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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un

Analysis + Opinion

December 24, 2018

Diplomacy without denuclearization: North Korea in 2018

Ankit Panda and Vipin NarangWar on the Rocks

After having attained what he saw as the necessary capabilities to deter the United States with nuclear weapons in 2017, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un turned the tables this year.

U.S. Army soldiers are welcomed in Zagan, Poland, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017.

Analysis + Opinion

December 18, 2018

Want NATO allies to boost defense spending? Don’t build Fort Trump

Barry R. PosenDefense One

Basing an American division in Poland will reduce allies’ incentive to build up their own forces.

General Mattis

Analysis + Opinion

November 18, 2018

Time for General Mattis to move on

Harvey M. SapolskyThe National Interest

There is word that President Trump is thinking about pushing General Mattis out as his secretary of defense, the president is tired apparently of Mattis’s slow rolling or blocking his defense initiatives.

Trump Europe WWI remembrance

Analysis + Opinion

November 15, 2018

As Europe revisits wartorn times, Trump lays a minefield

Una HajdariBoston Globe

World War I is considered to be the first European war to see major US involvement. That’s why it’s ironic that at last weekend’s ceremony marking the end of that war, Donald Trump made it clear that his administration has no interest in maintaining a constructive relationship with European countries.

Reid Pauly

Analysis + Opinion

November 9, 2018

Would US leaders push the button? Wargames and the sources of nuclear restraint

Reid PaulyMIT Press

Why since 1945 have nuclear weapons not been used? Political scientists have cited five basic reasons: deterrence, practicality, precedent, reputation, and ethics, writes Reid Pauly in International Security

Stephen Van Evera, Ford International Professor of Political Science

Analysis + Opinion

November 1, 2018

Stephen Van Evera revisits World War I, one century after its bitter end

Interview with Michelle English

One hundred years ago on November 11, 1918, the Allied Powers and Germany signed an armistice bringing to an end World War I. Stephen Van Evera, Ford International Professor of Political Science and an expert on the causes of war, revisits the Great War and discusses key insights for today one century after its bitter end. 

John Tirman

Analysis + Opinion

October 31, 2018

Election insights: on reducing gun violence

John Tirman

"A social movement to challenge America's reslient gun culture has rocked politics for the first time in a generation, and might shake up congressional complacency in the midterm elections."

Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman is welcomed by MIT president Rafael Reif in Boston, Massachusetts on 25 March. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Analysis + Opinion

October 25, 2018

President Reif, cut MIT’s ties to Saudi Arabia now!

Lukas Wolters and Nicolas DumasThe Tech

The Saudi regime targets and kills civilians in Yemen, oppresses and executes women and LGBTQ people, and assassinates journalists. MIT must not collaborate with them.

LESLEY BECKER/GLOBE STAFFADOBE

Analysis + Opinion

October 23, 2018

The price paid by journalists who break the cycle of repression

Una HajdariBoston Globe

There is a special circle of hell reserved for journalists who “shame” their countries in the foreign press, writes Una Hajdari in an opinion piece in the Boston Globe.

Milorad Dodik, who won the presidency of Republika Srpska on October 7, at a 2016 rally supporting a national holiday that would discriminate against non-Serbs. (AP Photo / Radivoje Pavicic)

Analysis + Opinion

October 12, 2018

Why ethnic nationalism still rules Bosnia, and why it could get worse

Una Hajdari and Michael ColborneThe Nation

From Donald Trump to Hungary’s Viktor Orbán to Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, nationalism seems to have become the mainstay of political rhetoric everywhere these days.

Robert Atanasovski/AFP/Getty Images

Analysis + Opinion

October 3, 2018

Renaming Macedonia in the age of nationalism

Una HajdariThe New Republic

At the heart of this issue lies the question of nationhood, specifically, the difficulties faced by nations formed at the latter end of modern European history, writes Una Hajdari.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May sits in the audience at the start of the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, Britain September 30, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville

Analysis + Opinion

October 1, 2018

Déjà vu? 'Global Britain' versus the continental commitment

William JamesThe National Interest

Overstretch and European obligations suggest it is time to rethink a return “East of Suez.”

President Donald J. Trump and Prime Minister Shinzō Abe of Japan at the United Nations General Assembly (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

Analysis + Opinion

September 20, 2018

How is Japan dealing with a volatile United States?

Mayumi FukushimaInternational Affairs

Managing its relationship with the United States is one of the core challenges facing Japan, as it will need to attempt to resolve the inherent tension between enhancing the alliance relationship as well as reducing its dependence on the US.

On the International Space Station June 14, 2015 the crew of Expedition 44 prepare to observe Flag Day in the USA in the Cupola, the 360 degree observation point.

Analysis + Opinion

September 18, 2018

Does America need a space force?

Harvey M. SapolskyTexas National Security Review

President Trump wants to create a space force, America’s sixth armed service, to assure US dominance in space. It doesn’t matter that America already has a sixth armed service … and is already dominant in space, writes Harvey Sapolsky. 

Protesters trample a portrait of Iran’s supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the storming and burning of the Iranian consulate in Basra, southeast of Baghdad, last week. (Nabil al-Jurani/AP)

Analysis + Opinion

September 14, 2018

Who to blame for the protests in Basra, Iraq?

Marsin Alshamary and Safwan Al-AminThe Washingon Post

Basra’s protests are more about economic grievances than political ones. Although many of these grievances are shared by other Iraqis, they are felt most keenly by Basrawis, says Marsin Alshamary and Safwan Al-Aminmin in a recent opinion piece.

After a Taliban attack in Ghazni, Afghanistan, on Aug.16, 2018.

Analysis + Opinion

September 10, 2018

This 9/11, end the Afghanistan War

Barry R. PosenUSA Today

“It is time for this war in Afghanistan to end,” Gen. John Nicholson said as he relinquished command of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Seventeen years of war have shown no plausible theory of success to justify additional U.S. costs and more killing in Afghanistan.

Analysis + Opinion

September 5, 2018

An agenda for Japanese military reform

Eric Heginbotham, Richard SamuelsEast Asia Forum Quarterly

Japan’s military planners face a number of major challenges on the near horizon, write Eric Heginbotham and Richard Samuels in their essay in East Asia Forum Quarterly. A potential conflict on the Korean peninsula, skirmishes in the East China Sea, debilitating cyberattacks, and the forced repatriation of Taiwan by Beijing. 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the Trump administration's Iran policy will be handled by the new Iran Action Group inside the State Department. (Reuters)

Analysis + Opinion

August 29, 2018

The Trump administration’s new ‘Iran Action Group’ won’t work

Nicholas MillerThe Washingon Post

The "Iran Action Group" announcement signaled again that the Trump administration intends to act more aggressively against Iran. So how likely is it that this pressure campaign will change Iranian behavior? MIT SSP affiliate Nicholas Miller says it won’t work.

The Ground Self-Defense Force's new Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade carries out a demonstration exercise April 7 in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture. | KYODO

Analysis + Opinion

August 19, 2018

The GSDF is taking to the waves, but should it?

Mina PollmannThe Diplomat, The Japan Times

The approximately 2,100-member unit is based in southwest Japan and specializes in operations involving AAV-7 amphibious vehicles, MV-22 Ospreys and Chinook helicopters.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects Chunghung farm in Samjiyon County, North Korea in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), July 2018.

Analysis + Opinion

August 13, 2018

North Korea's nuclear program isn't going anywhere

Ankit Panda and Vipin NarangForeign Affairs

Although Trump is desperate to continue claiming that he “solved” the North Korean nuclear threat at Singapore, as many predicted, North Korea continues to expand its nuclear and ballistic missile arsenals and has played its diplomatic hand brilliantly.

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