We need to have opinions on a subject as serious as war with Iran.

North Korea has unveiled to the world a new nuclear processing facility that puts back on the table the question of just what we should, or can, do about the fact that a rogue state possesses nuclear weapons and wants to build more.

Via the BBC:  Ahmadinejad defiant ahead of UN nuclear sanctions vote.

The New York Times is reporting that there’s been a deal reached among the major powers  for a new set of sanctions on Iran: WASHINGTON — The Obama administration announced Tuesday morning that it had struck a deal with other major powers, including Russia and China, to impose new sanctions on Iran, a sharp repudiation [...]

A former nuclear submarine officer is suggesting what seems at first glance like a rather unorthodox solution to the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico: For more than 100 years, explosives have been used to break the necks of runaway oil wells, snapping the long, narrow columns and sealing them shut with tons [...]

Via the LAT:  Iran agrees to exchange of nuclear material In what could be a stunning breakthrough in the years-long diplomatic deadlock over Iran’s nuclear program, Tehran has agreed to send the bulk of its nuclear material to Turkey as part of an exchange meant to ease international concerns about the Islamic Republic’s aims and [...]

One of the post-9/11 developments of particular annoyance to security scholars is the inflation of the term “Weapons of Mass Destruction” to encompass small-scale explosives.  Historically, it was reserved for nuclear, chemical, biological, and radiological devices.  The FBI is an especially egregious violator, doing it again and again, most recently in touting the thwarting of [...]

Sarah Palin, who was governor of Alaska for a few months before launching a career as a talk show host, objects to President Obama’s new nuclear policy thusly: Now, the president, with all the vast nuclear experience that he acquired as a community organizer, as a part-time senator, and as a full-time candidate, all that [...]

The defection of a top Iranian nuclear scientist has confirmed what we already knew. An award-winning Iranian nuclear scientist, who disappeared last year under mysterious circumstances, has defected to the CIA and been resettled in the United States, according to people briefed on the operation by intelligence officials. The officials were said to have termed [...]

Do all sane people agree that a nuclear weapons-free world is best?  Are nuclear weapons militarily obsolete, desirable only for political posturing? That seems to be the consensus of an influential group of European leaders making the rounds in Washington this week.  Among their stops was the Atlantic Council, where  the delegation from the  Pugwash [...]

Yesterday, the Atlantic Council hosted a rousing debate between  Flynt Leverett and Michael Ledeen, moderated by David Ignatius, on the topic “Iran: Engagement or Regime Change?” In my New Atlanticist post, “Iran: China 1972 or Russia 1987?” I summarize the key points made by the participants and then conclude, I find that one rarely goes [...]

My colleague Dave Schuler, writing at his own digs, explains why he’s “discouraged” by the news of the day, both foreign and domestic. Healthcare reform. As I commented not long ago over at OTB I wouldn’t oppose a single-payer system in the U. S. if (and only if) it were accompanied by measures that would [...]

Former UN Ambassador John Bolton argues that we need to get the bureaucracy out of intelligence if we are to adequately assess the threats facing the country. Although the U.S. intelligence community (IC) has been stung by failures relating to the Christmas terrorist attack, these failures are symptomatic of far larger problems. In analyzing the [...]

In the years following the invasion of Iraq I frequently read claims that there had been a long “drumbeat to war” in advance of the invasion. When I asked those making such claims to substantiate them, I was invariably disappointed. I can only interpret this op-ed from Alan J. Kuperman, director of the Nuclear Proliferation [...]

Just in time for the Iranians’ latest dilatory reaction to the IAEA’s draft response to its nuclear program, the Times of London has reported that it has obtained documents that prove rather clearly that Iran has continued its nuclear weapons development program: Confidential intelligence documents obtained by The Times show that Iran is working on [...]

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 [...]

I was rather surprised at the uproar in some corners of the blogosphere following the publication in Izvestiya of an interview with Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Kremlin’s security council. In the interview Mr. Patrushev mentioned a new doctrine regarding the Russian Federation’s use of nuclear weapons (hat tip: Nathan Hodge). Meteor Blades notes [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Der Spiegel is reporting that the Bundesnachrichtendienst, Germany’s intelligence agency (BND), believes that Iran is about a year from testing a nuclear weapon: As far as Iran is concerned, it is closer to being able to carry out a nuclear explosion than was previously thought. That is the opinion of Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, the [...]

There’s a fascinating interview with former Defense Secretary/Energy Secretary/Director CIA James Schlesinger in the Wall Street Journal. In the interview Mr. Schlesinger rejects the policy goal that’s been articulated both by Ronald Reagan and by Barack Obama of complete abolition of nuclear weapons: Are we heading toward a nuclear-free world anytime soon? He shoots back [...]

The United States is a very large and diverse country, its people have many differing views as you’d expect in such a country, and, not particularly surprisingly, some of those views are in diametric opposition. That’s particularly apparent in Americans’ views of how we should interact with Iran. Isolationism remains a strong strain of thought [...]

In reaction to yesterday’s UNSC resolution North Korea has vowed to throw off the restraint it has shown so far in its nuclear weapons development program: North Korea has declared it will weaponise all its plutonium stocks and threatened military action against the United States and its allies after the UN security council imposed new [...]

The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously today to impose additional sanctions on North Korea: UNITED NATIONS, June 12 — The U.N. Security Council unanimously voted Friday to impose a broad range of additional financial, military and trade sanctions on North Korea in response to its recent nuclear and ballistic missile tests, and called on [...]

Yesterday Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned North Korea that the United States would not accept North Korea’s possession of nuclear weapons: “We will not stand idly by as North Korea builds the capability to wreak destruction on any target in the region — or on us,” Mr. Gates told a major security conference here that [...]

National Security Advisor Jim Jones declared in a speech to the Atlantic Council that the recent testing of a nuclear device and firing of Taepodong missiles by North Korea “are not an imminent threat” to the United States or the regions because “they have a long way to go” in perfecting the technology to weaponize [...]

While we’re on the subject in reaction to North Korea’s nuclear weapons test over the Memorial Day weekend William J. Perry, Brent Scowcroft, and Charles D. Ferguson have an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on reducing the nuclear threat. They note five components for reducing the threat: An effective strategy to reduce nuclear dangers [...]

North Korea has launched a short-range anti-ship missile into the sea and announced that is no longer bound by the 56 year old armistice that suspended the Korean War: May 27 (Bloomberg) — North Korea threatened a military response to South Korean participation in a U.S.-led program to seize weapons of mass destruction, and said [...]

Any number of theories have been advanced for why the North Koreans elected to test a nuclear weapon yesterday. There’s no particular reason for the test to have been conducted for any one reason. It may well have been conducted for domestic political reasons as well as having had the effect of raising the stakes [...]

South Korean and Russian scientists have confirmed that North Korea has conducted an underground test of a nuclear weapon: SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test on Monday, heightening tension in the economic powerhouse of East Asia and prompting U.N. Security Council members to call an emergency meeting. Russia said the nuclear [...]

As the national elections there near a number of articles on Iran have been published which I’ll try to weave into something resembling a narrative. Today Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Obama and Congressional leaders and, clearly, Iran was much on the mind of all. PM Netanyahu expressed his concerns to CNN [...]

Do you recall the aid we’ve been sending Pakistan so that the Pakistani government will let us supply our troops in Afghanistan via Pakistan, secure their nuclear weapons, and oppose the Taliban and Al Qaeda being harbored within Pakistan’s borders? Apparently, Pakistan is seizing the opportunity to build up its nuclear arsenal: WASHINGTON — Members [...]

Over at The New Atlanticist Donald Snow has a post in which he reflects on prospective reactions of the Israelis to the threat posed to them by Iran’s nuclear development program. The article begins with a discussion of the comments of two participants in a symposium, dean emeritus of the Center for Naval Warfare Studies [...]

Germany is concerned about the Taliban fighters nearing Pakistan’s Islamabad capital: BERLIN, April 24 (Reuters) – Germany expressed concern on Friday at the advance of Taliban fighters towards Pakistan’s capital and urged the government in Islamabad to take decisive action to ensure the security situation did not deteriorate. Taliban militants have pushed closer to the [...]

There’s an article in the Times of London today claiming that Israel’s air force is on standby, just waiting for the order from Israel’s government before mounting an air assault against Iran’s nuclear development sites: The Israeli military is preparing itself to launch a massive aerial assault on Iran’s nuclear facilities within days of being [...]

An overwhelming majority of Americans want to go to war with North Korea over Sunday’s missile test/satellite launch, a new Rasmussen poll finds. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of U.S. voters nationwide favor a military response to eliminate North Korea’s missile launching capability. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 15% of voters oppose [...]

Jonathan Stein remarks on something former recess appointment UN Ambassador John Bolton said yesterday at CPAC: “The fact is on foreign policy I don’t think President Obama thinks [stopping Iran's nuclear program is] a priority,” said Bolton. “He said during the campaign he thought Iran was a tiny threat. Tiny, tiny depending on how many [...]

I’ve posted several items today over at New Atlanticist. In “Europe Helping Iran Get Nuclear Weapons, I discuss Benjamin Weinthal’s charges in WSJ Europe that European firms and governments, particularly those in Germany and Austria, are actively supporting the regime in Teheran and are at best indifferent to Iran’s nuclear program. In “Canada’s MacKay Unlikely [...]

Barack Obama has been president for more than 24 hours now.  America is once again beloved by one and all.  Hubris and overreach are things of the past, as the inmates of Gitmo have been freed and the troops are all home from Iraq, participating in rebuilding the infrastructure at home.   Or, certainly, change is [...]

Tony Blankley, former press secretary to Newt Gingrich and editorial page editor of the Washington Times, has a new book out that, among other things, argues for reinstatement of the military draft.  Unlike liberals like Charlie Rangel or even centrist Phil Carter, he doesn’t do so on the basis of “fairness” or spreading the burden [...]

On January 23, 1980 President Jimmy Carter enunciated what became known as the Carter Doctrine. He stated, “An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by [...]

Matt Yglesias snarks, A lot of people are wondering who the “McClellan” character was that Sarah Palin was referring to, with many guessing that she’s been consulting long-dead failed Civil War General George McClellan for advice on Afghanistan. But another colleague suggested that she’s mentally combined General McKiernan, the commanding officer in Afghanistan, and David [...]

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has rejected claims that talks with North Korea about dismantling its nuclear program are in trouble, saying that they are “by no means dead”: NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday that North Korea’s actions to reactivate its nuclear plant did not mean an [...]

David Kay, former U. N. weapons inspector, has an op-ed in the Washington Post on the Iranian nuclear development program which I take as a veiled campaign advertisement for John McCain. In the op-ed Dr. Kay’s assessments are that, judging by the known knowns, Iran is likely to have a nuclear weapon in two to [...]