News + Media

 
A confident Vladimir Putin

In the News

June 3, 2022

Sanctioned behavior

War on the Rocks

CIS research affiliate Erik Sand is featured on War on the Rocks' podcast Horns of Dilemma to discuss the impact of economic sanctions on Russia and whether they will lead to an end of the war in Ukraine. Listen to the podcast here

Ukrainian servicemen taking part in the armed conflict with Russia-backed separatists in Donetsk region of the country attend the handover ceremony of military heavy weapons and equipment in Kiev on November 15, 2018. Sergei Supinsky | AFP | Getty Images

In the News

June 2, 2022

Biden's move to send advanced weapons to Ukraine raises questions about US involvement in the war

Peter O'DowdWBUR

President Biden's announcement that the US would send advanced rocket launchers to Ukraine was welcome news for soldiers fighting off the Russian invasion. But it raises new questions about American involvement in a brutal war with no diplomatic end in sight. Jim Walsh provides his analysis.

Silhouette of soldier in Ukraine

In the News

June 1, 2022

Will the transfer of advanced weapons to Ukraine lead to a widening war?

PBS NewsHour

The US and Germany on Tuesday moved to send advanced weapons to Ukraine to blunt a Russian offensive in the east. Steven Simon, who worked on the National Security Council staff during the Clinton and Obama administrations and a Wilhelm Fellow at CIS joined Nick Schifrin to discuss the transfer of arms and the importance of diplomacy.

Carrying Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral, Florida, April 2022 Carrying Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral, Florida, April 2022

Analysis + Opinion

May 30, 2022

Boots on the ground, eyes in the sky

Erik Lin-Greenberg and Theo MilonopoulosForeign Affairs

Days after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered an emotional address to the European Parliament, pleading for support. That same day, Ukraine’s vice prime minister and minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, took to Twitter to announce a more targeted—but no less urgent—plea to the executives and corporate board members of commercial satellite companies. Specifically, Fedorov appealed to several leading private satellite firms to provide high-resolution imagery “in real time” to the Ukrainian armed forces to assist them in fending off Russian aggression.

Fireworks display

News@E40

May 27, 2022

CIS congratulates the graduates

Center for International Studies

Among those who graduated from the Department of Political Science this year were eight graduate students focused on international relations and security studies.

A U.S. soldier firing a Javelin.

In the News

May 27, 2022

Javelin missiles are in short supply and restocking them won't be easy

NPR Morning Edition

Ukrainian fighters have destroyed Russian fighting vehicles with US supplied Javelins. But replacing the thousands of missiles could take years, largely because of a crimp in the supply chain, argues CIS research affiliate Eugene Gholz.

SSP Director M. Taylor Fravel (center, with red tie) poses with SSP staff and participants in the 2022 Executive Branch and Congressional Staff Seminar.

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. 

President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference on Monday, May 23, 2022, in Tokyo. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo

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.”

Evan Lieberman and his new book on South Africa's democracy

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.

News images of Kim Jong-Un wearing covid mask

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.

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