The crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan is sending shockwaves through nuclear planning agencies around the world.   Policy makers are asking for reviews of safety regulations, publics are expressing concern, and it appears likely that some of the planned construction will be curtailed. These commentaries offer sketches of how the discussion of nuclear energy is unfolding in key countries where plans for growth are most significant.

The United States and Russia must work together to reverse the deteriorating security situation in the Middle East.  Malin and Artyukov argue that Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev should announce they will co-sponsor a conference to establish ongoing negotiation of a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.  The United States and Russia can turn today's Middle East crises into tomorrow's negotiating points, but only if they work together — and stay together for the long term.

Martin Malin articulates four reasons the US could get Israel to talk about a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction, even in light of the recent furor over Israel's attack on the Gaza-bound flotilla in an Op-Ed in the Christian Science Monitor.

In mid-March, the Belfer Center's Managing the Atom (MTA) Project, together with Professor Li Bin of Tsinghua University, convened back-to-back workshops in Beijing on ways to strengthen U.S.-Chinese cooperation across a broad agenda of issues.

This book offers diverse views from Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and South America and from diverse cultures, religions, and professions, on the purposes of universal education. It is the first book in which renowned authors from around the world have confronted one another in proposing goals of basic and secondary education, and in considering and responding to the differing views of others on one of the most pressing issues facing education today.

Matthew Bunn and Martin B. Malin examine the conditions needed for nuclear energy to grow on a scale large enough for it to be a significant part of the world’s response to climate change. They consider the safety, security, nonproliferation, and waste management risks associated with such growth and recommend approaches to managing these risks. Bunn and Malin argue that although technological solutions may contribute to nuclear expansion in the coming decades, in the near term, creating the conditions for large-scale nuclear energy growth will require major international institutional innovation.

Martin Malin examined concerns about proliferation in Egypt and Saudi Arabia—the two leading Arab states where choices about nuclear weapons will have a major impact on the security and stability of the Middle East region in the coming decades. He discussed steps the US could take US to reduce the risk of proliferation in the Middle East.  He emphasized that while the risk of proliferation in Egypt and Saudi Arabia is real, it is also remote, and there are a number of ways we can make that risk even smaller.

Martin Malin discussed security risks associated with a global expansion of nuclear energy, and outlined key measures for reducing these risks, with participants in a Fletcher School summer training program for U.A.E. homeland security personnel.

As North Korea threatens additional missile tests following its nuclear test in late May and April rocket launch, nuclear experts at the Belfer Center offer analysis and commentary on North Korea's actions and intentions and what the Obama administration should do now.

"To facilitate enhanced Chinese support for North Korean denuclearization, Washington should also address some of Beijing's security concerns, including US-Japanese missile defense cooperation and sales of missile defense capabilities to Taiwan. The United States and China could also offer one another specific assurances regarding military deployments on the Korean peninsula. Even in the event of a North Korean collapse, the United States has no intention of moving its forces to the Chinese border; it would reduce Beijing's concerns if Washington said so."