Diplomacy and International Politics

Nicholas Burns, former American diplomat and current professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, joined Chad to react to the current situation in Syria and his thoughts on how the United States need to handle it.

Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns joins CBSN to discuss the Syrian conflict after a chemical weapons attack killed dozens of civilians in Idlib, prompting an emergency meeting at the United Nations.

"Jordan gave the Arab world two reasons to be proud this week. One was the nomination of the film Theeb for an academy award, and the other was the statement to the 31st session of the UN Human Rights Council by Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights."

This collective policy paper summarizes the main themes of Morocco's recent experience around migration policy. It draws upon many conversations with major stakeholders, group work, and site visits of the 16 Harvard students who participated in the winter field study course in Morocco and Italy, led by Prof. Claude Bruderlein and supported by the Middle East Initiative.

"The difference between the sensible and superficial approaches to tackling the scourge of terrorism and other forms of violent extremism by groups such as “Islamic State” (ISIS) was as clear as possible last week, in two efforts by the US government and the United Nations secretary general, Ban-Ki moon. For all those puzzled people around the world who ask what we must do to defeat ISIS and others like it, I suggest taking half an hour to read and really ponder the proposals offered by the UN secretary-general..."

"The American-led air attacks against ISIS in Iraq and Syria have triggered new debates in the United States about how the U.S. should respond to this and other challenges in faraway lands that may or may not directly threaten American interests. I have had enjoyable and substantive discussions with students and faculty at the University of Oklahoma this week, in which this question has come up repeatedly — and understandably so, given that most Americans had felt that their country was withdrawing from its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, rather than re-engaging in new combat action."

Rami Khouri examines the changing language and approach the U.S. has taken recently with regards to intervention in Syria.

Professor Burns discusses the shift in policy and tone coming from Iran, courtesy of its new president, Hassan Rouhani, and what that means for future relations between the U.S. and Iran.

A year after the sparks of revolution began in the Arab World, the Middle East Initiative (MEI) focused its spring events on the implications of the region’s tumultuous transition.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu opened the inaugural event of the Crown-Belfer Middle East Seminar Series in September.  The series is a joint venture between the Belfer Center and Brandeis' Crown Center for Middle East Studies.