ASIA
December 2008
"Reconciling Human Development and Climate Protection: Perspectives from Developing Countries on Post-2012 International Climate Change Policy"
Discussion Paper
By Jing Cao, Former Research Fellow, Environment and Natural Resources Program, 2002-2003
"...[T]his paper provides a new multi-stage climate policy framework based on a revised Global Development Right (GDR) calculation, and proposes a feasible hybrid negotiation framework from the perspective of developing countries. According to the "common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities" principle in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), we recognize that due to the historical emissions contributions and different pace of industrialization and growth around the world, a successful international climate policy needs to balance equity and efficiency and eventually achieve an overall carbon mitigation target."
AP Photo
December 8, 2008
"A New Cold War? Western Hemispheric Manuevers"
Op-Ed, National Review Online
By Thomas M. Nichols, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
"Visiting the Panama Canal and sending bombers and ships to Venezuela might seem like a flexing of Russian muscle in America's backyard. But these acts are nothing more than mere stunts, expressions of a wounded Russian national ego....The new administration should ignore Russia's juvenile, attention-seeking behavior and return to a discussion of matters that are far more important to both of us, including terrorism, nuclear security, and better cooperation in the midst of a global economic crisis."
AP Photo
December 7, 2008
"Beyond the Line of Control"
Op-Ed, News International, (Pakistan)
By Hassan Abbas, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
Naomi Klein, Canadian columnist and author of The Shock Doctrine insightfully says, "Terrorism doesn't just blow up buildings; it blasts every other issue off the political map. The spectre of terrorism — real and exaggerated — has become a shield of impunity, protecting governments around the world from scrutiny for their human rights abuses." South Asia today is a victim of terror in this context. Social injustice, political instability, religious fanaticism and a rising sense of insecurity are the factors pushing South Asians to the brink of a prolonged conflict.
December 2008
The Globalization of Martyrdom: Al Qaeda, Salafi Jihad, and the Diffusion of Suicide Attacks
Book
By Assaf Moghadam, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Initiative on Religion in International Affairs
This groundbreaking volume examines the rise and spread of suicide attacks over the past decade. Sorting through 1,270 terror strikes between 1981 and 2007, Assaf Moghadam attributes their recent proliferation to the mutually related ascendance of al Qaeda and its guiding ideology, Salafi Jihad, an extreme interpretation of Islam that rejects national boundaries and seeks to create a global Muslim community. This unflinching analysis provides new information about the relationship between ideology and suicide attacks and recommends policies focused on containing Salafi Jihadism.
AP Photo
December 3, 2008
"Islamist Terrorism Goes Freelance"
Op-Ed, Chicago Tribune
By Azeem Ibrahim, Research Fellow, International Security Program
"Intelligence services in the U.S., United Kingdom, Holland, Denmark and Sweden agree that the main threat now comes mainly from freelance cells. Islamist terrorism has changed and the atrocities in Mumbai show that failure to grasp that change is dangerous....Freelance radicals can move across borders easily, disband and regroup at will and can be coordinated remotely. Inspiration and know-how can be disseminated, and plans formed, online between radicals who need not even have met. But the crucial difference is that any given terrorist can be replaced with another. That means any terrorist group cannot be conclusively defeated. This fact calls for a change in how Western governments address terror."
AP Photo
December 3, 2008
"Mumbai Attacks: Motivations, Context and Consequences"
Op-Ed, New York Times, Times Topic Blog
By Hassan Abbas, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
Hassan Abbas, a research fellow with the Project on Managing the Atom at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center, comments on the Mumbai terrorist attacks.
December 2, 2008
WMD Panel Releases Report to Congress: Belfer Center’s Graham Allison served as Commissioner
News
Graham Allison, director of Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, served on the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, which released its report today. The congressionally appointed Commission called on the President-elect and the next Congress to immediately initiate several concrete actions, unilaterally and with the international community, to address the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction that pose the greatest peril: nuclear and biological weapons.
November 24, 2008
New Harvard Project Report Outlines Ideas for Successor to Kyoto Protocol
Press Release
By Sasha Talcott, Director of Communications and Outreach
A new report from the Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements outlines several promising ideas for successors to the Kyoto Protocol. The report also provides guidance on the most intractable challenges facing global climate negotiators, including participation by developing countries, how to reduce deforestation, and how to prevent a "collision" between climate policy and international trade law.
November 18, 2008
Securing the Bomb 2008
Book
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom
Associate Professor of Public Policy and Project on Managing the Atom Co-Principal Investigator Matthew Bunn provides a comprehensive assessment of efforts to secure and remove vulnerable nuclear stockpiles around the world, and a detailed action plan for reducing the risk of nuclear terrorism. Securing the Bomb 2008 was commissioned by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). The full report, with additional information on the threat of nuclear terrorism, is available on the NTI website.
November 18, 2008
Preventing Nuclear Terrorism: An Agenda for the Next President
Report
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom and Andrew Newman, Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom
Matthew Bunn and Andrew Newman outline specific steps that President-elect Obama should take to reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism to a fraction of its current level during his first term in office. This paper summarizes the recommendations in Securing the Bomb 2008 and provides additional detail on organizing the U.S. government to prevent nuclear terrorism and on steps that should be taken during the transition and the opening weeks of the new administration.