IRAN
AP Photo
December 27, 2008
"Needing Coercive Diplomacy to Deal with Iran"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Joshua Gleis, Former Associate, International Security Program, 2008-2009; Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2006-2008
"The United States must re-examine the manner in which it has dealt with Iran's nuclear program. For too long, U.S. administrations have let their counterparts take the lead in Iranian negotiations. In the meantime, many of those involved in talks with the Iranians have themselves greatly benefited from economic cooperation with the Shiite Islamist regime. Russian assistance, for instance, will allow the Iranians to make their first nuclear plant operational by January 2009. The Germans continue to be the largest trading partner with the Iranians, a country it is supposedly trying to pressure. And NATO ally Turkey recently announced a $12 billion deal to invest in Iran's South Pars offshore gas field. Adept negotiators, the Iranians have used this time to secretly advance their nuclear weapons program while still turning a profit...."
AP Photo
Fall/Winter 2008
"Iran and the Shiite Crescent: Myths and Realities"
Journal Article, Brown Journal of World Affairs, issue 1, volume XV
By Kayhan Barzegar, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
"In 2004, King Abdullah of Jordan warned about the emergence of an ideological Shiite crescent from Beirut to the Persian Gulf. Ever since then, the debate on Iran's intentions to create a Shiite crescent has been a significant topic of debate for the panels and conferences held on the region's issues. Three presumptions center on Iran's role and intentions. A Shiite crescent is seen by the Arab Sunni elites as an attempt by Iran firstly to engage the masses in the region; secondly, to build an ideological belt of sympathetic Shiite governments and political factions in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and the Persian Gulf region; and, thirdly, to expand its regional role and power. These explanations are inadequate and unrealistic; none of them are compatible with Iran's real aims and strategies."
AP Photo
December 8, 2008
"Iran and Obama: The Grand Bargain on Roles"
Op-Ed, Tabnak
By Kayhan Barzegar, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
Any change in Iran's policy in the Middle East will depend on the Obama administration's policy communicating a fundamental "change" in recognizing Iran's key interests and accepting its role in the Persian Gulf and Iraq. The Bush administration's confrontational policies, especially in post-invasion Iraq, have created a new kind of "political-strategic discrepancy" in Iran-U.S. relations. The two countries now regard the growth of each other's role in the region as contrary to their national interests and security. President Obama should change this new point of strategic difference.
AP Photo
December 4, 2008
"Engaging Iran Effectively"
Op-Ed, BitterLemons-International.org -- Middle East Roundtable, issue 6, volume 45
By Chuck Freilich, Senior Fellow, International Security Program
"Many in Israel will be alarmed by US engagement of Iran. Indeed, some will fear abandonment in the face of a potentially existential threat. Others clearly favor engagement, primarily as a way-station toward harder measures, but also in the hope, forlorn as it may be, that a deal can be worked out that will forestall the need for them. Assuming the US effectively addresses the time factor by insisting on a cessation of enrichment during engagement, Israel would have a major interest in its success and would likely support any agreement reached."
AP Photo
December 3, 2008
"Watching Washington Come into Focus"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, The Dubai Initiative
"Henceforth, foreign policy-making will reflect the collective views of the national security-foreign policy team led by Barack Obama -- one which is impressive for its sobriety and experience."
AP Photo
November 26, 2008
"Making Sense on Iran in Washington"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, The Dubai Initiative
"Two sensible discussions suggest ways to approach American-Iranian relations in the Obama era: Embrace mutual interests, the rule of law, international convention, and mutual respect."
November 20, 2008
"Iran, Israel, Syria and Hezbollah—Here Comes More Conflict"
Op-Ed, Ohio Jewish Chronicle
By Joshua Gleis, Former Associate, International Security Program, 2008-2009; Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2006-2008
"As Americans inch closer to a new administration, President-elect Obama and his staff will have more critical foreign policy decisions to make than any of his recent predecessors. Hezbollah is rearming at an ever-increasing rate. Iraq is backpedalling on its promises to allow US forces to remain in the country and fight Al Qaeda. Syria is talking peace with the west and Israel while continuing to support Hezbollah in Lebanon and Al Qaeda elements in Iraq. Afghanistan is barely holding on while the Taliban grows fiercer. The puppet master in all these cases is Iran, and there is no consensus on how to deal with it...."
November 18, 2008
Securing the Bomb 2008
Book
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom; Co-Principal Investigator, Energy Research, Development, Demonstration, and Deployment (ERD3) Policy Project
Associate Professor of Public Policy and Project on Managing the Atom Co-Principal Investigator Matthew Bunn provides a comprehensive assessment of efforts to secure and remove vulnerable nuclear stockpiles around the world, and a detailed action plan for reducing the risk of nuclear terrorism. Securing the Bomb 2008 was commissioned by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). The full report, with additional information on the threat of nuclear terrorism, is available on the NTI website.
AP Photo
November 17, 2008
"Real Conflicts and Imaginary Ideologies"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, The Dubai Initiative
"We must sort out the real causes of conflict from the manufactured stresses and imagined threats of the many ideological warriors on both sides who still plague and hamper us all."
AP Photo
November 11, 2008
"A Parting Word of Thanks"
Op-Ed, The Jerusalem Post
By Chuck Freilich, Senior Fellow, International Security Program
"Today we know that Saddam Hussein did not have WMD, but to those of us in the US and Israeli governments at the time, who were sincerely convinced that he retained a residual program, it was an analytical reality. We were very wrong, but we were not irresponsible, nor malevolent. Israel, in case you have forgotten, took the threat very seriously and distributed gas masks, deployed forces and asked the US for antimissile defenses."
