News + Media

	Analysis + Opinion April 12, 2014 Chinese signaling in the East China Sea? M. Taylor FravelThe Washington Post The dispute between Japan and China over the sovereignty of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands is one of the most volatile flashpoints in East Asia today.
	News Release April 7, 2014 Former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka joins MIT Ranil Wickremesinghe has been named a Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow. The Sri Lankan politician and current leader of the Opposition in the Sri Lankan parliament will be at CIS for one month beginning April 8, 2014. Wickremesinghe was prime minister of Sri Lanka twice, from May 7, 1993 to August 19, 1994, and from December 9, 2001, to April 6, 2004. A member of the United National Party, he was appointed party leader in November 1994. During his time at MIT, Wickremesinghe will study how to formulate a constitution sans an executive presidency. He also will work with faculty and students interested in Asian regional issues.
	News@E40 April 2, 2014 MISTI's Perez honored for leadership April Julich Perez, associate director of the MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI) has been honored for her leadership with a 2014 MIT Excellence Award for Bringing Out the Best. "In her role at MISTI, April has distinguished herself in her ability to mentor, inspire, and empower each member of her staff—encouraging them to take on new responsibilities and supporting them every step of the way," said Institute Community and Equity Officer Edmund Bertschinger, who presented Perez with the award at a ceremony held February 25. Read more
	Analysis + Opinion March 21, 2014 The Ukrainian paradox Jim WalshWBUR: Cognoscenti The Ukrainian paradox is not a math problem. It has more to do with chess than equations.
	In the News March 20, 2014 John Tirman on the warming US-Iran relationship Peter DizikesMIT News The U.S. and Iran have had a largely antagonistic relationship since the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Could that be changing? In January, Iran and a U.S.-led group of six global powers agreed to an interim six-month deal that freezes Iran’s nuclear weapons program, in exchange for the lifting of some economic sanctions. The progress on the issue indicates that U.S.-Iran difficulties are not wholly intractable, suggests John Tirman, a principal research scientist and executive director of MIT’s Center for International Studies.
	Analysis + Opinion March 16, 2014 Leave Iran's missiles out of nuclear talks Mansour SalsabiliBulletin of the Atomic Scientists Controversy over Iran’s ballistic missile program intensified during the most recent round of talks between Iran and its six negotiating partners, the P5+1, or the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, as the two sides disagreed over whether the topic should even be discussed.
	News@E40 February 26, 2014 US-Iran project book explores 'Misperceptions' The long-running US-Iran Project, which has brought together policy makers from both countries to explore fraught periods in the relationship, has produced a second book, U.S.-Iran Misperceptions: A Dialogue, published in February by Bloomsbury Press. John Tirman, CIS executive director, is coeditor and coauthor with Abbas Maleki, a former Robert Wilhelm Fellow at the Center and associate professor of energy policy at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran. Other contributors include Robert Jervis, Hossein Mousavian, Hussein Banai, Robert Reardon, Kayhan Barzegar, Steven Miller and Matthew Bunn. It is unique format in which Iranians and Americans write about each others role in the Gulf, on nuclear matters, and other issues.
	Analysis + Opinion February 21, 2014 Crimes against humanity: why we must never become numb to the phrase Jim WalshWBUR: Cognoscenti This week has witnessed (what seems like) daily snowstorms, Ukraine teetering on the brink and that quadrennial spectacular known as the Olympics. But there were two other events worth noting.
	News@E40 February 20, 2014 Gavin begins work as Stanton chair This year marks a major extension of MIT's engagement with nuclear studies with the appointment of Francis Gavin as the first Frank Stanton Chair in Nuclear Policy Studies, on the strength of a $5 million endowment from the Stanton Foundation. The Department of Political Science and its interdisciplinary Security Studies Program have been deeply engaged with these topics since the 1970s. "We're in a renaissance of nuclear studies now, and MIT is at the center of it—a majority of the scholars whose work I most admire have come from this program," says Gavin, who joins the Institute after 14 years at the University of Texas at Austin. Read more
	In the News January 31, 2014 Russian weapons removal & the cold war backpack bomb Thomas Neff and Adam RawnsleyWNYC When the Cold War ended, Russia was unsure what it should do with its thousands of weapons, from missiles to bombers. MIT Physicist, Dr. Thomas Neff, suggested that Moscow be allowed to sell the uranium from its retired weapons and dilute it into fuel for electric utilities in the United States, giving Russians desperately needed cash and Americans a cheap source of power. The program converted more than 20,000 Russian warheads into fodder for nuclear power plants that have since turned on one in 10 American light bulbs over the course of the past 20 years. And now, more than two decades later, the last uranium shipment arrived in the United States last month. Dr. Neff explains how he initially conceived of this program.