ISLAM
Summer 2013
"Marisa Porges’ Journey from Naval Flight Officer to Counterterror Expert"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Wesley Nord
"Belfer Center Fellow Marisa Porges’ career has already spanned the worlds of academia and policymaking, the government and the military. As an undergraduate at Harvard, Porges earned honors with a degree in geophysics and, during senior year, commanded her Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps unit. After graduation, she commissioned as a naval flight officer in the U.S. Navy and managed the weapons systems aboard EA-6B Prowlers, a carrier-based electronic warfare jet.... [now] as a doctoral candidate in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London and a research fellow with the Belfer Center’s International Security Program, she now combines scholarship and practice."
April 18, 2013
Reza Aslan: "The Next War? Iran, Israel and the U.S. at the Crossroads" Podcast
News
An audio recording of a conversation with Reza Aslan, internationally acclaimed writer and scholar of religions and founder of AslanMedia.com, on April 4, 2013. This event will be moderated by Tarek Masoud, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School.
April 12, 2013
Iran's Economy Under Sanctions
News
An audio recording of Professor Djavad Salehi-Isfahani's March 25th talk at MEI on sanctions and Iran's economy.
March 2013
"Iran and Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Military Dynamics of Nonproliferation"
Discussion Paper
By Mansour Salsabili, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
Ambiguity in Iran's weapon acquisition dynamics exacerbates mistrust, which is the core reason for the present standoff at the negotiating table. This paper elucidates the Iranian military's capability and intention by delving into the main componential elements of weapon acquisition.
whitehouse.gov
March 19, 2013
"America and the Middle East-II"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
American and other foreign support for Arab autocrats and dictators for over half a century helped to create the conditions of disparity, corruption, and populist despair that ultimately sparked the uprisings and citizen demands for rights that we now witness. The Anglo-American invasion of Iraq has been the single most important stimulus for new terrorists who gravitated to occupied Iraq from many lands, eager to repel the foreign invaders, and who have since seeped out of Iraq to do their dirty deeds in other Arab countries.
March 12, 2013
"Judge Islamists by Performance, Not Piety"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
Rami Khouri asks and answers the following questions: "Are Islamist groups gaining or losing popularity in different Arab countries? Are Islamists of all varieties better at governing with a legitimate electoral mandate, or better at being opposition groups that only serve their narrow constituencies with a variety of social services and organized piety? Do Islamists necessarily do well when engaged in armed resistance to a foreign occupier or a domestic autocrat, and less well when they stop fighting and take on the responsibilities of governing?"
February 4, 2013
"Involving Russia in Syria"
Op-Ed, Washington Post
By David Ignatius, Senior Fellow, Future of Diplomacy Project
"Syria is the world’s most intractable and dangerous problem. But two ideas emerged on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference that could draw Russia into a more constructive role in solving the crisis, rather than allowing it to remain an obstructionist bystander," wirtes David Ignatius for the Washington Post.
January 18, 2013
"Newfound Status for Saudi Women"
Op-Ed, Washington Post
By David Ignatius, Senior Fellow, Future of Diplomacy Project
"King Abdullah announced Jan. 11 that 30 women would join the kingdom’s Shura Council, a consultative body of 150 persons, and that women henceforth would hold 20 percent of the seats. Skeptics cautioned that it’s a symbolic move, since this is an advisory group that doesn’t actually enact any legislation. But it’s a powerful symbol, according to men and women here," writes David Ignatius of the Washington Post, as he discusses the changing role of women in Saudi Arabia.
AP Photos
January 17, 2013
"Raised on Hatred"
Op-Ed, New York Times
By Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Fellow, The Future of Diplomacy Project
Ayaan Hirsi Ali writes, "As a child growing up in a Muslim family, I constantly heard my mother, other relatives and neighbors wish for the death of Jews, who were considered our darkest enemy. Our religious tutors and the preachers in our mosques set aside extra time to pray for the destruction of Jews."
November 20, 2012
"The Never-Ending War in the Middle East"
Op-Ed, Washington Post
By David Ignatius, Senior Fellow, Future of Diplomacy Project
"The most depressing aspect about the latest Gaza war is that it dramatizes this 'no-exit' aspect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Wars recur every four or five years, but they never seem to settle anything. The Israelis pound the Palestinians until they accept a cease-fire, but it’s temporary. The emotional state of war continues," Writes David Ignatius of the Washington Post.
