News + Media

	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.
	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.
	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.
	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.
	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.
	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.
	Analysis + Opinion April 19, 2016 SCOTUS and immigration: the politics behind the case John TirmanHuffington Post The oral arguments before the US Supreme Court on President Obama’s executive order on immigration were made Monday, and afterwards most observers agreed it’s not clear how the Court will decide the case.
	News@E40 April 19, 2016 Fravel Receives Carnegie Fellowship MIT political scientist Taylor Fravel has been named to the Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program for the 2016-17 academic year, a prestigious award he will use to extend his studies of Asia's ongoing maritime disputes. The award, announced April 19, 2016, by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, supports “research and writing aimed at addressing some of the world’s most urgent challenges to U.S. democracy and international order,” and focuses on scholars in the social sciences and humanities. Read more