News + Media

Children hold up flags from the G7 countries in the wind as the foreign ministers visit the Peace Memorial Park, on the sidelines of the G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Hiroshima on April 11, 2016. Kerry and other G7 foreign ministers made the landmark visit on April 11 to the memorial site for the world's first nuclear attack in Hiroshima. (Jonathan Ernst/AFP/Getty Images)

In the News

May 13, 2016

Obama's visit To Hiroshima is 'about memory, more than it's about apology'

Meghna ChakrabartiHere & Now

Here & Now's Meghna Chakrabarti talks to Richard Samuels, director of the Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and founding director of the MIT Japan Program, about the significance of Obama's visit, and Japan's evolving attitudes toward militarization.

Analysis + Opinion

May 8, 2016

Putin's pullout: a failing public relations campaign

Carol R. SaivetzLawfare

Russia won in Syria—or so Putin would like us to believe. The Russian intervention seemed to tip the balance of forces in Assad's favor, and Russia announced a pullout with its mission accomplished. Carol Saivetz of MIT, a regular Lawfare contributor, makes the case for skepticism. 

A Shortfin Barracuda Block 1A, designed by DCNS specifically for the Royal Australian Navy as Australia intends to buy 12 new submarines, is seen in this illustration picture released by France's DCNS to Reuters, April 26, 2016.

Analysis + Opinion

May 3, 2016

Poor substitute

By Eric Heginbotham and Richard J. Samuels Foreign Affairs

The announcement last week that Australia will replace its aging submarine fleet with Shortfin Barracuda submarines from France is an enormous missed opportunity, not only for Australia, but also for its most important allies, Japan and the United States. 

Paul Heer

précis

May 1, 2016

précis Interview: Paul Heer

Paul Heer, this year's CIS Robert E. Wilhelm fellow, is relishing his time away from the beltway. A veteran analyst of China, Heer spent much of the last three decades rising through the ranks of the U.S. intelligence community, most recently serving as the National Intelligence Officer for East Asia at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. 

precis

précis

May 1, 2016

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, 2016

Briefings

MIT political scientist Taylor Fravel has been named to the Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program for the 2016-17 academic year; the Emile Bustani Middle East Seminar at MIT is celebrating its 30th anniversary this academic year; this January the Global Seed Funds Program (GSF) awarded $2,006,906 to MIT faculty to cover international travel, meeting, and workshop costs.

Roots of Russia's War in Ukraine

précis

May 1, 2016

Roots of Russia's war in Ukraine

By Elizabeth A. Wood, William E. Pomeranz, E. Wayne Merry, Maxim Trudolyubov

The authors in this volume take different perspectives on the crisis in Crimea and Ukraine, addressing both international causes and conditions and domestic factors. Combining expertise in diplomacy, law, history, and journalism, as well as both American and Russian viewpoints, they address a number of core questions. The featured excerpt is written by Elizabeth Wood.

Mayumi Fukushima

précis

May 1, 2016

Japan's dance with the dragon and the bear: Sino-Russian relations and their implications for Tokyo

By Mayumi Fukushima

With a lame-duck president in office, the modus operandi for U.S. diplomacy toward Asia this year may be simply to avoid any negative outcomes and expend minimum effort. Since the crisis in Ukraine flared up, the Obama administration has been pressuring Japan not to pursue a rapprochement with Russia. 

précis

May 1, 2016

Activities

Posen receives lifetime achievement award; The International Policy Lab (IPL) concluded its first institute wide Call for Proposals this past January; The MIT-Imperial College London Seed Fund awarded $60,565 to three MIT faculty pursuing joint projects with peers at Imperial College London; The Center is pleased to announce the 23 recipients of its summer study grants; Griselda Gomez and Joli Divon Saraf each received a SHASS Infinite Mile Award.

Navy ship

Analysis + Opinion

April 26, 2016

US Navy ships shouldn't be floating billboards for democrats

Harvey M. SapolskyThe National Interest

The secretaries of the armed services have been losing power ever since the enactment of the National Security Act of 1947. The service secretaries are no longer members of the president’s cabinet and rarely perform more than ceremonial duties. 

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