News + Media

	In the News July 4, 2011 Supreme tragedy Hussein BanaiMuftah Although he does not wear a crown (his black turban is as indistinguishable as the next cleric’s), Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has increasingly become regarded as a potentate in the tradition of Middle Eastern autocrats. As the renowned Iranian journalist and dissident, Akbar Ganji, has written of “Sultan Khamenei”’, “[he] has used his broad mandate to exercise control not only over all three branches of government but also over economic, religious, and cultural affairs, sometimes directly and sometimes through various councils or through the Revolutionary Guards.
	News Release June 30, 2011 'Deaths of others' in America's wars Americans are greatly concerned about the number of our troops killed in battle—100,000 dead in World War I; 300,000 in World War II; 33,000 in the Korean War; 58,000 in Vietnam; 4,500 in Iraq; more than 1,000 in Afghanistan—and rightly so. But why are we so indifferent to the far greater number of casualties suffered by those we fight and those we fight for? This is the compelling question that John Tirman answers in The Deaths of Others.
	In the News June 28, 2011 'Collective autism' about the costs of war Chris LydonRadio Open Source John Tirman is trying to explain how the United States got in the habit of fighting wars without a scorecard. We’re a country, curiously, that can focus like fiends on earned-run averages and on-base percentages. But who among us, on a pop quiz, could come up with the figures on how many died in the Iraq war, compared to the Vietnam war, Korea, the two World Wars, and the annexation of the Philippines at the turn of the 20th Century.
	In the News June 22, 2011 David Singer on the Greek Euro-tragedy Peter DizikesMIT News The economic and fiscal woes of Greece remain at the center of European politics. In recent months, a variety of economists and commentators have asked if Greece should consider the unprecedented move of leaving the European Currency Union, so that it could control and lower its own currency rate, in order to spur exports and growth at a time when its economy is struggling badly. David Singer, an associate professor of political science at MIT, discussed Greece and the Euro-mess with MIT News.
	News@E40 June 8, 2011 MISTI partners with MEET The Center's MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI) announces a new partnership with MEET (Middle East Education through Technology). MEET will be a new MISTI program, managed by David Dolev. MEET is an innovative educational initiative aimed at creating a common professional language between Israeli and Palestinian young leaders. It was founded by two MIT students and this year 12 MIT students and recent alumni will be instructors in Jerusalem.
	News Release May 31, 2011 Chappell Lawson named director of the MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI) Chappell Lawson, an associate professor of political science at MIT and a member of the MIT Center for International Studies, has been named director of the MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI). He succeeds Suzanne Berger, the Raphael Dorman-Helen Starbuck Professor of Political Science, as MISTI's director. Lawson will assume his new responsibilities on July 1, 2011.
	News@E40 May 31, 2011 Lawson named Director of MISTI Chappell Lawson, an associate professor of political science at MIT and a member of the MIT Center for International Studies, has been named director of the MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI). He succeeds Suzanne Berger, the Raphael Dorman-Helen Starbuck Professor of Political Science, as MISTI's director. Lawson will assume his new responsibilities on July 1, 2011. Press release
	In the News May 26, 2011 Is it really a new start for Palestinians? Peter KrauseProvidence Journal The unity deal between Fatah and Hamas may well be "historic," but not in the way most news outlets have suggested. Not only is this one of hundreds of unity deals signed by Palestinian factions over the past 50 years, but it is not even the first unity deal signed between Hamas and Fatah, the most recent such agreement coming in 2007.
	News@E40 May 23, 2011 Oye receives Levitan Teaching Prize Ken Oye, was awarded a Levitan Teaching Prize in the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. This is a very prestigious award and a great recognition of his skills and dedication to teaching. Oye holds a joint appointment in Political Science and Engineering Systems and directs the Center's Program on Emerging Technologies (PoET).
	In the News May 16, 2011 IMF turmoil unlikely to derail Euro debt talks Bob MoonNPR's Marketplace Just last week, a Bloomberg survey of international investors found 85 percent expect Greece to default on its debt -- that's a stark indicator of the urgency facing the International Monetary Fund in pushing for a resolution to the ongoing crisis. As the former finance minister of France, Dominique Strauss-Kahn's authority on Europe's debt crisis has been widely respected. And his political clout had moved negotiations toward agree. Now these talks face new uncertainty.