As the Cold War ended, MIT researcher Thomas Neff came up with a plan to fuel U.S. nuclear plants with uranium from Russian bombs. With more than a decade of quiet diplomacy, he pulled it off.
3 Qs: Jim Walsh on the elusive US-Iran nuclear treaty
Author:
Peter Dizikes
Can the U.S. and Iran reach a permanent agreement to restrict Iran’s nuclear program? For several months, the countries have operated under an interim agreement limiting Iran’s activities, but it expires this fall. MIT News spoke with Jim Walsh, research associate in MIT’s Security Studies Program and expert in international security and nuclear nonproliferation, about the prospects for a deal.
Put it in writing
Author:
Joshua R. Itzkowitz Shifrinson
During negotiations over German reunification in 1990, did the United States promise the Soviet Union that NATO would not expand into eastern Europe? The answer remains subject to heated debate.
What falling oil prices and new US sanctions mean for Russia
Russia’s economy is in turmoil as authorities there take drastic steps to stabilize the ruble. To help prop it up, the central bank raised a key interest rate and the Russian government has begun selling off its foreign currency reserves. The economy is being battered by a combination of western sanctions and falling oil prices.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visits MIT
Author:
Peter Dizikes
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan visited MIT Monday morning as part of his weeklong trip to the U.S., participating in a roundtable discussion of innovation strategies during his stop at the Institute.
Culture clash
Author:
Peter Dizikes
Immigration policy has been among the most rancorous of U.S. political issues in recent years. What has been fueling America’s contentious debates over the topic? Security, according to many people: In the time since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, keeping borders secure has been a main justification for tightly controlled immigration. But underneath those concerns lies a simmering cultural clash, according to one MIT scholar who has been studying the topic in depth recently.
Armenians and the legacies of World War I
This year marks the centenary of the atrocities perpetrated against the Armenian people of the Ottoman Empire during World War I by the governing Committee of Union and Progress. Most scholars and many governments consider these horrific events––in which more than one million people were systematically massacred or marched to their deaths––to constitute the first modern European genocide.
US Iran nuclear deal
Author:
Peter Dizikes
MIT has long been a leader in the scholarly study of nuclear security. With the announcement of a major new nuclear agreement between the U.S. and Iran this month — subject to government approval in each country — MIT News asked several of the Institute’s experts on this vital issue to evaluate the pact and its larger implications.
'Homemade' opiates
Author:
Peter Dizikes
Writing in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, researchers at the University of California at Berkeley have announced a new method that could make it easier to produce drugs such as morphine. Political scientists Kenneth Oye and Chappell Lawson of MIT, along with Tania Bubela of Concordia University in Montreal, authored an accompanying commentary about the regulatory issues involved. Oye answered questions on the subject for MIT News.
Geography critical factor in US-China rivalry
Scholar says China may still face enormous disadvantages in potential South China Sea conflict against US.