In the News | 2023
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In the NewsMay 23, 2023Q&A: How studying Portuguese helps to look at life through a different lensLisa HicklerMIT NewsAeronautics and astronautics major Theo St. Francis describes his studies of Portuguese and travels to Brazil with the MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives' Global Teaching Labs. |
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In the NewsMay 19, 2023Architectural heritage like you haven’t seen it beforePeter DizikesMIT NewsMIT’s “Ways of Seeing” project, directed by Fotini Christia, a professor, is a historic preservation effort recording architecture through digital imaging, Extended Reality techniques, and hand-drawn architectural renderings. |
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In the NewsMay 18, 2023Six MIT SHASS educators receive 2023 Levitan Teaching AwardsSchool of Humanities, Arts, and Social SciencesMIT NewsNicholas Ackert, a PhD candidate in the MIT Security Studies Program, received a James A and Ruth Levitan Teaching Award for 2023, along with five others. The awards honor outstanding success in teaching undergraduate and graduate students. |
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In the NewsMay 15, 2023Video: Ukraine pledges to take back Russian-occupied territories, but experts argue success is unlikelyGBH NewsCarol Saivetz, Senior Advisor at the MIT Security Studies Program, appeared on GBH News to discuss the coming Ukrainian counteroffensive. |
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In the NewsMay 12, 2023New MIT-Denmark collaboration to expand opportunities for global impactMISTIMIT NewsA grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation will allow more MIT interns to connect with innovators in Denmark. |
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In the NewsMay 9, 2023Podcast: Bureaucracies, dictatorships, and the power of Africa’s peopleMIT NewsPresident Sally Kornbluth talks with Associate Professor Mai Hassan about public administration in Africa and how people mobilize against repressive regimes. |
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In the NewsMay 8, 2023Radio: 'Grand Delusion' with Steven Simon on Monday's Access UtahTom WilliamsUtah Public RadioCIS Wilhelm Fellow Steven Simon joined Tom Williams on Utah Public Radio to discuss his new book Grand Delusion: The Rise and Fall of American Ambition in the Middle East. |
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In the NewsMay 5, 2023A transformative era ends at the Center for International StudiesMIT News“Dick Samuels built the CIS into a vibrant incubator of ideas, an engine of scholarly output and policy relevance, and a place where fierce debates could occur while friendships were forged. This is the institution that Evan Lieberman, one of the department’s most creative and entrepreneurial members, will soon take in exciting new directions,” says David Singer, head of the Department of Political Science and Raphael Dorman-Helen Starbuck Professor of Political Science. |
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In the NewsMay 2, 2023In a time of war, a new effort to helpPeter DizikesMIT NewsMIT-Ukraine program leaders describe the work they are undertaking as they shape a novel project to help a country in crisis. |
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In the NewsApril 26, 2023China pushes largest-ever expansion of nuclear arsenalAFPFrance 24Quoted: "The changes that are taking place or under way are very significant" and "will turn China from a state that has a nuclear retaliatory capability to one that is the world's third major nuclear power", Eric Heginbotham, Principal Research Scientist at MIT's Center for International Studies, told AFP. |
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In the NewsApril 21, 2023Just like yesterday? New critiques of the nuclear revolutionPaul C AveryTexas National Security ReviewQuoted: "This conceptualization largely includes Barry Posen’s discussion of inadvertent escalation resulting from conventional operations that unintentionally degrade the survivability of an opponent’s nuclear arsenal." |
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In the NewsApril 20, 2023A scathing critique of US Middle East policy, from Carter to BidenAndrew ExumThe Washington PostSteven Simon's merciless new history of American engagement in the Middle East from Jimmy Carter to Joe Biden spares few: In the estimation of the author, no American policymakers, across Republican or Democratic administrations, have much to be proud of. |
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In the NewsApril 19, 2023America’s imposition on incompatible Middle East realitiesJohn SawersFinancial TimesJohn Sawers reviews CIS Wilhelm Fellow Steven Simon's newly published book Grand Delusion: The Rise and Fall of American Ambition in the Middle East, writing that it is "a brilliantly written critique of 45 years of US foreign policy in the Mideast". |
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In the NewsApril 18, 2023The forty-year war: How America lost the Middle EastLisa AndersonForeign AffairsSteven Simon's new book Grand Delusion: The Rise and Fall of American Ambition in the Middle East offers "a comprehensive, even magisterial review of US policy in the Middle East over the past half century." |
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In the NewsApril 18, 2023The myth of multipolarityStephen G Brooks and William C WohlforthForeign AffairsQuoted: "Consider the capabilities that give the United States what the political scientist Barry Posen has called 'command of the commons'—that is, control over the air, the open sea, and space. Command of the commons is what makes the United States a true global military power." |
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In the NewsApril 13, 2023Arrest in leaked classified documents investigation shocks neighbors in DightonMichael Yoshida, Caroline Goggin, and Keke Vencill7 News WHDH BostonQuoted: Speaking with 7NEWS, security expert Barry Posen said the leak was “a really colossal screw up on somebody’s part.” |
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In the NewsApril 12, 2023New book explores last 4 decades of US involvement, failures in Middle EastABC NewsABC News' Linsey Davis spoke with Robert E Wilhelm Fellow Steven Simon about his new book "Grand Delusion: The Rise and Fall of American Ambition in the Middle East." |
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In the NewsApril 6, 2023Paying the defense bill: Financing American and Chinese geostrategic competitionRosella Cappella Zielinski and Samuel GerstleTexas National Security ReviewQuoted: As Barry Posen writes, “Restraint would contribute to the U.S. economy by saving significant amounts of money, which could be reallocated to restoring the fiscal health of the country, whether that is a short-term or long-term problem.” |
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In the NewsApril 5, 2023José Maria Neves, president of Cape Verde, tours MITPeter DizikesMIT NewsThe visit featured a public seminar on African governance, as well as meetings with faculty, students, and staff. |
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In the NewsMarch 30, 2023India-China border tensions and US strategy in the Indo-PacificCenter for a New American Security (CNAS)M Taylor Fravel, Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science and Director of the MIT Security Studies Program, participated in an expert panel discussion on India-China border tensions and US strategy in the Indo-Pacific. |
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In the NewsMarch 29, 2023Boosting passenger experience and increasing connectivity at the Hong Kong International AirportDanna LorchMIT NewsRecently, a cohort of 36 students from MIT and universities across Hong Kong came together for the MIT Entrepreneurship and Maker Skills Integrator (MEMSI), an intense two-week startup boot camp hosted at the MIT Hong Kong Innovation Node. MEMSI is a collaboration among the MIT Innovation Initiative, the Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship, the MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives, and Project Manus. |
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In the NewsMarch 13, 2023If Russia goes nuclear, how does the West respond?EurasianetQuoted: Stephen Van Evera voiced fear about the potential for nuclear escalation in Ukraine, saying the “balance of resolve” there is tilting against the United States. |
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In the NewsMarch 6, 2023Assessing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, after a year of warPeter DizikesMIT NewsMIT event examines effects of the war on domestic politics and daily life in both Ukraine and Russia. |
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In the NewsFebruary 21, 2023Russia suspends participation in the last remaining nuclear arms control pact with the USHere & NowWBURRussian President Vladimir Putin announced Tuesday that his country would suspend participation in the New START treaty, the last remaining nuclear arms control agreement with the US. Here & Now discusses what this means with Massachusetts Institute of Technology security analyst Jim Walsh. |
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In the NewsFebruary 18, 2023What's behind the Chinese spy balloonIsaac ChotinerThe New YorkerPresident Xi Jinping has modernized and expanded his military, but the balloon incident may indicate the challenges he faces in consolidating its power. An interview with MIT Security Studies Program Director M Taylor Fravel. |
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In the NewsFebruary 6, 2023China’s balloon dispute aims attention at Xi’s leadershipDavid PiersonThe New York TimesQuoted: "M. Taylor Fravel, the director of the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an expert on China’s military, said he thought that China’s leadership would not have authorized the balloon’s flight to the United States had it been aware of its journey, given Mr. Blinken’s visit." |
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In the NewsFebruary 5, 2023An interview with Kelly GreenhillDaniel Blake-MartinE-International RelationsKelly M Greenhill, Senior Research Scholar and Director of the Seminar XXI Program, is interviewed by E-International Relations. |
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In the NewsFebruary 3, 2023What our response to the Chinese balloon saga shows about the changing landscape of surveillancePeter O'DowdWBURSenior Research Associate Jim Walsh joins Here & Now host Peter O'Dowd to discuss the suspected Chinese spy balloon. |
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In the NewsFebruary 2, 2023KIS offers diverse learning experiences through MISTI workshopPark Jun-heeThe Korea HeraldKorea International School hosted the Massachusetts Institute of Technology International Science and Technology Initiatives in January for the first time in three years to offer new learning experiences to students. |
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In the NewsJanuary 23, 2023Why Putin’s attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure could backfirePeter RutlandResponsible StatecraftQuoted: MIT Professor Barry Posen describes the bombing campaign as “well executed” and “cunningly effective,” serving to divert Ukraine’s resources away from preparing offensive operations. |
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In the NewsJanuary 19, 2023Q&A: Gabriela Sá Pessoa talks hope and crisis in Lula’s BrazilCovering Climate NowColumbia Journalism ReviewCovering Climate Now talked with Gabriela Sá Pessoa about ongoing, alarming deforestation in the Amazon rain forest, journalistic accountability during the recently concluded administration of far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, and stories to follow now that former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has taken power. |
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In the NewsJanuary 10, 2023The NATO-EU joint declaration is a defeat for AmericansJustin LoganCato InstituteQuoted: "And it is a pretty big transfer payment: a very conservative estimate from MIT’s Barry Posen put the figure on the order of $70–80 billion per year, even retaining the U.S. nuclear umbrella and intelligence assistance." |
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In the NewsJanuary 9, 2023Turns out ‘rethink’ was a threat not a promise in US-Saudi spatDaniel LarisonResponsible StatecraftQuoted: As [Barry] Posen explained it in his book, Restraint, “Secure in the knowledge that the United States will serve as the military lender of last resort, they invest in policies that redound to the political disadvantage if the United States, which can ultimately precipitate real military costs.” |
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In the NewsJanuary 5, 2023New MIT internships expand research opportunities in AfricaKristen WilcoxMIT NewsQuoted: “These internships are an opportunity to better merge the research ecosystem of MIT with academia-based research systems in Africa,” says Evan Lieberman, the Total Professor of Political Science and Contemporary Africa and faculty director for MISTI. |
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