Mar 26, 2020

Joseph Nye writes that while trade wars have set back economic globalization,  the environmental globalization represented by pandemics and climate change is unstoppable. Borders are becoming more porous to everything from drugs to infectious diseases to cyber terrorism, and the United States must use its soft power of attraction to develop networks and institutions that address these new threats.

Apr 1, 2020

Bruce Schneier discusses current security technology concerns with The Politic's Eric Wallach.

Apr 20, 2020

Is Zoom secure? What about your home computer? Cyber expert Bruce Schneier says that we all need to be aware of the things cyber criminals thrive on during the confusion caused by coronavirus.

Apr 20, 2020

Harvard University has created a Presidential Committee on Sustainability (PCS) to advise President Larry Bacow and the University's leadership on sustainability vision, goals, strategy, and partnerships. The Harvard Gazette spoke with committee chairs Rebecca Henderson, the John and Natty McArthur University Professor; John Holdren, the Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy at Harvard Kennedy School; and Katie Lapp, executive vice president, about why it is so important to act now; the role of the PCS in developing collaborative and innovative projects; and how the campus community can get involved.

Apr 21, 2020

With decision-makers relying on a growing torrent of forecasts regarding COVID-19 and other important issues, it is more important than ever that they ask questions about how the projections were made. To use predictive tools more effectively, policymakers should ask four questions in particular.

Apr 23, 2020

Rapid technological advances are making nonstate actors much more capable than they were even a decade ago. Malicious actors like terrorist groups, criminal organizations, and state proxies are increasingly able to threaten American civilians and their interests around the world. At the same time, we are increasingly vulnerable to the emergence of new disease and natural disasters, as vividly shown by the hurricanes of 2017 (Harvey, Irma, and Maria) and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Effectively countering these threats, including by developing and supporting private sector-generated new technological solutions, is a core government responsibility. DHS is the U.S. government’s primary civilian public safety agency and the main source of government funding for nonmilitary development of public safety technologies. Unfortunately, DHS has a poor record of developing new technological solutions to advance its mission and address emerging threats. This article assesses the current situation, identifies lines of research that are urgently needed, and makes recommendations on how DHS can more effectively partner with industry and how new technologies can be quickly seeded.

Apr 29, 2020

Joel Clement appeared on CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront on April 23, 2020.  In this blog post for the Union of Concerned Scientists, he elaborates on what he wishes he had said during that interview.

Mar 24, 2020

The 2018 National Defense Strategy (NDS) is predicated on a single organizing principle: America’s military pre-eminence is rapidly eroding. This is not a new concept. For years, experts have warned that the economic and technological advancements of U.S. adversaries, coupled with the 2008 financial crisis and America’s focus on peripheral conflicts, have caused a decline in America’s military dominance. 

In this context, the advances of near-peer competitors such as China and Russia have created plausible “theories of victory” in potential conflicts across Eastern Europe and East Asia. Competitors’ unaddressed improvements in strategic innovation, economic investment, and dual-use technology increases the risk of conflict and strains the U.S. alliance system. It is urgent that the United States reestablish and maintain credible deterrents against these near-peer competitors. After decades of focusing on post-Cold War ‘shaping’ operations, the American military needs to reinvigorate for full spectrum great power competition.

This report is intended as a blueprint on how to begin that process from graduate students at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. Contained inside are 12 memorandums. Each provides a high-level overview and specific recommendations on a key issue of American defense policy. 

Mar 25, 2020

Joseph S. Nye: U.S. and China Need a More Cooperative Security Stance

Mar 26, 2020

Joseph Nye writes that while trade wars have set back economic globalization,  the environmental globalization represented by pandemics and climate change is unstoppable. Borders are becoming more porous to everything from drugs to infectious diseases to cyber terrorism, and the United States must use its soft power of attraction to develop networks and institutions that address these new threats.

Apr 1, 2020

Bruce Schneier discusses current security technology concerns with The Politic's Eric Wallach.

Apr 21, 2020

Stephen Walt argues that as democracies falter, it's worth considering whether the United States made the right call in attempting to create a liberal world order.

Apr 24, 2020

In his new book, Do Morals Matter? Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump, Joseph S. Nye developed a scorecard to determine how U.S. presidents since 1945 factored questions of ethics and morality into their foreign policy. In an interview, Henry Farrell asked him a few questions to get to the heart of his findings.

Apr 24, 2020

Nathaniel L. Moir recounts the events of 1968: The war in Vietnam and extensive civil unrest in the United States — and yet another big problem that made life harder. In 1968, the H3N2 pandemic killed more individuals in the United States than the combined total number of American fatalities during both the Vietnam and Korean Wars.

Apr 28, 2020

 Gen. Mark. A. Milley’s job is to provide sound military advice to the president. But at a deeper level, his responsibility is to safeguard the independence and integrity of the armed forces. The last thing the country needs is a military leadership that’s trying to curry favor with any commander in chief, particularly one who’s hungry for affirmation.

Apr 28, 2020

Stephen Walt writes that even though Bernie Sanders is out of the presidential race, the time has come for many of the policies that he promoted: Universal Healthcare; Democratic Socialism; Income Redistribution; and Foreign Policy.

May 3, 2020

Rachel Esplin Odell argues for a wiser and more conservative strategy that resists the temptation to exaggerate the challenge posed by China.

May 5, 2020

Stephen Walt writes that arguments against U.S. offshore balancing misunderstand history. The strategy that worked against the Soviet Union can work against China.

May 6, 2020

Nathaniel Moir reviews Maxwell Taylor's Cold War: From Berlin to Vietnam by Ingo Trauschweizer.

Sep 25, 2019

A new book edited by Erica Chenoweth, Deborah Avant, Marie Berry, Rachel Epstein, Cullen Hendrix, Oliver Kaplan, and Timothy Sisk, Civil Action and the Dynamics of Violence, looks at recent conflicts in Syria, Peru, Kenya, Northern Ireland, Mexico, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Spain, and Colombia to explore the role that civil action played.

Dec 14, 2019

Chinese diplomats in Africa are robustly defending Beijing’s policies on Twitter as part of a new and sometimes aggressive public relations campaign which is playing out across the globe as the country’s envoys answer President Xi Jinping’s call to “tell China stories well”.south chi

Jan 3, 2020

Nonviolent resistance scholar Erica Chenoweth explains the key ingredients of successful social movements.

Feb 6, 2020

Armed rebel groups push for funding and recognition, and often get it.

Feb 14, 2020

Emily Whalen reviews Anatomies of Revolution by George Lawson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019).

Mar 20, 2020

Could using the cash in your pocket have the potential to spread covid-19? That question has rarely appeared in the news, but many governments and leaders in the digital payments industry are wondering how the virus might impact the use of cash. Several countries have already taken drastic measures to limit circulation of bank notes. Could such interventions lead to the end of cash payments?

May 7, 2020

During times of crisis, the most effective leaders are those who can build solidarity by educating the public about its own interests. Sadly, in the case of COVID-19, the leaders of the world's two largest economies have gone in the opposite direction, all but ensuring that the crisis will deepen.

The agriculture department had earlier fixed May 10 as the date to begin sowing of paddy nursery and June 20 for paddy transplantation, during the current kharif season. The farmers had raised concerns about meeting the cultivation/sowing requirements in view of the labour shortage resulting from migrant labourers returning to their homes in view of the COVID-19 crisis.

As of December 2017, fewer than 50 individuals are thought to be remaining in three subpopulations that are scattered over 140,000 square km in Iran’s central plateau. The cats have been nearly wiped out by excessive hunting, habitat degradation and scarcity of prey species.

These birds are part of the Lapwing genus Vanellus, which diverged from all other species of birds 28 million years ago! Two sociable lapwings, satellite tagged in Kazakhstan, flew more than 5,000 miles to central Sudan where they spent the winter before their return flight to breeding grounds in the central Asian republic.

Environmentalists feel that carbon emissions may have reduced drastically but are likely to go back to the pre-corona levels in a few weeks' time, once the virus threat mitigates.

The plant has been listed as a threatened species in the United States since 1989, and in 2008 it was listed as an endangered species by the IUCN.

In 1945, the tree, also known as ‘Kaikomako Manawa Tawhi’, was visited by professor Geoff Baylis, who brought a cutting back to Auckland and nurtured it to maturity at the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR).

This incredibly metallic blue tarantula is found within a 39-square mile reserve forest in Andhra Pradesh. Its behaviour parallels that of many arboreal spiders. In the wild, it lives in holes of tall trees where it makes asymmetric funnel webs. Spiders of this genus may live communally when territory, i.e. the number of holes per tree, is limited.

Speaking at the Idea Exchange, organisers are optimistic of bringing Rushdie to the JLF.

The father of India's moon mission will be our guest at the Idea Exchange on February 6, Monday. Grounded by the government for his alleged role in a scandal-tainted sale of rare radio frequency, former ISRO chief G Madhavan Nair surely has an arduous fight ahead. And his story to tell. We request our readers to send in questions they would like to ask Madhavan Nair. Is there anything in the probe reports of the Antrix-Devas deal? Will he be exonerated? Is he a victim? Controversy a slap on my face: G Madhavan Nair

Naina Lal Kidwai, Group General Manager and Country Head of HSBC India, will be our guest at Idea Exchange on March 23. Send us your questions for her here.

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, will be our guest at Idea Exchange on Tuesday, March 20 at 4 pm. Send us your questions for him here.

Ram Gopal Yadav, senior Samajwadi Party leader, will be our guest at Idea Exchange on Tuesday, March 27 at 3.45pm. Yadav is party supremo's Mulayam Singh Yadav's cousin. Send us your questions for him here.

Sriprakash Jaiswal, Union Minister for Coal, will be our guest at Idea Exchange on April 2, 2012. Send us your questions for him here. Check out the reactions from Facebook:

S Y Quraishi, Chief Election Commissioner, will be our guest at Idea Exchange on April 12. Send us your questions for him here.

The Chief Minister of Goa, Manohar Parrikar, will be our guest at Idea Exchange on Tuesday, April 17.

Mohamed Nasheed, the first democratically elected president of Maldives who was ousted from power earlier this year, will be our guest at Idea Exchange on Thursday.

Law Minister Salman Khurshid will be our guest at Idea Exchange on Tuesday.

CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury will be our guest at Idea Exchange on Friday, May 4. Reactions on Facebook and Twitter

Israel's Ambassador to India, Alon Ushpiz, will be our guest at Idea Exchange. Ask your questions for him here.

Mushirul Hasan, Director General, National Archives and the author of 2 books on cartoons in India, will be our guest at Idea Exchange. Send us your questions for the internationally known historian, author and ex-Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia University at Delhi.

Presidential aspirant P A Sangma, who was also a former Speaker of the Lok Sabha, will be our guest at Idea Exchange on Friday, May 25. Send us your questions for him.

Cricketer Gautam Gambhir, who recently led his team Kolkata Knight Riders to victory in IPL season 5, will be our guest at The Idea Exchange on Saturday, June 9. Send us your questions for him.

Baba Ramdev will be our guest at The Idea Exchange, an interactive session organised by The Indian Express. Send us your questions for him.