ASIA
AP Photo
December 14, 2012
"The Interview: Stephen M. Walt"
Op-Ed, The Diplomat
By Zachary Keck and Stephen M. Walt, Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Affairs; Faculty Chair, International Security Program
"The United States is out of Iraq and is getting out of Afghanistan, but the big question is whether we can keep ourselves from being dragged back into the Middle East quagmire in the future. The best course in the Middle East would be to act as an "offshore balancer": ready to intervene if the balance of power is upset, but otherwise keeping our military footprint small. We should also have normal relationship with states like Israel and Saudi Arabia, instead of the counterproductive "special relationships" we have today. Steps like these would free up the resources for a more robust presence in Asia, should that become advisable down the road. But we should act like an "offshore balancer" in Asia as well...."
Winter 2012-13
Belfer Center Newsletter Winter 2012-2013
Newsletter
By Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications
The Winter 2012-13 issue of the Belfer Center newsletter features recent and upcoming activities, research, and analysis by members of the Center community on critical global issues. This edition highlights the Belfer Center’s commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In addition to the background on those 13 days in 1962 when the world was on the brink of nuclear war, the Center focuses on the decision-making that averted a nuclear catastrophe and the lessons from that event for leaders of today. We include winners and winning entries from our “Best Cuban Missile Crisis Lessons” contest, co-sponsored with Foreign Policy magazine.
(Photo by Tom Fitzsimmons)
Winter 2012-2013
"Still Learning Fresh Lessons from the Cuban Missile Crisis"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications
Fifty years ago this October, as the Cuban Missile Crisis intensified, the world stood on the brink of a nuclear war. During 13 terrifying days in October 1962, people around the globe watched as President Kennedy and Soviet Premier Khrushchev searched for a way to move their countries—and the world—away from the nuclear cliff.
The Belfer Center commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October by encouraging fresh thinking on lessons learned from that dangerous confrontation—and how those lessons can be applied to crises encountered today.
Winter 2012-2013
From the Director
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School
As in October 1962, this fall’s 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis unfolded against the backdrop of a national election. The electoral stakes were even higher this year with the presidency in play, not just midterm Congressional races. So it seemed appropriate for the Belfer Center to take the anniversary as a learning moment for politicians and policy-makers, not just for students and scholars.
Winter 2012-2013
"Post Fukushima, Nuclear Experts Discuss Nuclear Power Legislation in China"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Christopher Wand, Former Program Assistant, Project on Managing the Atom
Given new urgency by last year’s Fukushima accident, China is considering new legislation that will help determine the role that nuclear plants will play in powering one of the biggest and fastest-growing economies in the world. This summer, the Belfer Center’s Project on Managing the Atom (MTA) hosted a workshop that brought together experts from Peking University’s Nuclear Policy and Law Center with American nuclear experts both from within and outside the Belfer Center. MTA Project Co-Principal Investigator Matthew Bunn chaired the meeting. The visitors from Peking University, who are engaged in helping to draft the new nuclear law, included professors Wang Jin, Wang Yugang, and Tang Yingmao.
Winter 2012-2013
"Saradzhyan Brings Insight, Experience to Center’s U.S. - Russian Research"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
The English reporter and columnist A.N. Wilson once mused: “If you imagine writing 1,000 words a day, which most journalists do, that would be a very long book.” Not only would it be a long book, it would likely cover a multitude of subjects, themes, and ideas. If Simon Saradzhyan, current fellow and former Russian journalist, were to write it, it would encompass everything from state and local politics in Russia and the Caucasus to issues of international security, nuclear terrorism, and diplomacy.
November 30, 2012
"Turning Points"
Op-Ed, New York Times
By Niall Ferguson, Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
We yearn for turning points, writes Niall Ferguson. "Just as economists have predicted nine out of the last five recessions, so journalists have surely reported nine out of the last five revolutions. Every election is hailed as epoch-making. Every president is expected to have a new foreign policy 'doctrine.' A minor redesign of a cellular phone is hailed by the devotees of the Apple cult as a 'paradigm shift.'"
November 2, 2012
"Lessons from the Cuban Missile Crisis for Today’s Crises"
News
By James F. Smith, Communications Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
In Harvard Professor Graham Allison’s view, “the significant unknowns” during the Cuban Missile Crisis nearly catapulted John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev into nuclear war. For former diplomat Nicholas Burns, the principal take-away from the crisis was the importance of giving an adversary a way out of a confrontation short of complete surrender. Allison and Burns were panelists on Oct. 14 at a forum at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston to consider the modern lessons flowing from the missile crisis. The event kicked off an intensive series of seminars and workshops for scholars from Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs to mark the 50th anniversary of the missile crisis. Panel moderator Juliette Kayyem, Kennedy School lecturer in public policy, reminded the audience that the missile crisis is often framed through the myth of the tough American president staring down the Russian foe and making him blink. Kayyem said that version fails to capture the nuanced secret diplomacy and the American concessions that made a deal possible.
November 1, 2012
"Obama's Failed Foreign Policy"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Eliot A. Cohen, Eric S. Edelman, Senior Associate, International Security Program and Meghan L. O'Sullivan, Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
"Because of the last four years, we face a world in which our enemies do not fear us, our friends do not believe they can trust us, and those who maneuver between the two camps feel that they will not get in trouble by crossing us. It is time, and more than time, to choose a different course."
October 2012
"North Korea's Nuclear Weapons Program: Motivations, Strategy, and Doctrine"
Book Chapter
By Terence Roehrig, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
Despite continuing efforts to convince North Korea to relinquish its nuclear capability, it appears increasingly unlikely that it will ever do so. Pyongyang might be willing to curtail or freeze certain parts of the program but the likelihood of North Korean denuclearization is quickly fading. With Pyongyang likely to retain some level of nuclear-weapons capability, analysis turns to an assessment of how these weapons might be integrated into its defense posture. Using deterrence theory as the analytical framework, this chapter examines possible avenues for North Korea's nuclear weapons strategy and doctrine.
