News + Media

	In the News May 26, 2022 Congressional seminar introduces MIT faculty to 30 Washington staffers SSPMIT News More than 30 congressional and executive branch staffers were hosted by MIT’s Security Studies Program (SSP) for a series of panels and a keynote address focused on contemporary national security issues.
	In the News May 23, 2022 Biden’s Taiwan defense pledge inflames US-China relations Phelim KinePolitico Quoted: “A question that must be on everyone’s mind in Beijing is whether the US has already changed its [Taiwan] policy. After all, no one speaks with more authority on questions of foreign policy than the president,” said M Taylor Fravel, director of the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “[Biden’s] repeated gaffes may be given more weight in Beijing than subsequent clarifications of denials of [policy] change.”
	In the News May 19, 2022 From South Africa, a success story for democracy Peter DizikesMIT News In a new book, MIT political scientist Evan Lieberman examines a quarter-century of post-Apartheid government and finds meaningful progress.
	In the News May 19, 2022 North Korea prepares nuclear test as COVID-19 rips through country North Korea is in the throes of what it calls its first-ever outbreak of COVID-19—even if officially it's avoiding that term. State media said Wednesday that more than 1.7 million people had experienced fevers and 62 people had died since late April, but those numbers are impossible to confirm. And amid the outbreak, North Korea is also gearing up for a possible nuclear test.
	Analysis + Opinion May 17, 2022 Let’s not grant Saudi Arabia a blank check for American support Trita Parsi and Steven SimonThe American Prospect In the view of Saudi Arabia and Israel, the presumed benefits of a binding US defense commitment just weren’t worth the cost. Washington might want to take a page from their book and think twice before limiting its own military options and shouldering greater obligations as storm clouds gather in Europe and Asia.
	Analysis + Opinion May 17, 2022 Enhancing strategic stability in Southern Asia USIP Over the past decade, long-standing disputes between the nuclear-armed states of Southern Asia have repeatedly veered into deeper hostility and violence. These regional developments reflect and reinforce new and significant geopolitical shifts, starting with the global strategic competition between China and the United States.
	In the News May 17, 2022 Eleanor Freund receives Jeanne Guillemin Prize Michelle EnglishMIT News Office Eleanor Freund, a PhD candidate in the MIT Department of Political Science, is the recipient of this year’s Jeanne Guillemin Prize at the MIT Center for International Studies (CIS). The annual prize supports women pursuing doctorate degrees in international relations—a field that has long been dominated by men.
	In the News May 16, 2022 When dueling narratives deepen a divide Peter DizikesMIT News Office The book, “Republics of Myth: National Narratives and the US-Iran Conflict,” just published by Johns Hopkins University Press, explores the joint history of identities at odds with each other. The authors identify key moments when US-Iran tensions became further heightened and opportunities for détente dwindled.
	Analysis + Opinion May 13, 2022 Can Russia and the West survive a nuclear crisis in Ukraine? Barry PosenNational Interest The two sides have not managed a bilateral nuclear crisis in a very long time, and one does not really wish to find out if they can easily recover their Cold War vintage crisis management skills.
	Analysis + Opinion May 13, 2022 The Russo-Ukrainian war’s dangerous slide into total societal conflict Jonathan Shimshoni and Ariel E LeviteNational Interest The crisis in and over Ukraine, which is deeply rooted in conflicting societal perceptions of NATO’s expansion and the Westernization of Ukraine, is now increasingly sliding into an actual major societal confrontation. The three main actors—Russia, Ukraine, and the West—are pursuing victory by impacting all three societies, aiming to undermine adversaries and mobilize their citizens and those of their allies.