SOUTH ASIA
June 4, 2013
"Intelligence: The Times They Are A-Changing"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"...[M]ore than a generation ago, when the American people — and some departments in Washington — were still getting used to the idea of an intelligence service in a democracy. The process was not helped by the revelations of the 1970's, including CIA involvement in assassination attempts against foreign leaders and its infiltration of student organizations in the U.S."
Summer 2013
Belfer Center Newsletter Summer 2013
Newsletter
By Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications
The Summer 2013 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 expanding work on complex cybersecurity issues and Middle East challenges, offers reflections on the role of the U.S. in Iraq, and spotlights work being done by the Center and its affiliates on environment and energy issues.
Summer 2013
"Afghanistan’s Future Holds Promise, Danger, Experts Agree"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By James F. Smith, Communications Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"Even as they acknowledged that potential dangers loom in Afghanistan over the next two years, experts at a Harvard conference pointed to some encouraging signs. One example: the number of schoolchildren has grown from 800,000 in 2001 to nearly nine million today....Speakers from Afghanistan and the West recognized that violence persists and problems such as endemic corruption still plague the country....But they took solace from the work of Afghans themselves in building a credible national military force that has increasingly taken on the brunt of combat duties"
Summer 2013
"Yvonne Yew Offers Insight into Crucial Asian Security Issues"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
"Researching Asian security issues has never been more topical,” Yvonne Yew said in discussing her work at the Belfer Center. Despite Asia’s economic growth, she said, “simmering tensions, territorial disputes, nuclear proliferation concerns, and military skirmishes serve to potentially undermine the region’s peace and prosperity. As a former Singaporean diplomat and representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Yew is in a unique position to view security issues spurred by the momentous and ongoing rise of Asia."
May 8, 2013
"Born Yesterday"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"...[T]here are many downsides to what has happened in Afghanistan. In my view, we should have stopped hostilities in Afghanistan when bin Laden and his al-Qaeda followers escaped into Pakistan in late 2001. But it is now more than 11 years later and way past time to get out."
April 22, 2013
"Panetta to Hillary: 'You're Flat Wrong'"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"The issue was who was in charge of the drone program being conducted over Pakistan, the ambassador, Cameron Munter (who was present by video link) or the Station Chief. Specifically, Munter wanted to have approval power over the drone strikes. Hillary agreed. Panetta insisted otherwise."
Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographer
April 11, 2013
"End war, but don’t abandon Afghanistan"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Nicholas Burns, Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics, Harvard Kennedy School
Professor Burns shares his key takeaways from the "Future of Afghanistan" conference he co-hosted on April 4-5 at Harvard. Like most wars, this will not be won on the battlefield; rather, it will be brought to an end in a negotiated solution between the Afghan government and the Taliban. He reminds us that the U.S. government has a basic responsibility, moral as well as political, to stay involved as the majority of Afghans wish, but that we should seek greater political and financial support from Afghanistan’s powerful neighbors — Russia, China, India, and Iran.
April 8, 2013
"Incompatibility Hinders BRICS Bloc"
Op-Ed, Taipei Times
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
"...[W]hile the BRICS may be helpful in coordinating certain diplomatic tactics, the term lumps together highly disparate countries. Not only is South Africa miniscule compared with the others, but China's economy is larger than those of all of the other members combined. Likewise, India, Brazil and South Africa are democracies, and occasionally meet in an alternative forum that they call IBSA (the India, Brazil, South Africa Dialogue Forum)."
(Dara Kay Cohen Photo)
Spring 2013
Q&A with Dara Kay Cohen
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Dara Kay Cohen, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Dara Kay Cohen is an assistant professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and a core faculty member of the International Security Program at the Belfer Center. Her current research examines variations in the use of sexual violence during recent conflicts and draws from fieldwork in Sierra Leone, East Timor, and El Salvador, where she interviewed more than 200 ex-combatants and noncombatants. Here, she answers questions related to her research on the causes of wartime rape . She recently co-authored a policy report for the United States Institute of Peace titled “Wartime Sexual Violence: Misconceptions, Implications, and Ways Forward.”
March 20, 2013
"'Iran is the Main Beneficiary of the Iraq War'"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, The European
By Max Tholl and Stephen M. Walt, Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Affairs; Faculty Chair, International Security Program
"Iran has always been a major power in that region. Under Saddam however, Iran and Iraq were bitter enemies who fought a long war and were strongly opposed to one another. There was almost a rough balance of power between the two countries. By reducing Iraq's power and by allowing the Shia to become the dominant political force in Iraq, the US removed the main country balancing Iran, and helped bring to power a government that has at least some sympathies and links to Iran. So, Iran is by far the main strategic beneficiary of the Iraq War, which made it even more difficult for the US and its allies to deal with the country."
