MIDDLE EAST
For more on the region, visit the Belfer Center's Middle East Initiative
May 22, 2012
"The Verification of the Peaceful Nature of Iran's Nuclear Program"
Book Chapter
By Olli Heinonen, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
In this chapter, Olli Heinonen examines a decade of actions taken by Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regarding Iran’s nuclear program. Heinonen suggests a number of measures Iran might take to provide assurance to the international community that it is not developing nuclear weapons. He writes: In tandem with the continued search for a negotiated political solution between the P5+1 and Iran, the IAEA should continue to press for commitments that would provide the best assurances on that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful. This means that the verification process will have to be comprehensive and expansive. What this also means is that the current stage of unsatisfactory cooperation and approach by Iran to the IAEA needs to change. Given the past experiences, if Iran takes the opportunity of widening those with the following measures, the IAEA will be in a position to provide assurances about the scope of Iran’s nuclear program.
AP Photo
May 21, 2012
"It Plays Well in Tel Aviv, But How Does It Play in Peoria?"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"Invariably, Iranians in and around the academic pressure cooker of Cambridge, Mass. will tell you that the one thing that will not work on the Iranian psyche is threatening language. This may or may not be true. Perhaps we will find out on May 23rd, when the Iranians meet in Baghdad with the West, the Chinese and the Russians on Iran's nuclear program."
AP Photo
May 21, 2012
"Europe's Other Challenge: Immigration"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"In the same way that the fiscal crisis is pitting northern and central Europe against southern Europe, the refugee challenge is making similar distinctions. Those fleeing instability are mostly heading to Europe's southern borders — Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Even such large numbers are manageable, though challenging, but the stresses that go along with such an influx have contributed to an already raw bitterness about the disparate obligations of member states."
Mark Wilson/Getty
May 21, 2012
"How To Avoid a War with Iran"
Op-Ed, Foreign Policy
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom; Co-Principal Investigator, Energy Research, Development, Demonstration, and Deployment (ERD3) Policy Project and Abbas Maleki, Senior Associate, International Security Program
Observers would be forgiven for dismissing negotiations over Iran's nuclear program as Kabuki theater. Despite years of on-again, off-again efforts, after all, fears of war continue to simmer. Such frustrations are understandable -- but they may not be entirely justified.
(AP Photo/Iranian President's Office)
May 24, 2012
"How Close is Iran to Exploding its First Nuclear Bomb?"
Op-Ed, Scientific American
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; Faculty Chair, Dubai Initiative, Harvard Kennedy School
Belfer Center Director Graham Allison writes in Scientific American that while it is unclear whether Iran has decided to develop a nuclear weapon, it has over the past decade been "cautiously, but steadily, putting in place all the elements it needs to construct a nuclear weapon in short order."
Allison argues that the best way to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb might be to "aggressively explore the offer made by Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last fall to end all enrichment beyond LEU in exchange for the purchase of fuel for its Tehran Research Reactor."
May 2012
"Perceptions and Narratives of Security: The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and the Iran-Iraq War"
Discussion Paper
By Annie Tracy Samuel, Research Fellow, International Security Program
This paper explores the importance of the Iran-Iraq War for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) by analyzing how the Guards have used the war to present their positions on Iran's national security.
Summer 2012
Belfer Center Newsletter Summer 2012
Newsletter
By Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications
The Summer 2012 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 Belfer Center involvement with the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit and other activities to help shape debate on national and global security. We also spotlight Henry Kissinger’s return to Harvard and his remarks about power and politics, James Baker’s acceptance of the 2012 Great Negotiator Award, and Graham Allison’s cover story in TIME magazine describing decisions behind the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. And more....
Summer 2012
Fellows Enrich Belfer Center and Harvard Kennedy School with Vital Research, Dialogue
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications
Several times each week, the Belfer Center library is filled with students, faculty, and fellows eager to listen, challenge, and exchange information and ideas triggered by the day’s presentation. Many of these talks are by one of the Center’s more than 70 research and senior fellows. This article features a few of the talented women and men who are current and former faculty, fellows, staff and associates of the Belfer Center whose work is making significant contributions in public and private sectors around the world.
Summer 2012
Insight and Analysis: Iran
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
A small sampling of Belfer Center perspectives on Iran and the country's nuclear program.
Summer 2012
Hot Off the Presses
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Susan M. Lynch, Program Assistant, International Security Program; Web Manager, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program
A brief survey of recent publications by Belfer Center affiliates.
