SOUTH ASIA
Winter 2009-10
Belfer Center Newsletter Winter 2009-10
Newsletter
By Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications
The Winter 2009-10 issue of the Belfer Center newsletter features recent and upcoming activities, research, and analysis by members of the Center community on critical global issues. In this issue, Belfer Center scholars analyze the war in Afghanistan and potential impacts of options available to President Obama at this fork in the road. Center experts also offer commentary on how to prevent or live with a nuclear-armed Iran. The newsletter highlights U.S. Senator Jack Reed, a Harvard Kennedy School alum now a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, and Paula Dobriansky, former undersecretary of state for democracy and global affairs and current senior fellow with the Belfer Center.
The Winter 2009-10 newsletter also features: the launch of a new Belfer Center initiative - Agricultural Innovation in Africa – headed by Calestous Juma; a discussion of biofuels as a possible solution for the developing world with Henry Lee; and a look at “Realistic Costs of Carbon Capture” by Mohammed Al-Juaied and Adam Whitmore. In addition, this issue welcomes Melissa Hathaway and discusses her work with the Belfer Center’s cyber security initiative. The newsletter also pays tribute to Ernest May, world-renowned historian of international relations and foreign policy and a long-time Belfer Center colleague and member of the Center’s board of directors.
Belfer Center Photo
Winter 2009-10
"Analyzing the War in Afghanistan: Obama's Fork in the Road"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications
As President Barack Obama continues to weigh the impacts of American presence in Afghanistan, the Belfer Center's Graham Allison, Meghan O'Sullivan, and Rory Stewart offer their comments on the situation at this fork in the road.
Tom Fitzsimmons
Winter 2009-10
"How to Prevent or Live with a Nuclear-Armed Iran"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications
As the debate continues over actions the U.S. and international community should take to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon - or using it if built - experts from the Belfer Center and Massachusetts Institute of Technology offer their analyses and advice.
Winter 2009-10
"Featured Fellows - Focus on Research"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications
Melissa Willard-Foster discusses key components to a lasting peace agreement and Vipin Narang explains Taliban threat to Pakistan nuclear weapons. Willard-Foster is a research fellow with the Belfer Center's International Security Program (ISP) and Narang is a research fellow with the ISP and Project on Managing the Atom.
Winter 2009-10
"Notable Quotes"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Beth Maclin, Communications Assistant
Notable quotes from opeds and testimonies.
November 2009
"Beyond Optimism and Pessimism: The Differential Effects of Nuclear Proliferation"
Working Paper
By Matthew Kroenig, Affiliate, Project on Managing the Atom
Matthew Kroenig examines the effect of the spread of nuclear weapons on international politics. He proposes a theory of nuclear proliferation that examines the differential effects of nuclear proliferation. Kroenig argues that the threat nuclear proliferation poses to a particular state depends on that state’s ability to project military power. This article contributes to our understanding of the consequences of nuclear proliferation and contains important implications for nuclear nonproliferation policy.
2009
Pride and Prejudice and Prithvis: Strategic Weapons Behavior in South Asia
Book Chapter
By Vipin Narang, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
Vipin Narang's chapter "Pride and Prejudice and Prithvis: Strategic Weapons Behavior in South Asia" in the book Inside Nuclear South Asia was published by Stanford University. Narang examines the ballistic missile flight-testing pattern in the region as a proxy for nuclearization and as an indicator for both states' strategic weapons decisions, attempting to clarify the variables that drive both India and Pakistan to test strategic weapons when they do.
AP Photo
October 13, 2009
"U.S., Russia Must Lead on Arms Control"
Op-Ed, Politico
By General Brent Scowcroft, Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor, R. Nicholas Burns, Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics and Strobe Talbott
"The Nobel Peace Prize Committee cited Obama's dedication to arms control and nonproliferation when announcing last Friday his selection as this year's laureate. If he creates a positive, mutually reinforcing dynamic in the way he presents and sequences the two treaties [NPT and CTBT], it will give momentum and coherence to follow-on negotiations and the agreements that they produce."
AP Photo
Fall 2009
"The Paradox of Iran's Nuclear Consensus"
Journal Article, World Policy Journal, issue 3, volume 26
By Kayhan Barzegar, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
"...[S]ituated in what it sees as a hostile neighborhood, it is hardly surprising that the Iranian government views an independent nuclear fuel cycle as interchangeable with deterrence, rather than as a bid for building a nuclear arsenal. While building a nuclear arsenal would be a costly endeavor, risking international isolation and assuring Iran's 'pariah status,' acquiring civilian nuclear capability would afford Iran the security and psychological edge it has long sought, and at a lower cost."
AP Photo
August 31, 2009
"Keeping Up with the Indians"
Op-Ed, Foreign Policy
By Paul Staniland, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program/Intrastate Conflict Program, 2008–2009
"Neither Americans nor Indians always understand how threatening their military strength can look to weaker countries. This dynamic is clearly at play in the case of Pakistan — Indians feel that they are self-evidently not a threat, while Americans are often baffled that Pakistani security elites care so much about India, which to the U.S. looks like a positive force for stability and democracy. At the end of the day, however, the world does not look the same from Rawalpindi and Islamabad as it does from Washington, and the U.S. needs to remember these differing goals, incentives, and fears as it pursues its vital interests in the region."
