ARTICLES AND OP-EDS
AP Photo
May 21, 2012
"It Plays Well in Tel Aviv, But How Does It Play in Peoria?"
The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"Invariably, Iranians in and around the academic pressure cooker of Cambridge, Mass. will tell you that the one thing that will not work on the Iranian psyche is threatening language. This may or may not be true. Perhaps we will find out on May 23rd, when the Iranians meet in Baghdad with the West, the Chinese and the Russians on Iran's nuclear program."
AP Photo
May 21, 2012
"Europe's Other Challenge: Immigration"
Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"In the same way that the fiscal crisis is pitting northern and central Europe against southern Europe, the refugee challenge is making similar distinctions. Those fleeing instability are mostly heading to Europe's southern borders — Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Even such large numbers are manageable, though challenging, but the stresses that go along with such an influx have contributed to an already raw bitterness about the disparate obligations of member states."
Mark Wilson/Getty
May 21, 2012
"How To Avoid a War with Iran"
Foreign Policy
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom; Co-Principal Investigator, Energy Research, Development, Demonstration, and Deployment (ERD3) Policy Project and Abbas Maleki, Senior Associate, International Security Program
Observers would be forgiven for dismissing negotiations over Iran's nuclear program as Kabuki theater. Despite years of on-again, off-again efforts, after all, fears of war continue to simmer. Such frustrations are understandable -- but they may not be entirely justified.
AP Photo/LOCOG
May 21, 2012
"London's Last Waltz"
Newsweek
By Niall Ferguson, Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Niall Ferguson writes that those planning to come to London for the Olympics should read Joseph Roth’s Radetzky March. For London today, he says, resembles nowhere more closely than fin-de-siècle Vienna—in good ways, but also in bad.
May 7, 2012
"How It Went Down"
Time
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; Faculty Chair, Dubai Initiative, Harvard Kennedy School
"While journalists have provided a number of histories of the events that led to bin Laden's death, the purpose of this analysis is to examine White House decisionmaking for lessons that can be applied to future foreign policy challenges."
In a TIME magazine cover story, Belfer Center Director Graham Allison writes about decisions behind the raid that led to the death of Osama bin Laden. Allison, whose analysis is the result of more than 100 hours of interviews, is author of the prize-winning analysis of the 1971 Cuban Missile Crisis, Essence of Decision.
(AP Photo/Iranian President's Office)
May 24, 2012
"How Close is Iran to Exploding its First Nuclear Bomb?"
Scientific American
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; Faculty Chair, Dubai Initiative, Harvard Kennedy School
Belfer Center Director Graham Allison writes in Scientific American that while it is unclear whether Iran has decided to develop a nuclear weapon, it has over the past decade been "cautiously, but steadily, putting in place all the elements it needs to construct a nuclear weapon in short order."
Allison argues that the best way to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb might be to "aggressively explore the offer made by Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last fall to end all enrichment beyond LEU in exchange for the purchase of fuel for its Tehran Research Reactor."
AP Photo
May 17, 2012
"Urging Women to Be All That You Can't Be"
Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"For Democrats, advocating for women's equal rights in the military is less complicated than contending with the reproductive and health issues that have drawn most of the gender focus this election season. Since most Americans have no interaction with the military, which constitutes less than 1 percent of the population, the issue is largely theoretical and therefore much safer for politicians. Few Americans actually know a woman who wants to be in combat; by saying that such women should be allowed to follow their dreams, Obama isn't alienating anyone except those who still claim that women aren't up to the job."
(Rex Features via AP Images)
May 17, 2012
"NATO: When I'm Sixty-Four"
New York Times
By R. Nicholas Burns, Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics, Harvard Kennedy School and David Manning
Nicholas R. Burns and David Manning, former ambassadors to NATO from their respective countries, respond to the question of whether NATO is still needed. They write: “Will you still need me when I’m sixty-four?” sang the Beatles. NATO is now in its 64th year, and in our view the answer is an unequivocal yes. The alliance still underwrites our security and underpins our prosperity. It gives us a global voice that no member state would enjoy individually. And if “it’s good to talk” in a dangerous world, there is no better trans-Atlantic forum.
AP Photo
May 15, 2012
"Sarko: Nothing Became Him Like the Manner of His Leaving"
The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"On May 8th, Sarkozy invited Hollande to be at his side at the lighting of the eternal flame at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Place d'Etoile in Paris, in commemoration of V-E Day. It was an interlude of correctness, if not unity, in the eternal struggle in France between the Left and the Right."
AP Photo
May 15, 2012
"Judge the U.S. Candidates by Their Self-mastery and Openness"
Daily Star
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
"But the most important variable for voters to examine is the candidate's biography. I do not mean the slick books and television advertisements that are produced for their campaigns. While image consultants and acting ability can mask a candidate's character, an integrated life over time is the best basis to judge the authenticity of the next president's temperament and how he will govern."
