In The News

How Good Is American Intelligence on Iran’s Bomb?

Graham Allison June 13, 2006
The US should be wary of progress in the Iranian nuclear standoff that could either be promising or illusory. Without discounting recent diplomatic achievements, Graham Allison, a former US defense official and a leading analyst of national security and nuclear weapons, cautions that US intelligence on Iran’s nuclear program may not be accurate. US intelligence officers could be drastically...

Time to Lift North Korea’s Quarantine

John Feffer June 8, 2006
North Korea is suspected of a long list of disturbing activities – drug smuggling, counterfeiting, money laundering and, not least, the development of nuclear weapons. The international community must focus on creating a viable state in North Korea, according to Author John Feffer, and yet the current US strategy of sanctions and military containment probably does more harm than good. Sanctioning...

The Persian Complex

Abbas Amanat June 7, 2006
Nation-states exist in the context of collective memory. In the case of Iran, this includes a history of “at least two centuries of military aggression, domestic meddling, skullduggery, and, not least, technological denial by the West.” Such a milieu colors all relations between Iran and the rest of the world, and must be kept in mind if countries such as the US and UK hope to deter that country...

Southeast Asia Casts Wide Net for Cooperation

Barry Desker May 30, 2006
US leaders are divided over maintaining distance from China or finding new ways to cooperate. By contributing to trans-Pacific institutions and establishing a myriad of cooperative obligations for the rising power, the US could defuse any threat from China, according to East Asia scholar Barry Desker, former Singaporean ambassador to Indonesia. While Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a...

Don’t Exaggerate Iranian Threat

Thomas W. Lippman May 25, 2006
Most world powers want to prevent Iran from producing nuclear weapons. Yet at the same time, those opposed to Iran nuclear capability cannot resort to unrealistic fears. For example, US policy should not focus narrowly on the threat that nuclear Iran poses for Israel. Without nuclear weapons, a military confrontation would inevitably turn in Israel’s favor: Israel has state-of-the-art...

A New Rival to “Regime Change”

Howard LaFranchi May 23, 2006
The US invasion of Iraq secured the illusion throughout the world that the US reacts to hostile nations with regime change. The US has many methods at its disposal for regime change, but the common thread was that the leader was a threat and had to be removed. Yet a new approach to US foreign policy regarding hostile nations is gaining momentum in Washington. This approach hinges on the idea that...

Pakistan’s Obedient Son

Susanne Koelbl May 17, 2006
Both the US and Afghanistan pressure Pakistan to capture suspected terrorists hiding along its borders. Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf and Afghanistan’s president Hamid Karzai once had strong ties, but the relationship is unraveling over the issue. Meanwhile warlords challenge Musharraf’s authority and promote domestic unrest, motivated by the desire for control of Pakistan’s rich natural...