark on Pakistan,” which Foreign Policy published on September 21, 2009.

For the full oped, go to: http://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/09/21/obama_s_afpak_metrics_miss_the_mark_on_pakistan

“U.S. policy, in short, should be to increase pressure on the Iranian government at a time when it finds itself an international pariah with vastly reduced credibility around the world.”

Nicholas Burns, a member for the Belfer Center’s board of directors and a professor in the practice of diplomacy and international politics, testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs about Iran on July 30, 2009.

For the full testimony, go to: http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/19485/

Diplomatic bruising for Clinton
Financial Times
July 21
Quoted: Nicholas Burns, Belfer Center
Topic: U.S. international relations

… But while the problems over settlements and Iran are in part the latest manifestations of long-standing problems in the Middle East, in some ways, the US’s unfolding relationship with India is a much more intriguing case.

“We have got to be very clear-eyed about expectations in this relationship,” says Nicholas Burns, a former top state department official now at Harvard who helped negotiate a civil nuclear deal between the two countries during the last administration.

“India is not an ally of the US in the way that Japan is and Germany is and it is clear that while the two countries have a number of strategic points of connection, there are also significant differences between us,” he says, highlighting differences over climate change and trade. But he adds: “If you look at the history of the 21st century, there will be just a handful of great powers and India and the US will be among them.”

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/93d54780-758d-11de-9ed5-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

“The new American administration has assigned itself a monumental but important and long overdue task: redefine the balance of its interactions with a range of official institutions as well as other movements or forces in a society.”

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 “Will She or Won’t She?” which Agence Global released on July 20, 2009.

For the full oped, go to: http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/19319/

Rich lessons in North Korea’s playbook
Asia Times Online
July 15
Quoted: Joseph Nye
Topic: US foreign policy
Nye’s research was also referenced in an article in The Hindi (India)

… The fifth crisis with North Korea from 2001 to 2008 was attributable to the blatant bid of the Bush administration to blackmail North Korea into submission as it refused to pick up where the Clinton administration had left off.

Bush’s policy was ABC (anything but Clinton) and it spun intelligence that North Korea was in material breach of a nuclear agreement, triggering a nuclear crisis. Bush branded North Korea as part of an “axis of evil”, along with Iraq and Iran, and singled it out for nuclear exemption and abandoned the Agreed Framework, uttering, “I loathe Kim Jong-il.”

But the Bush administration failed to follow through its military option, as Professor Joseph Nye at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Administration [sic] observed in the March 12, 2003, Los Angeles Times:

The decision to focus on Iraq rather than North Korea shows that deterrence works, but in this case what it shows is North Korea’s ability to deter the United States.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/KG16Dg01.html

Assessing Global Trends for 2025
The Futurist
July/August
Quoted: Elaine Kamarck
Topic: U.S. prospects in the global economy

Four policy experts examine the implications of a U.S. national security report and come to different conclusions about prospects for U.S. influence in the future global economy….

THE FUTURIST: To what extent do you think the above outlined points — such as a wealth migration from the United States to Asia, potential war between India and Pakistan — are likely?

Elaine Kamarck: I don’t see a shift in wealth away from the United States toward Russia or China, especially not Russia. That’s too pessimistic precisely because the structural components of innovation in the United States — culturally, legally — are so strong. The cultural and legal components for innovation in the rest of the world are, frankly, so weak….

THE FUTURIST: What you are saying is that the primary focus in the United States must be maintaining a culture of innovation and economic openness?

Kamarck: That includes controversial things like keeping fairly open immigration. Immigration is one of the best sources of American talent, and so we have to be careful not to give in to those who would cut off immigration. There are a lot of things that go into the American economic competitive advantage, from education to innovation. Fundamentally, we’re the most innovative economy in the world. There are very few signs that any of the other big economies will surpass the United States in innovation.

http://www.wfs.org/May-June09/2025Trendspage.htm

“Simply stated, the United States cannot realistically hope to move closer to Iran and Syria while also boycotting Hizbullah and Hamas. The structural constraint in American policy in the Middle East is that it has always subordinated relations with the Arab world to its primary alliance with Israel. Washington often does sensible things in the Arab world, but when Israel comes into the picture American rationality turns into mush.”

Rami Khouri, a senior research 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 “Obama Should Think Chicago,” released by Agence Global on June 3, 2009.

For the full oped, go to: http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/19082/
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“…the most important thing, I thought, was his equating the Israeli and the Palestinian positions in terms of their past suffering and their present aspirations and future rights to secure an equal statehood. I think putting the Israelis and the Palestinians squarely on the same level was a significant step for American policy.”

Khouri was also interviewed on Obama’s speech in Cairo on NPR’s “Morning Edition” on June 4, 2009.

For the full interview, go to: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104924816

“We are deeply concerned by the gap between the current U.S.-Russian relationship and the level of cooperation that the United States needs with Russia in order to advance vital American interests.” – “The Right Direction for U.S. Policy toward Russia”

The Bipartisan Commission on U.S. Policy toward Russia, of which Belfer Center Graham Allison is a member, released its report, “The Right Direction for U.S. Policy toward Russia,” on March 16, 2009. The commission, headed by former Sens. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Gary Hart, D-Colo., is a joint project of the Nixon Center, a Washington think tank, and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs of Harvard University.

For more, go to:
http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/18909/
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/03/16/america/US-Russia.php
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/16/russian-american-relation_n_175543.html