OP-EDS
May 1, 2013
"Obama's leadership challenge on Syria"
GlobalPost
By Nicholas Burns, Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics, Harvard Kennedy School
The US can no longer afford to stay on the sidelines in Syria, writes Professor Burns in this week's GlobalPost piece. The stakes and consequences are just too high to do otherwise.
April 30, 2013
"Golda to Henry: 'Why Do You Think We Put Them There?'"
The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"The hope that Israel might backtrack from its untenable policy on the settlements was dashed in the first Obama Administration. According to a new report by an Independent Study Group being published by the Henry L. Stimson Center, it might be a good idea to shift the attention to establishing a border between Israel and a Palestinian State."
April 30, 2013
"Global Grand Challenges for Engineering and International Development"
Technology+Policy | Innovation@Work
By Sujata K. Bhatia, Associate, Science, Technology, and Globalization
"Africa has demonstrated the capability to innovate in hardware and software, and that it is easier to introduce novel technologies in settings where no incumbent industries exist; this presents a unique advantage for innovators in the developing world and must be emphasized in policy discussions."
April 30, 2013
"Boston Bombing Puts Spotlight on Security Services' Failure to Cooperate"
RIA Novosti
By Simon Saradzhyan, Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"Was the bombing of the Boston marathon the result of an intelligence failure? There seems to be no clear answer to that question yet. But it does seem to me that had there been a greater degree of trust between the US and Russian secret services, they would have been more willing to share information and act on each other’s warnings, preventing Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev from allegedly bombing the Boston marathon's finish line on April 15."
April 25, 2013
"The Collapsing Arab State"
Project Syndicate
By Nawaf Obaid, Visiting Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
The so-called Arab Spring generated a wave of hope among those fighting or advocating for democratization of the Arab world’s authoritarian regimes. Now, following leadership changes in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen, and with a brutal civil war raging in Syria and increasingly fraught conditions in Bahrain, Sudan, Jordan, and Iraq, there is much talk of a major shift – and hope for improvement – in the nature and prospects of the Arab state.
April 26, 2013
"For Israel, Tranquil Days"
Washington Post
By David Ignatius, Senior Fellow, Future of Diplomacy Project
"To be sure, the Iranian threat looms on the horizon. And Amos Yadlin, a retired major general who heads the Institute for National Security Studies, warns of an approaching choice between 'bombing or the bomb' — that is, attacking Iran or accepting it as a nuclear-weapons state. But in terms of imminent dangers, this is a surprisingly tranquil period for the Jewish state," writes David Ignatius for the Washington Post.
April 29, 2013
"Diluting the Terror Watch Lists"
Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"...[T]he necessity to remove Cuba from the list is immediate. We need to rationalize these terror lists, whether they designate individuals or countries. The term 'state sponsor of terrorism' means nothing if Cuba is on the list: It simply says we kind of don't like you and will find any reason to make it hurt. An over-inclusive list, as we are seeing in the Boston case, can be as damaging as an under-inclusive one."
Foreign Policy
April 27, 2013
"The Test to Come: Forgiveness and Reconciliation"
Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
Is reconciliation a feasible option for the Arab world that now seems to be moving in the direction of greater domestic intolerance and warfare? We do not know, and only time will tell. The track record of intra-Arab reconciliation has not been very impressive in recent decades, in countries like Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen, Bahrain, Sudan and others.
April 26, 2013
"Name the Trade Rep, Mr. President"
Harvard Business Review, HBR Blog Network
By Ben Heineman, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
In President Obama's second term, the United States has an ambitious and challenging Atlantic and Pacific trade agenda which could significantly alter the architecture of the global economy.
FBI poster, via Associated Press
April 27, 2013
"Homegrown Terrorism Is Not On The Rise"
Boston Globe
By Risa Brooks
As details emerge about the alleged perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombings, observers are increasingly speculating that the attacks represent a growing threat of homegrown Muslim terrorism in the United States. Certainly, the reported professions by Dzhokhar Tsarnaev that he and his older brother, Tamerlan, were motivated by jihadist causes, as well as evidence that that they had viewed militant Islamist propaganda, are disturbing. Yet, any claim that their alleged involvement in the bombings portends a growing threat of homegrown terrorist attacks in the United States is greatly exaggerated. There is little basis for thinking that the United States should fear an onslaught of attacks by Muslim jihadists in the United States.
