In The News

Middle East Nuclear-Weapon Free Zone: A Serious Start?

René Wadlow May 16, 2007
The Middle East could achieve greater security if none of its nations possessed nuclear weapons. A military strike against Iran by the US or Israel would only spur quests by small nations to secure their own nuclear bombs, suggests René Wadlow for “Newropeans Magazine.” Security analysts who argue that nuclear weapons deter bad behavior overlook the consequences should dangerous weapons fall into...

Agni-III Missile Test: Asia’s Latest Great Power Joins the Game

Gwynne Dyer April 24, 2007
Once a nation test fires a missile, all cities and countries within the weapon’s reach can’t help but take pause to mull all possible messages, intentions and relationships. India successfully tested a missile that could reach the Middle East or China’s major cities of Beijing and Shanghai, a capability that could insert more tension into Asian affairs. Journalist Gwynne Dyer speculates that...

The World’s Growing Nuclear Club

Humphrey Hawksley April 16, 2007
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), opened for signing in 1968 and in force since 1970, established a nuclear regime intended as temporary until decision could be reached on eliminating nuclear weapons altogether. While the treaty has proven remarkably enduring, its failure to address the ultimate goal and its inability to cope with the nuclear ambitions of North Korea, Iran, Israel,...

“Axis of Democracy” Flexes Its Military Muscles

Hisane Masaki April 4, 2007
As new economic powers emerge in Asia, nations that border the Pacific jockey for new agreements on security. The US and Japan have convinced India to join a joint military exercise in the Pacific this month. Japan and Australia, India and the US, and India and Japan, have various forms of bilateral agreements addressing security. For “Asia Times, Hisane Masaki writes that China holds suspicions...

Time for Détente With Iran

Ray Takeyh April 3, 2007
After decades of pursuing a policy of containment and preaching virulent anti-communism, Richard Nixon traveled to China in 1972, marking a new era of negotiation, compromise and cooperation that became known as “détente.” China, a rising East Asian power, assisted the US in exiting the unpopular Vietnam War, tackling more serious threats and bringing stability to the region; the US could gain...

Iran: Bad Tactics or Good Strategy?

Yevgeny Primakov March 20, 2007
In a world of hitherto five official and three unofficial nuclear powers, Iran is keen to join the club, as shown by its non-compliance with the UN Security Council’s resolutions. Although Iran insists that its nuclear program is strictly for peaceful purposes, it has rejected Russian offers to enrich uranium on its territory or in an international center, notes Yevgeny Primakov, the former...

Iran-Saudi Arabian Embrace: A New Beginning?

Dilip Hiro March 9, 2007
The US, struggling to control violence in Iraq, has ratcheted up its threat against neighboring Iran as a primary culprit. Longstanding US concerns about Iran defying the international community by developing nuclear weapons have recently been heightened by its accusation that the Islamic state has been supporting Shiite militias against Sunnis in Iraq’s ongoing civil war. Conservative US...