News + Media

	News@E40 June 10, 2009 MISTI helps put anime on stage How can MIT students bring to life the excitement and eccentricities of anime? The MIT Dance Theater Ensemble demonstrated the possibilities with its performance Live Action Anime 2009: Madness at Mokuba at the convention Anime Boston on May 22, 2009. The troupe then took the show to Japan, where they collaborated with Japanese students to perform the play at Tokyo University of the Arts on May 29-30, 2009. Part homage to anime history, part commentary on the plight of undocumented workers in the US, and over-the-top tribute to anime creators and fans worldwide, this original theatrical production features giant robots, a Japanese schoolgirl, a lovelorn fanboy, a masterless samurai, a gamer woman, evil media magnates, and a vengeful deathgod who all battle for truth, justice, and the anime way. MISTI's Japan program and its Global Seed Funds were among the co-sponsors.
	News@E40 June 5, 2009 Starr Forums on video The Center hosted multiple public forums in spring 2009 that are available on video: "The Challenges to the Global Economy," with Harvard economist Martin Feldstein and MIT Sloan School's Simon Johnson; "The MIT/Harvard Gaza Symposium," a series of panels on the role of U.S. and international actors, as well as human rights and international humanitarian law in the wake of recent events in Gaza; "The Most Important Number in the World," with environmentalist Bill McKibben; "Afghanistan," featuring a conversation between Admiral William Fallon, USN (RET) and Fotini Christia, an expert on Afghanistan; and "U.S.- Iran Relations," with policy and security experts Jim Walsh, Suzanne DiMaggio, Stephen Heintz, and Barry Posen. View all Starr Forum videos»
	Analysis + Opinion May 22, 2009 Post-war Sri Lanka must uphold rights Balakrishnan RajagopalThe Baltimore Sun The Sri Lankan government's stunning defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was as swift as it was unusual in world history. Rarely has a government won so decisive a military victory against a long-running domestic armed group. However, this victory has come at a steep price.
	News@E40 May 15, 2009 Symposium issues statement on Palestinian issue The Israeli government should end the blockade of Gaza and negotiate with Hamas, and President Obama should engage more constructively on the Palestinian issue-including a demand to end the expansion of Israeli settlements-were among the findings and recommendations of a MIT-Harvard symposium on Gaza. The statement was issued a few days prior to President Obama's meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The symposium, which was co-sponsored by CIS, convened on March 30-31, 2009. Among the participants were Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA); Richard Falk, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories; Karma Nabulsi, Oxford University and former PLO representative; Meron Benvenisti, former Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem; Craig Mokhiber, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; and Husam Zomlot, a Palestinian diplomat. Joint Statement \| Press Release
	News Release May 15, 2009 MIT-Harvard Gaza Symposium issues statement on Palestinian issue The Israeli government should end the blockade of Gaza and negotiate with Hamas, and President Obama should engage more constructively on the Palestinian issue—including a demand to end the expansion of Israeli settlements—were among the findings and recommendations of a MIT-Harvard symposium on Gaza.
	News@E40 May 7, 2009 Four 'CIS Students' receive Fulbrights Four students affiliated with the Center have received 2009-10 Fulbright Fellowships: Nathan Cisneros, Greg Distelhorst, Erica Dobbs, and Gabrielle Kruks-Wisner. The students—all doctoral candidates in the political science department—are among 13 from MIT that received the scholarship. Cisneros will travel to Japan to examine the persisting dualism between workers with job protection and good wages with those without such security. Distelhorst will visit two southern Chinese manufacturing centers to investigate how local government and private firms have responded to new laws that improve labor conditions and expand worker rights while raising operational costs for employers. Dobbs will examine the role labor unions play in integrating recent immigrants into their communities in Ireland and Spain. And Kruks-Wisner will travel to India to complete her dissertation research on local governance institutions in rural India. Related news story»
	précis May 1, 2009 Briefings MISTI Global Seed Funds Program selected its first recipients in spring 2009; CIS welcomes Devon Cone, who joined the Center in the fall as a research associate working closely with executive director and principal research scientist John Tirman; MIT scholars offer advice to President Obama; CIS releases DVD: "Mind, Hand, World"; The Center's publications, Audit of the Conventional Wisdom and its bi-annual newsletter précis, are now exclusively available online.
	précis May 1, 2009 End Notes End Notes features the professional achievements of our scholars, students, and staff. This includes recent awards, speaking engagements, and publications.
	précis May 1, 2009 précis Interview: Fotini Christia Fotini Christia joined the MIT faculty in fall 2008 as assistant professor in political science. Her current work at MIT, how to achieve "success" in Afghanistan, and what Iranians think about Americans are among the topics she addresses.
	précis May 1, 2009 Learning to be capitalists By Annette Kim Why have some countries transitioned to capitalism so rapidly? How did they change their economies so fundamentally when so many reform efforts in developing countries have been ineffective? The conundrum has grown the last two decades...with varying results.