Taking “No” As Iran’s Answer
The editors of the Washington Post articulate a position similar to the one that I took yesterday: The Obama administration and European governments have set the end of the year as a deadline for the transfer of the uranium out of Iran and for progress in the overall negotiations. But the administration must consider whether it makes sense to grant the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on November 6, 2009 13:27
Marking the Anniversary of the Embassy Seizure
Today marks the 30th anniversary of the seizing of the U. S. embassy in Tehran by factions of the revolution that overthrew the shah. President Obama has issued a statement on the occasion which I will reproduce in full here: Thirty years ago today, the American Embassy in Tehran was seized. The 444 days that began on November 4, 1979 ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on November 5, 2009 10:58
Haggling With the Iranians
In her address yesterday to a joint session of Congress German Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated her country's insistence that Iran suspend its uranium enrichment program in compliance with multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions: Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, yesterday delivered a stern warning to Iran's hard-line leader amid signs that the west's patience with Tehran's prevarication on its nuclear programme ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on November 4, 2009 11:59
Destruction of a What?
There's a fascinating article in Spiegel Online (in English) on “Operation Orchard”, the operation in September 2007 in Syria in which the Israeli air force destroyed what many have termed a “nuclear plant”, what the article calls “Syria's Al Kibar nuclear reactor”, and the Syrians have characterized as a conventional military facility. Spiegel has interviewed Syrian, Israeli, and American ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on November 4, 2009 11:16
Misconceptions About Iran’s Nuclear Program
Pay particular attention to Joseph Cirincione's op-ed in the Washington Post, characterized as “Five Myths About Iran's Nuclear Program”. I think a better word than “myth” would be “misconception”. In the op-ed Mr. Cirincione lays out five misconceptions about Iran's nuclear program and explains why they're misconceptions. Here they are: Iran is on the verge of developing a ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 18, 2009 09:06
What About Iran?
The Obama Administration is preparing a package of sanctions against Iran just in case: WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Obama administration is working on a substantial sanctions package against Iran in case current diplomatic efforts to curb its nuclear program fail, top officials told Congress on Tuesday. Under Secretary of the Treasury Stuart Levy, who developed some of the existing financial sanctions against ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 6, 2009 12:59
Clearing the Path
If true this: INTELLIGENCE chief Sir John Scarlett has been told that Saudi Arabia is ready to allow Israel to bomb Iran’s new nuclear site. The head of MI6 discussed the issue in London with Mossad chief Meir Dagan and Saudi officials after British intelligence officers helped to uncover the plant, in the side of a mountain near the ancient city of ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 28, 2009 16:54
Medvedev’s Comments on the Revelations from Iran
As I noted yesterday, based on what I'd seen of Russian Federation President Medvedev's comments in reaction to the revelation that Iran was covertly building an additional uranium enrichment plant, I was a bit skeptical that Russia would change course and support a new sanctions regime against Iran despite the hints in that direction I was reading in the Western ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 26, 2009 11:32
Iran’s Non-Compliance: Okay, What Then? (Updated)
Presumably in anticipation of the announcement by the United States, France, the United Kingdom, or Israel of the existence of their previously-undisclosed uranium enrichment plant, the Iranian government has admitted that they have a second, secret plant: PITTSBURGH, Sept. 25 -- President Obama and the leaders of France and Britain on Friday blasted Iran's construction of a previously unknown uranium enrichment ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 25, 2009 12:13
Did Obama Break Promise on Missiles?
I've been critical of the optics of President Obama's decision to abandon missile defense in Poland and the Czech Republic on the 70th anniversary of the Russian invasion of Poland. But I disagree with Jim Geraghty's assertion that it also represents breaking a promise made in April. Here's what he said in Prague: So let me be clear: Iran's ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 18, 2009 10:21
Dick Cheney’s Tell-All Book
Dick Cheney is breaking the mold on how recently-departed vice presidents act. First, he immediately went into attack mode against President Obama. Now, he's going after President Bush, too. Bart Gelman for WaPo: Cheney's disappointment with the former president surfaced recently in one of the informal conversations he is holding to discuss the book with authors, diplomats, policy ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 13, 2009 07:42
Today’s MUST Foreign Policy Reading
If you only read one thing today, read the for-the-record answers from the Director of National Intelligence to questions from the Senate Intelligence Committee in April 2009. At the very least read the tickler summary from the blog of the Federation of American Scientists, which has done a genuine service in obtaining this document under the Freedom of Information ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 8, 2009 10:39
Attacking Iran: Not Just a Crime
In an article in the Wall Street Journal, re-published at The New Atlanticist General Chuck Wald makes a good case that an attack against Iran would be technically feasible: An attack on Iranian nuclear facilities would mostly involve air assets, primarily Air Force and Navy, that are not strained by operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Moreover, the presence of U.S. forces ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 7, 2009 15:00
Another Nuclear Worry: Burma
As if we didn't have enough to worry about apparently the Burmese have built a secret nuclear reactor: Two of Asia's most oppressive regimes may have joined forces to develop a nuclear arsenal, according to strategic experts who have analysed information supplied by a pair of Burmese defectors. The men, who played key roles in helping the isolated military junta before defecting ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 3, 2009 10:16
Iran’s Ham and Cheese Sandwich (Updated)
The Times of London is reporting that Iranian scientists are only waiting for the order to go before building a nuclear weapon: Iran has perfected the technology to create and detonate a nuclear warhead and is merely awaiting the word from its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to produce its first bomb, Western intelligence sources have told The Times. The sources said ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 3, 2009 09:57
