Monthly Archives: October 2009

“Our ‘democracy’ is about accountability, citizen participation and leaders serving at the discretion of the people. But unfortunately, many Afghans perceive ‘democracy’ as impunity, abuse of power and a new political and business class exploiting its position to enrich itself. … Continue reading →

“Tunisia’s ‘re-elected’ President Ben Ali typifies Arab World leaders who stay in power as long as biology allows them. They control all security, police and military — and thereby, the economic, educational and cultural life of the country.” Rami Khouri, … Continue reading →

Deal-Breaker for Climate-Change Treaty May Be Obama’s Congress Bloomberg October 27 Quoted: Robert Stavins, Harvard Environmental Economics Program Topic: Potential international climate deal When Barack Obama was elected president, he was heralded as a possible savior for climate- treaty talks … Continue reading →

Russian-Georgian conflict goes Hollywood PRI.org October 27 Quoted: Monica Toft, Belfer Center Topic: New movie about recent Russia-Georgia conflict Hollywood has come to the former Soviet republic of Georgia.  Director Renny Harlin, whose previous films include “Die Hard 2″ and … Continue reading →

“Just as in war, there are unintended victims so, too, in economic rescues, there are unintended beneficiaries.” -Lawrence Summers, director of the National Economic Council Read More: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125616290488299949.html

Belfer Center Director Graham Allison participated in the second panel discussion, “The Cuban Missile Crisis and the First Nuclear Test Ban Treaty,” at the one-day “The Presidency and the Nuclear Age” conference at the Kennedy Library earlier this month. The … Continue reading →

“An effective, but more flexible and politically palatable approach could be an international agreement on a “portfolio of domestic commitments.” Under such an arrangement, nations would agree to honour commitments to GHG reductions laid out in their own domestic laws … Continue reading →

“The bottom line: staying in Afghanistan will cost many more dead American soldiers–and, inevitably, Afghan civilians–and hundreds of billions of additional dollars.” Stephen Walt, a member of the Belfer Center’s board of directors, wrote “High Cost, Low Odds,” which the … Continue reading →

“It has been exactly nine months since Obama took office with a pledge to personally work for a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace, and the scorecard of results on that pledge looks rather thin.” Rami Khouri, a senior fellow with the Belfer … Continue reading →

Yes, Virginia, There is a Mideast Nuke Deal Newsweek October 23 Quoted: Matthew Bunn, Project on Managing the Atom Topic: Nuclear agreement between the U.A.E. and U.S. … What’s groundbreaking is that the U.A.E. has promised not to construct its … Continue reading →