ARTICLES AND OP-EDS
September 30, 2009
Partnering for Progress in the Middle East
Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, The Dubai Initiative
BEIRUT -- At almost every international or regional gathering these days on how to fix the assorted problems and deficiencies in the Middle East, a common theme keeps popping up: What is the most effective and legitimate way for foreign parties -- governments, international agencies, non-governmental organizations, universities or companies -- to help achieve advances in areas like human rights, economic growth, social protection, democratization, or technological advancement?
AP Image
September 29, 2009
"A Budapest B-School Teaches Leadership at the Crossroads"
Harvard Business Review
By Ben Heineman, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"In this era of upheaval, CEU Business School's aspiration - to merge teaching and research on business and society with traditional commercial subjects to train leaders for markets in transition - applies to all nations, developing and developed."
AP Photo
September 28, 2009
"Paying for University Education is Key to Improving its Quality"
The Scotsman
By Azeem Ibrahim, Research Fellow, International Security Program
"Because of rising incomes and falling travel costs, education is internationalising. And universities themselves are now competing globally. Whereas, for example, St Andrews would have once worried about its standing compared to Oxford or Manchester, it must now worry about its standing compared to Yale or the University of Tokyo."
AP Photo
September 25, 2009
"Long-term Defence Strategy Cannot be Based on the News"
The Scotsman
By Azeem Ibrahim, Research Fellow, International Security Program
"...[W]e cannot make defence decisions only on those threats which are foreseeable. History shows that the biggest threats are actually those we do not foresee. It is no good making defence policy decisions based on the news cycles of 2009, and then complaining that we cannot adequately defend ourselves and our interests in 2020."
AP Photo
September 21, 2009
"Yes: The Transition Can Be Gradual—and Affordable"
Wall Street Journal
By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements
"...[T]he U.S. and China have been involved in intense talks about climate policy. If the two nations come together in a bilateral agreement—a real possibility—they would have much more leverage to persuade other major nations to join. From there, developing nations could be brought on board by giving them targets that reduce emissions without stifling growth. Advanced nations might agree to more-severe emissions cuts and allow developing nations to make gradual cuts in the early decades as they rise toward the world's average per-capita emissions. With the right incentives, developing countries can and will move onto less carbon-intensive growth paths."
AP Photo
September 21, 2009
"Obama's AfPak Metrics Miss the Mark on Pakistan"
Foreign Policy
By Hassan Abbas, Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"It is quite striking that framers of the metrics have avoided the merest mention of Pakistan-India relations as a factor in understanding which way the wind is blowing in Pakistan's security environment. While the Obama administration has every right to wish that Pakistan delink its rivalry with India in the Kashmir region from its policy towards Afghanistan (and consequently in Federally Administered Tribal Areas), one cannot ignore the prevailing ground realities."
September 21, 2009
Souvenir Photo at the UN
Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, The Dubai Initiative
BEIRUT -- No concrete results are expected from the September 22 meeting at the United Nations among US President Barack Obama, Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (I write this the morning of the 22nd in Beirut, before the meeting takes place). This marks the end of phase 1 of Obama’s intriguing foray into Arab-Israeli peace-making.
September 21, 2009
Climate Change in the Arab World
Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, The Dubai Initiative
COPENHAGEN -- The amount and quality of available scientific data on the global impact of climate change is staggering -- as I rediscovered at a seminar organized by the Danish foreign ministry in Copenhagen this week. The debate that swirled around the issues of climate change and global warming just two or three years ago has vanished. There is much more certainty now on the nature and extent of the changes to the Earth’s climate that can be attributed to the impact of human activity, mainly the burning of fossil fuels that emit greenhouse gases.
AP Photo
September 21, 2009
"Global Impact of U.S. Housing Crisis"
The Korea Herald
By Martin Feldstein, George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University
The bursting of America's housing bubble in the summer of 2006 triggered the global financial crisis and recession. The sharp fall in house prices that followed caused a dramatic downturn in household wealth, leading to lower consumer spending and an overall fall in GDP. By now, wealth in the form of owner-occupied housing is down about 30 percent, equivalent to a loss of more than $6 trillion of household wealth.
AP Photo
September 20, 2009
"The Essential Pillars of a New Climate Pact"
Boston Globe
By Sheila M. Olmstead, Former Research Fellow, Environment and Natural Resources Program, 2001–2002 and Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board; Director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements
THE climate change summit at the United Nations on Tuesday is aimed to build momentum for the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen in December, where nations will continue negotiations on a successor to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. To be successful, any feasible successor agreement must contain three essential elements: meaningful involvement by a broad set of key industrialized and developing nations; an emphasis on an extended time path of emissions targets; and inclusion of policy approaches that work through the market, rather than against it.
