News + Media

	In the News December 5, 2019 North Korean missile and Kim Jong-un's 'Christmas gift' decision Laura BickerBBC News Vipin Narang quoted: "All of the missiles have several things in common. They are solid fuel, they are mobile, they are fast, they fly low, and at least the KN-23 can manoeuvre inflight, which is very impressive. Any one of the missiles would pose a challenge to regional and ROK missile defences given these characteristics. Together, they pose a nightmare."
	précis December 5, 2019 Firms and the state in Chinese overseas investment PhD student John Minnich asks, "Do Chinese multinational enterprises, like their counterparts in the West or Japan and South Korea, base their investment decisions primarily on commercial interests, or do they invest abroad in order to advance Beijing’s political and strategic agenda?"
	In the News December 4, 2019 New images of Kim Jong Un’s horseback ride at a sacred mountain suggest the country’s promised ‘Christmas gift’ will defy Trump Ellen IoanesBusiness Insider Vipin Narang quoted: “It’s not implausible that they could give the world a Christmas or New Year gift of an ICBM test. It’s possible this is all aimed at generating pressure and leverage against Trump now, but by the same token, given the consistency and insistence on the deadline, and North Korea’s history of doing what it says it is going to do… let’s see what gift we get,” Narang said.
	In the News December 3, 2019 NATO summit begins amid tensions Robin YoungWBUR Here & Now Robin Young gets the latest from security analyst Jim Walsh on the 70th anniversary gathering of NATO counterparts in London.
	In the News December 3, 2019 North Korea warns it's up to the US to decide what 'Christmas gift' it will get Jesse JohnsonThe Japan Times Vipin Narang quoted: “Maybe the end of the year deadline was the rope Kim was given to see if Trump could deliver fruit,” said Vipin Narang, a North Korea expert and professor of international relations at MIT. “And then if not: the new way. Which is the old way with ICBMs.”
	In the News December 2, 2019 Saudi Arabia embraces western sports to rehabilitate global image Alan RappeportThe New York Times Hala Aldosari quoted: “I see all of this more as a way for the government to generate revenues from things other than oil than a genuine effort by the government to grant freedom,” said Hala Aldosari, a Saudi scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
	In the News November 30, 2019 North Korea threatens Japan with 'real ballistic missile' BBC News Vipin Narang quoted: "The North Koreans are playing a semantics game, basically, and by the same token so is Abe. When he said ballistic missile he's clearly trying to signify these tests are a violation of UN Security Council resolutions," he told the BBC.
	In the News November 29, 2019 Intelligence reforms: time for a Japanese James Bond Peter Tasker, Arcus ResearchJapan Forward Richard Samuels new book, Special Duty: A History of the Japanese Intelligence Community, is compared to Ian Fleming's James Bond spy novels and what the capacity is and has been for the Japanese intelligence community.
	précis November 27, 2019 Special Duty: A History of the Japanese Intelligence Community Richard Samuels is Ford International Professor of Political Science and director of the MIT Center for International Studies. In Special Duty, he dissects the fascinating history of the intelligence community in Japan. Featured here is an excerpt from the preface of his book.
	In the News November 25, 2019 Shola Lawal and others win big at TFAA 2019 Olamide AyeniPulse.ng CIS Neuffer fellow, Shola Lawal, won The Future Awards Africa (TFAA) Prize For Journalism. For thirteen years, The Future Awards Africa has been a catalyst towards building a new tribe of citizens who are bound by their potentials, relentless, hard work and united by their soaring achievements.