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John Tirman

In the News

May 16, 2018

JCPOA opportunity for EU to get rid of US dominance

Iran Times of News

The EU, in words at least, wants to keep the JCPOA and has opposed President Trump’s move. John Tirman discusses the Iran nuclear deal with Persia Digest.  

Hazel Sive - Image courtesy of the MIT Office of Faculty Support

In the News

May 7, 2018

3Q: Hazel Sive on MIT-Africa

Sarah McDonnellMIT News

Hazel Sive, a professor in the Department of Biology, member of the Whitehead Institute, and faculty director of MISTI’s MIT-Africa program discusses the MIT-Africa Initiative, including the launch of a new website, africa.mit.edu.

President Donald Trump delivers a statement on the Iran nuclear deal from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House

In the News

May 7, 2018

Walsh on the Iran nuclear deal

WBUR Here & Now

We get the latest surrounding the Iran nuclear deal, amid President Trump facing a Saturday deadline to decide whether to stay with the deal, from security analyst Jim Walsh. 

Vipin Narang

In the News

May 7, 2018

Pentagon wants to deploy 'low-yield' nuclear weapons to deter Russia from similar ones

David Welna NPR

If they ever saw a trident coming, they would have no idea what's on it. And I think that's a really dangerous proposition, especially if your aim is to target assets deep in Russian territory. You're buying yourself a strategic nuclear war potentially.  Vipin Narang spoke on All Things Considered.

Richard A. Nielsen

In the News

May 6, 2018

Richard Nielsen on Deadly Clerics

Research On Religion

Political rebellion and violence in the Middle East has recently been associated with religious belief and rhetoric, often spurred on by the writings and recordings of Muslim clerics. What motivates imams to advocate such tactics?

In the News

May 3, 2018

Denuclearization: can Trump and Kim find a common definition?

Shelby HollidayThe Wall Street Journal

“Denuclearization is a catch-all term that allows both sides to let it mean whatever they want it to mean...It creates a lot of trouble as you approach a summit, because both sides can have very different definitions or notions of what it means.” Vipin Narang told the WSJ.

President Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are set to meet soon.CreditAhn Young-Joon/Associated Press

In the News

April 23, 2018

An unpredictable Trump and a risk-prone Kim mean high stakes and mismatched expectations

Max FisherThe New York Times

In the New York Times, Vipin Narang warned that the mile-wide gaps in the countries’ goals and even their understandings of basic terminology leaves “either lots of room for a bargain, or lot of room for a war.”

People walk past a television news screen showing a file footage of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at a railway station in Seoul on April 21, 2018. Jung Yeon-je/AFP/Getty Images

In the News

April 21, 2018

North Korea stops short of suggesting any intention of giving up nuclear arsenal

CBS/APCBS News

This was a smart move by Kim, says Vipin Narang. Although it largely formalizes previous pledges on the moratoria from last November and March, it still leaves a lot of wiggle room for circumventing the pledges in the future, and nothing in there is irreversible. And nothing in there mentions denuclearization, of any variety. 

A TV screen at Seoul Railway Station shows file footage of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday. (Ahn Young-Joon/AP)

In the News

April 19, 2018

South Korean president says North isn’t insisting on American troop withdrawal

Anna FifieldThe Washingon Post

Vipin Narang said he would be “very, very careful” about interpreting Moon’s statement as a sign that Kim had conceded that U.S. Forces Korea could stay, “This is a very clever semantic pirouette.”

Lent Shaw was lynched in 1936 CBS News

In the News

April 9, 2018

Great-grandson of lynching victim faces the past: "This is American history"

Jim AxelrodCBS News

Melissa Nobles, in reference to the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project at Boston's Northeastern University Law School, told CBS We are now beginning to change the narrative such that the families who have had that violence visited upon them now can talk about it and it be understood.

A U.S. soldier takes part in a Vigilant air combat exercise in South Korea last December. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji-Pool/Getty Images)

In the News

April 9, 2018

North Korea’s definition of ‘denuclearization’ is very different from Trump’s

Anna FifieldThe Washingon Post

“The danger is entering into negotiations with unrealistic expectations that Kim is just going to hand over the keys to his nuclear kingdom. He won’t,” said Vipin Narang.

Jasper Juinen/Bloomberg via Getty Images

In the News

March 29, 2018

What economists don’t know about manufacturing

William B. Bonvillian & Peter L. SingerThe American Interest

Political economist Suzanne Berger has noted that mainstream economists thought manufacturing was like agriculture, where relentless productivity gains allowed an ever-smaller workforce to achieve ever-greater output. She found that the agriculture analogy was simply incorrect.

What it's like to negotiate with North Korea

In the News

March 22, 2018

What it's like to negotiate with North Korea

Shannon VavraAxios

President Trump may find himself in a difficult position as soon as he sits down with Kim Jong-un, according to Jim Walsh, who has been in the room for previous talks and says North Korea’s first pitch is often a curveball.

US Critical Infrastructure Under Attack by Russia

In the News

March 22, 2018

Russian hackers targeted critical US infrastructure—What happens now?

Alison Bruzek and Meghna ChakrabartiWBUR Radio Boston

Russian hackers targeted and penetrated some of the country's most sensitive infrastructure including power, nuclear, water, and aviation networks. Joel Brenner wasn't surprised.

DPRK and ROK foreign ministers abroad, preparing for talks | CGTN America

In the News

March 16, 2018

US and ROK’s diplomatic push for talks with the DPRK

Roee RuttenbergCGTN America

There is a flurry of diplomatic activity ahead of a planned meeting between President Trump and the leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Kim Jong Un. CGTN’s Mike Walter spoke with international security expert Jim Walsh.

Joel Brenner

In the News

February 28, 2018

Sessions pushes back on Trump after insult

CNN

"The fact that the President is upset that Sessions is playing by the book is yet another indication that the President is profoundly ignorant and indifferent to the purposes of the institutions of our government," says Joel Brenner, former NSA inspector general and a senior research fellow at CIS.

Dean Nobles moderating the discussion

In the News

February 27, 2018

Is democracy dying?

Peter DizikesMIT News

Is democracy dying, in the US and around the world? Why or why not? And if so, what can anyone do about it? These questions were at the heart of the Center’s Starr Forum on Monday evening. The panelists discussed democratic systems of rule and suggested some measures to protect them. 

Students walked through pillars at MIT.

In the News

February 25, 2018

Some colleges are cracking down on student-teacher romances

Deirdre FernandesBoston Globe

David Singer cited for work on MIT's new sexual harassment policy, “We wanted to make sure the policy was fair,” Singer said. But ultimately, school officials “were concerned about relationships of asymmetry of power.”

Barry Posen

In the News

January 31, 2018

The future of transatlantic relations: A debate

Brookings Institution

On Wednesday, January 31, the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology hosted a debate on the future of the transatlantic relationship. This debate, convened by the Brookings Institution’s Foreign Policy program and the Charles Koch Institute, in partnership with POLITICO, is the third debate in a series of thematic debates on America’s role in the world.

Missile Agni V is displayed during the Republic Day parade in New Delhi on January 26, 2013.

In the News

January 18, 2018

India tests-fires Agni-V, a nuclear-capable ICBM

Joshua Berlinger and Nikhil KumarCNN

Vipin Narang said Thursday's test did not demonstrate any new capability, (this) was simply a developmental test before India inducts it into operational service. It's possible India's armed forces were testing the canister the missile is launched out of, as well as its ejection, flight performance and accuracy -- a regular technical test in that regard.

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