Tag: iran

Leaked Iran Paper Based on Intel That Split IAEA

Excerpts of the internal draft report by the staff of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) published online last week show that the report’s claims about Iranian work on a nuclear weapon is based almost entirely on intelligence documents that have provoked a serious conflict within the agency. Contrary to sensational stories by the Associated … Continue reading “Leaked Iran Paper Based on Intel That Split IAEA”

Israeli Exceptionalism

In the Washington Times, some astonishing news: "President Obama has reaffirmed a 4-decade-old secret understanding that has allowed Israel to keep a nuclear arsenal without opening it to international inspections, three officials familiar with the understanding said. The officials, who spoke on the condition that they not be named because they were discussing private conversations, … Continue reading “Israeli Exceptionalism”

New Doubt Cast on US Claim Qom Plant is Illicit

An Iranian assertion that construction on its second enrichment facility began only last year and further analysis of satellite photos of the site have cast fresh doubts on the Barack Obama administration’s charge that the construction of the plant near Qom involved a covert decision to violate Iran’s obligations to report immediately to the International … Continue reading “New Doubt Cast on US Claim Qom Plant is Illicit”

Geneva Talks Seen as Potential Breakthrough

While experts here are being deliberately tentative in their assessments of Thursday’s meeting in Geneva between Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany (P5+1), there appears to be a growing sense that the results could lay the basis for a long-sought diplomatic breakthrough. Much depends on whether Iran complies … Continue reading “Geneva Talks Seen as Potential Breakthrough”

Bitter Fruits of Mideast Wars

Impending today are two of the most critical decisions Barack Obama will ever make, which may determine the fate of his presidency, as well as the future of the United States in the Near and Middle East. The first is whether to approve Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s request for thousands more U.S. troops he says he … Continue reading “Bitter Fruits of Mideast Wars”

Empathy for ‘Adversaries’

Empathy is a term that connotes the touchy-feely notion of getting in touch with someone else’s feelings or perspective. That’s what psychotherapists and social workers do. It obviously has no place in the hard-knocks world of foreign affairs and national security. Or does it? In world history, the best generals are experts in empathy. They … Continue reading “Empathy for ‘Adversaries’”

Our Intelligence, and Theirs

Ron Rosenbaum, journalist (the New York Observer, Slate.com), author, and one of the few liberals to sign on to the ill-fated Pajamas Media fiasco, is damned mad: “Will all the pundits who relied on the discredited 2007 NIE on Iran now admit that they were wrong? That they bought into and kept citing, without any … Continue reading “Our Intelligence, and Theirs”