INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Summer 2013
"Elbe Group Facilitates U.S.-Russia Communication, Security"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Kevin Ryan, Director, Defense and Intelligence Project, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
As U.S. and Soviet forces converged in Germany in the final days of WWII, both armies met at the River Elbe near Torgau. That meeting of comrades, united in the face of common threats, is the inspiration for the Belfer Center’s “Elbe Group,” whose purpose is to maintain an open and continuous channel of communication on sensitive issues of U.S.-Russian relations. In late March, the Elbe Group met in Jerusalem for its eighth meeting since its founding in 2010.
Summer 2013
International Security Journal Highlights
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
International Security is America’s leading journal of security affairs. It provides sophisticated analyses of contemporary security issues and discusses their conceptual and historical foundations. The journal is edited at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center and published quarterly by the MIT Press.
May 12, 2013
"JFK’s wisdom for graduates"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Nicholas Burns, Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics, Harvard Kennedy School
In this season of commencement addresses, Future of Diplomacy Project Director Nicholas Burns reflects on what he believes to be the most important speech by an American president in a half a century: President John F. Kennedy's 1963 commencement address at American University. Burns praises that speech, delivered 50 years ago next month, "for its moral courage and strong sense of idealism and hope," and encourages us to hold to those values still today.
AP Photo
May 2013
"North Korea's Nuclear Weapons: Future Strategy and Doctrine"
Policy Brief
By Terence Roehrig, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
A nuclear North Korea makes it crucial that all countries in Northeast Asia work hard at maintaining a stable security environment that avoids the dangers of a crisis while encouraging North Korea to adopt a nuclear strategy that retains its "no first use" pledge, a strong command and control system, and a stable nuclear weapons posture. Given its relationship with North Korea, China is best positioned to encourage DPRK leaders in these directions.
AP Photo
May 9, 2013
"Options for Action in Syria"
Op-Ed, Los Angeles Times
By Chuck Freilich, Senior Fellow, International Security Program
"...[E]ven the limited use of chemical weapons violates a fundamental international norm and an American failure to respond would create another North Korea–like precedent that would be a source of deep encouragement for the Assads of the world: WMD buys even a heinous regime immunity from international retaliation. Iran is no doubt watching in the wings, deriving its own conclusions regarding what the U.S. defines as unacceptable behavior."
May 4, 2013
"Drop the Failed Approaches and Try New Ideas"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
"There is good news and bad news on the Arab-Israeli peace-making front this week. The good news is that the United States and the Arab League’s ministerial committee seem energized to restart Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. This culminated a few days ago in the Arab clarification that the 2002 Arab Peace Plan that offers Israel a comprehensive and permanent peace can include minor and mutually agreed land swaps around the 1967 borders."
May 2, 2013
"Immigration Reform Stays on US Soil"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"Immigration reform is about meeting the economic needs of the United States in the 21st century, from rural labor to Silicon Valley start-ups. It is about creating a border enforcement policy that is tough but also not cruel. It is about the United States. It is not about Mexico."
April 26, 2013
"Why Obama Remains Cautious About Syria"
Op-Ed, Washington Post
By David Ignatius, Senior Fellow, Future of Diplomacy Project
The Obama administration has been cautious in its response to the evidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons in part because it still hopes to convince Russia to join in an internationally supported move for a political transition from the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
April 30, 2013
"Frustrated by Obama’s Caution on Syria"
Op-Ed, Washington Post
By David Ignatius, Senior Fellow, Future of Diplomacy Project
"Gen. Salim Idriss, the commander of rebel forces in Syria, complained late Tuesday that President Obama’s desire “to wait and wait for more evidence” that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons is encouraging their continued use — and that these attacks will only stop if the United States and its allies impose a no-fly zone."
May 1, 2013
"Obama Bets Big on Syrian Rebel Leader"
Op-Ed, Washington Post
By David Ignatius, Senior Fellow, Future of Diplomacy Project
"The Obama administration is placing a large bet on the ability of a Syrian former professor of military engineering to build a coherent rebel army that can defeat the regime of Bashar al-Assad, combat Islamic radicals and help build a stable new Syria."
