In the News | 2013

In the News

December 13, 2013

How should we use our intelligence?

Peter DizikesMIT NewsMIT event exposes fault lines among high-ranking former government officials on NSA’s data-gathering programs.

In the News

August 15, 2013

For a new approach to Iran

William Luers, Thomas R. Pickering, and Jim WalshThe New York Review of Books

Could this be the year for an engagement with Iran that “is honest and grounded in mutual respect,” as President Obama proposed over four years ago? That goal seems unlikely without a shift in Iranian thinking and without a change in American diplomatic and political strategy. But two developments, one in Iran and one in the region, provide reason to think that diplomatic progress might be possible.

In the News

August 2, 2013

Empowering women in Afghanistan

Peter DizikesMIT News

By placing some women in local leadership positions, an innovative development aid program integrates women into civic life, and may have economic benefits.

In the News

July 6, 2013

Letting opportunity slip away

Jeff KingstonThe Japan Times

So why hasn’t March 11, 2011, been the game-changer that many anticipated? Richard Samuels’ masterful account of Japan’s policy responses to its greatest crisis since World War II explains why continuity has trumped change. But maybe, just maybe, it hasn’t, as he also reminds us that the consequences are still unfolding.

In the News

May 3, 2013

Why China and India probably won't clash over border dispute

Max FisherWashington Post

Both China and India have claimed the Maryland-sized territory of Aksai Chin near India's northeast border for decades, and even fought a brief war over it in 1962. But the issue was mostly calm until about three weeks ago. 

In the News

April 17, 2013

China and Japan in the East China Sea

Peter DizikesMIT News

At MIT event, diplomats and scholars reinforce high stakes, lack of progress on Asian territorial dispute.

In the News

April 13, 2013

When the world changed

The Economist

Later this month Christian Caryl, a veteran foreign correspondent now based in Washington, will publish a timely new book, “Strange Rebels: 1979 and the Birth of the 21st Century”. In it he argues that 1979 belongs to the select club of real turning-points: years in which one era ended and another was born.

In the News

April 2, 2013

Amateur hour

Stephen M. WaltForeign Policy

United States has lofty global ambitions, and its leaders still like to describe the country as the "leader of the free world," the "indispensable nation," and various other self-congratulatory labels. Yet it doesn’t always marry these ambitions to a set of policies and practices that would help it achieve them. Case in point: the well-sourced rumor that the Obama administration is about to appoint Caroline Kennedy to serve as our next ambassador to Japan. The obvious question: Is this an appointment that demonstrates a serious engagement with the complex problems the United States is now facing in Asia?

In the News

March 6, 2013

The democracy boondoggle in Iraq

Christian CarylForeign Policy

The U.S. spent billions promoting democracy in Iraq. Now the official verdict is in: It was all for nothing.

In the News

February 7, 2013

Lifting of sanctions will take a few years

Abbas MalekiPanorama.am

An interview of Irdiplomacy.ir with Dr. Abbas Maleki, a former Iranian deputy foreign minister.