Op-Ed

Unearthing the stories of yesterday’s George Floyds

July 17, 2020 Melissa Nobles The Boston Globe

When we call the victims’ descendants to share our findings, they tell us ‘I never thought I’d get this call.’ The scars remain, and luckily, because we have found documents, so does proof.

How Digital Contact Tracing Slowed Covid-19 in East Asia

April 15, 2020 Yasheng Huang, Meicen Sun and Yuze Sui Harvard Business Review

As Covid-19 steamrolls across international boundaries, public health officials are paying close attention to countries that are flattening the curve, slowing the spread of infection. Can other countries emulate their success?

Courting War

March 3, 2020 Barry Posen Boston Review

Despite claims to the contrary, the Trump administration wants regime change in Iran and is risking a full-scale war in order to get it.

Coronavirus: Japan Sends Final Evacuation Flight

February 12, 2020 Mina Pollman The Diplomat

On Monday, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi announced that the Japanese government would send a fifth chartered flight to Hubei province this week to evacuate Japanese nationals and their family members.

The Saving Grace of the Iowa Caucus Debacle

February 5, 2020 Charles Stewart III Wired

A technical fiasco in a small state, early in the season, minimizes the consequences. The question is how election officials will respond as the stakes rise.

Is a New Nuclear Age Upon Us?

December 30, 2019 Niicholas Miller & Vipin Narang Foreign Affairs

Looking back, it is clear that we missed the mark—by being too optimistic. Over the past year, Washington has not only faced nuclear crises with North Korea, Russia, and Iran, as predicted; it has also watched as nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan stumbled to the brink of all-out war and a host of U.S. allies began to rethink their nuclear options. Unless governments in Washington and elsewhere act quickly to reverse course, future scholars may look back on 2019 as the turning point from an era of relative calm to one of intense nuclear competition and proliferation—the dawn of a dangerous new nuclear age.

Iraqi protesters demand constitutional change. Can they make it happen?

November 7, 2019 Marsin Alshamary and Safwan Al-Amin Washington Post

Iraq is experiencing a pivotal moment. Protesters, mostly youths, have again taken to the streets in Baghdad and several southern provinces. They initially demanded jobs and an end to corruption. Now they are calling for the resignation of key government figures, the dissolution of parliament and provincial councils, electoral reforms, and a rewrite of the constitution.

Baghdadi’s Martyrdom Bump

October 29, 2019 Santiago Segarra, Ali Jadbabaie, Richard Nielsen Foreign Policy

Killing the Islamic State leader will not kill his ideas.

What Democrats Could Lose With Their Left Turn

September 30, 2019 Alexander Agadjanian The New York Times

Political science research suggests that moderates generally fare better in elections, but much of our current understanding is speculative: There has been little directly relevant data on how voters are reacting in the moment. Are swing voters being put off? Are Democratic voters excited and more likely to stick with their party?

Japan's whack-a-mole foreign policy

September 30, 2019 Richard J. Samuels The Boston Globe

Japanese leaders have recently faced a furious barrage of foreign policy and national security challenges, some of their own making. Each has presented itself as if a game of whack-a-mole—some in which the unhidden and unpredictable hand of President Trump has been prominent.

Why India wants to break its decades-old nuclear pledge

August 22, 2019 Vipin Narang and Christopher O'Clary BBC News

India's defence minister recently suggested that the country may re-evaluate its "no first use of nuclear weapons" doctrine, raising the stakes at a time of high tension with its nuclear-armed neighbour Pakistan. Analysts Christopher O'Clary and Vipin Narang examine the implications for peace and security in South Asia.

China is not an enemy

July 3, 2019 M. Taylor Fravel , J. Stapleton Roy , Michael D. Swaine , Susan A. Thornton and Ezra Vogel Washington Post

Dear President Trump and members of Congress:
We are members of the scholarly, foreign policy, military and business communities, overwhelmingly from the United States, including many who have focused on Asia throughout our professional careers. We are deeply concerned about the growing deterioration in U.S. relations with China...

Learning to Embrace an Unequal Alliance

June 7, 2019 Mina Erika Pollmann Tokyo Review

To keep the military alliance between the U.S. and Japan sustainable and effective during the tumult of a global power transition, both sides need to update how they think about the “grand bargain” that underlies it.