Nuclear Issues

NEW YORK—Consider these two incidents that occurred in the past few days in the United States and you should start to grasp the basic elements of a slow, subtle but steady and important shift that is taking place in the United States. It is happening in that arena where pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian sentiments express themselves in public, and seek to influence American government policy, mass media language and depictions, and even the decisions of churches and other non-government organizations like student and professional groups.

Each year, the Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School welcomes new pre- and post-doctoral fellows and visiting researchers to a select team of scholars exploring the critical role that science and technology play in everyday life.

We should be cheering the fact that the American and Iranian foreign ministers are now trading accusations in public about who is to blame for the lack of a full agreement in last week’s Geneva negotiations on the issues of Iran’s nuclear industry and the UN and American sanctions on Iran. It is so much healthier to have the foreign ministers exchanging ideas of how to reach a negotiated agreement than to have them threaten each other with more sanctions and faster development of nuclear capabilities.

Contrary to a small army of critics and "armchair quarterbacks," Professor Burns gives Secretary of State John Kerry a "job-well-done" in his first six months on the job. From orchestrating this weeks talks in Washington between the Israelis and Palestinians, to cultivating key relationships with India, China and other Asian states, Burns is encouraged that Secretary Kerry is putting diplomacy back on the map. Burns also stresses that diplomacy takes time, and in the digital world of "right now," it is important that we remember that diplomacy and its results are not instant.

The debate about how to handle the Iranian nuclear program has resurfaced since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent comments on CBS's "Face the Nation." Professor Burns looks at it from both sides and reiterates his warning that marching to war--right now--is not the right approach.

The following report presents a consensus view of the members of a bipartisan study group on the U.S.-Japan alliance. The report specifically addresses energy, economics and global trade, relations with neighbors, and security-related issues. Within these areas, the study group offers policy recommendations for Japan and the United States, which span near- and long-term time frames. These recommendations are intended to bolster the alliance as a force for peace, stability, and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

The Winter 2010/11 issue of the Belfer Center newsletter features recent and upcoming activities, research, and analysis by members of the Center community on critical global issues. This issue highlights a major Belfer Center conference on technology and governance, the Center's involvement in the nuclear threat documentary Countdown to Zero, and a celebration of Belfer Center founder Paul Doty.