News + Media
Analysis + OpinionApril 6, 2022How the war complicates Biden's Iran diplomacyJohn TirmanDAWNOne surprising aspect of the US-Russia relationship is how certain joint activities survived more general hostility, at least before Russia's invasion of Ukraine. One of those activities was diplomacy on the Iran nuclear program and efforts to restrain it, namely, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, the nuclear deal signed in 2015 from which Trump withdrew in 2018. |
|
Analysis + OpinionApril 6, 2022The Falklands War at 40: A lesson for our timeRobert RalstonResponsible StatecraftThis week marks the 40th anniversary of the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), sparking the beginning of a three-month long war with Great Britain. At a time when Europe is at risk of military conflict with Russia over Ukraine it is worth looking back at the lessons we can draw from this 40-year-old conflict. |
|
In the NewsApril 5, 2022US, UK and Australia announce expanded cooperation on hypersonicsEllen Nakashima and Cate Cadell The Washington PostQuoted: “It demonstrates in no uncertain terms that AUKUS is as much about advanced capabilities, as it is about submarines,” said M Taylor Fravel, director of the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “In fact, cooperation in these advanced capabilities are going to be more important in the short to medium term.” |
|
In the NewsApril 5, 2022What Russia’s invasion of Ukraine means for the worldRussia’s invasion of Ukraine has global implications. A panel of MIT foreign policy experts convened on Monday to examine those reverberations—on European domestic politics, the refugee crisis, great-power relations, and nuclear security. |
|
In the NewsApril 4, 2022Street-fighting insurgency gives Ukrainians a slight edgeJames A WarrenDaily BeastQuoted: Barry Posen, a renowned strategic studies scholar at MIT, gives this granular picture of the grim tactical realities of fighting in cities today: “Buildings provide high levels of protection and concealment for infantry soldiers. Multi-storied buildings, with basements, permit defenders to maneuver in a third dimension. Modern cities also have elaborate sewer systems, and often underground tunnels for transit systems. Thus, defenders may maneuver laterally, entirely out of sight of the attacker...” |
|
In the NewsApril 3, 2022Cold War 2.0 has already begun — and it's going to be even scarier than the first oneMattathias SchwartzBusiness InsiderQuoted: Richard Samuels says the nuclear logic in a multipolar world means that more countries may feel they need nukes of their own. Abe Shinzo, the former prime minister of Japan, recently suggested that Tokyo consider nuclear sharing with the US, modeled on NATO arrangements. "Cold War 2.0 is likely to become a more-proliferated world," Samuels told me. "Some countries, referred to as 'latent nuclear powers,' are close to getting their own nuclear capability. But the view that having nuclear weapons makes for a stable world assumes rationality. Right now, we're watching a person some call crazy threaten the use of nuclear weapons. No wonder insecurity is soaring." |
|
In the NewsApril 3, 2022US defense contractors see longer term benefits from war in UkraineAFPQuoted: Eric Heginbotham, a researcher at the MIT Center for International Studies, said that for Western governments -- as has been the case for years in Asia -- “there will be much less appetite for decreases” in military spending...“Countries are going to be looking to increase interoperability with the United States, which is really sort of the central pillar in NATO,” said Heginbotham. |
|
Analysis + OpinionApril 1, 2022Why Putin went straight for the nuclear threatSteven Simon and Jonathan StevensonNew York TimesMr. Putin has presented strategists with a situation they haven’t really confronted: a rogue actor employing the threat of nuclear weapons for conquest rather than regime survival—the latter being a primary reason for countries like Iran, North Korea and Pakistan to build or deploy nuclear weapons. |
|
News ReleaseMarch 29, 2022Nuclear security expert Vipin Narang tapped for defense policy postNews ReleaseCenter for International StudiesThe Center for International Studies is pleased to announce that Vipin Narang, professor in the Department of Political Science and member of the Security Studies Program, was sworn in as principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy on Monday, March 28, 2022. |
|
Analysis + OpinionMarch 29, 2022Four EU countries expel dozens of Russian diplomats suspected of espionage.Ada PetriczkoNew York TimesThe authorities of Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland and the Czech Republic announced on Tuesday that they were expelling a total of 43 Russian envoys, in what the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs said was a coordinated security effort to counter Russian espionage. |