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Global Nuclear Zero: An Idealistic Goal, but Inefficient Security Concept

09.29.16

BY DOREEN HORSCHIG The total elimination of existing nuclear weapons worldwide, so-called “Global Zero,” at this point in time is neither feasible nor desirable for U.S. national security interests. A cold stability — regional and global stability provided through a threat of nuclear weapons — demonstrates the continued efficacy of existing nuclear weapons on the world […]

International Relations and Security

Amazigh women take center stage at Boston film festival

09.29.16

Boston’s Amazigh community came together at Lesley University on Saturday for the eighth annual Amazigh Film Festival, a celebration of Amazigh culture through film. The Amazigh are the descendants of the pre-Arab inhabitants of North Africa (they are also colloquially called “Berbers,” though that term is considered pejorative by some). Today, Amazigh people live scattered across North Africa, […]

Gender, Race and Identity

John Oliver Oversimplifies the Charter School Debate

09.29.16

By Matt Bubley, MPA 2018 What Last Week Tonight gets wrong – and right – about charters. The long segment on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver has a rare reputation in TV journalism. It manages to treat the issues it takes up with a combination of wit, insight, and – usually – depth. That’s […]

The Debate Double Standard

09.28.16

BY BRYNNA QUILLIN On Monday night, the world finally got to see Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump face off for the first presidential debate. Watching the two candidates on stage together was striking. Hillary Clinton is one of the most, if not the most, qualified presidential candidates in history, with an extensive resume: First Lady, […]

Syria: Why the shooting never stops

09.27.16

In Syria, a ceasefire negotiated by Russia and the United States quickly broke down last week. Although unstable from the outset, the truce crumbled after the US bombed a Syrian army position, in a move it said was accidental, and Russian or Syrian jets attacked a UN aid convoy near Aleppo. This ceasefire was just […]

International Relations and Security

US Government Green-Lights Self-Driving Cars

09.26.16

By Sasha Ramani, MPP 2018 Self-driving cars have the potential to save thousands of lives, and a friendly regulatory atmosphere can encourage innovation into this burgeoning field. However, they may struggle to be adopted by a skeptical public. Picture: One of Uber’s autonomous Ford Fusions cruising the streets of Pittsburgh. Soon to be joined by 100 […]

Let’s Admit That Our Presidential Debates Are Rigged

09.26.16

BY BEN BLINK I was disappointed last week to learn that Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson was officially excluded from the three U.S. presidential debates. The two-term New Mexico governor, who cares equally about reducing budget deficits, protecting civil liberties, and improving the justice system, will not get a podium. I was frustrated, but hardly […]

‘Enrichment, not learning’: World Teacher of the Year

09.24.16

Wars may be started by adults, but the effects of war do not discriminate by age. The lives, and futures, of children are just as vulnerable to the physical and mental traumas of modern warfare. Today, Aleppo is one of the most violent battlefields of the war in Syria, and an estimated 75,000 children survive amidst barrel bombs, […]

Education, Training and Labor

Kerry: On Syria, Russia needs to set an example, not ‘unacceptable precedent’

09.24.16

US Secretary of State John Kerry strongly condemned the breakdown of the recent ceasefire in Syria before a meeting of the “Quintet” foreign ministers at Tufts University on Saturday. “One thing I think all of us join in saying, and I’m going to make this clear: What is happening in Aleppo today is unacceptable. And […]

International Relations and Security

KSSG Elections: Students Share Their Vision as They Vie for Votes

09.23.16

By Ivan Rahman, MPP 2018 On September 13th, over 100 students packed the JFK Jr. Forum. Okendo Lewis-Gayle, HKS Election Chair, stood tall, in a beige suit behind the podium. He commenced the Kennedy School Student Government (KSSG) election session of 2016. With a radiant smile, he began the night by introducing the candidates competing […]

Are Global Goals Always Good? Reflections on the first anniversary of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals

09.23.16

BY GRANT TUDOR September 25 marks the first anniversary of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): a list of global ambitions for improving the state of things. The first is to “end poverty.” The goal’s various targets, which intend to elaborate on what exactly is meant by ending poverty, tell us that by 2030 all […]

Minibonds: Putting the Public Back in Public Finance

09.20.16

BY SARAH TESAR AND PITICHOKE CHULAPAMORNSRI The people of San Francisco, hoping to transform their city into a bustling economic metropolis, built the Golden Gate Bridge to connect two previously divided urban areas. During the peak of the Great Depression, the city issued forty-year municipal bonds that paid 5% interest in order to finance the […]

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