In the fortnight since Chuck Hagel’s name was floated for secretary of defense, we have witnessed Washington at its worst. Who is Chuck Hagel? Born in North Platte, Neb., he was a squad leader in Vietnam, twice wounded, who came home to work in Ronald Reagan’s 1980 campaign, was twice elected U.S. senator, and is [...]Read More
Here’s the first paragraph of my last year’s column “Democracy Is Impossible”: “After Moammar Gadhafi’s downfall as Libya’s tyrannical ruler, politicians and ‘experts’ in the U.S. and elsewhere, including French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, are saying that his death marked the end of 42 years of tyranny and the beginning of democracy in Libya. Sen. [...]Read More
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s oil minister claimed Sunday his country has successfully overcome sanctions on the sale of its oil, state TV reported. The U.N. and West have imposed tough economic sanctions on Iran to try to persuade it to stop its uranium enrichment project, including a ban by the EU on oil imports, [...]Read More
Meteorologists know seasons are predictable. In the weather world, spring is always followed by summer. But the political world is different. Spring can proceed to summer, or it can lead to a sudden onset of winter. That was the case this year in the Middle East, which in 2011 saw the Arab Spring. Egypt, which [...]Read More
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran is backing presidential elections in Syria as part of a six-point plan outlined Sunday to halt the 21-month civil war in Tehran’s main Middle East ally. The plan, described by state media and Iranian news agencies, also calls for efforts to halt the flow of weapons into Syria and to [...]Read More
Read More
Iran condemned the United States‘ latest nuclear test on Saturday, saying it reflected “inattention to full disarmament which is a deep-seated demand of international public opinion.” Foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast made the remarks to state television, the Agence France-Presse reports, after the U.S. Energy Department on Wednesday conducted a “subcritical” test at an underground [...]Read More
North Korea: Update. News services reported that North Korea has begun fueling its three-stage rocket and should be ready to launch on Monday. If the rocket veers off course, every US and Allied navy is prepared to shoot it down. Palestine State: Hamas’ political leader, Khaled Meshaal arrived today in the Gaza Strip, his first [...]Read More
The United States will likely give on Friday another six-month reprieve from financial sanctions to India, South Korea, Turkey and others because they have reduced their purchases of crude oil from Iran, two U.S. government sources said on Thursday. The United States has worked this year with all of Iran‘s major oil buyers in an [...]Read More
Iran captured a United States drone that was flying in the country’s airspace, its media reported on Tuesday. The ScanEagle drone was gathering information over Gulf waters and had entered Iranian airspace when it was captured by the naval unit of the Revolutionary Guards force, the Fars news agency reported, without giving details. Last month [...]Read More
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Direct talks between Iran and the United States are possible, but any such breakthrough would have to be approved by the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran‘s foreign minister said Monday. The comments by Ali Akbar Salehi were a first sign Tehran may seek diplomatic overtures with what it long [...]Read More
Iran today has released two Ghadir-class submarines and two hovercrafts on water, in presence of country’s Navy generals and other high ranking officials, IRINN Tv channel reported live. Iran’s Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari was among the Navy officials at the ceremony. Yesterday, he said that the Iranian experts have also build special submarine [...]Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate endorsed stringent new sanctions on Iran’s energy and shipping sectors in a fresh attempt to hobble the Islamic Republic’s economy and hamper its nuclear ambitions. [The vote was 94 yea's, 0 no's, 6 abstains, Rand Paul voted yes] Ignoring White House opposition spelled out just hours before the vote, the Senate voted 94-0 on Friday for a [...]Read More
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ignoring White House opposition, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Friday to impose tough new sanctions on Iran‘s domestic industries as it targets the Islamic Republic’s economy to thwart its nuclear ambitions. The 94-0 vote for a package of penalties reflected fears about the threat of Iran‘s nuclear program and the strong desire [...]Read More
Classical explanations of conventional wars run something like this: An aggressor state seeks political advantage through military force. It has a hunch that the threatened target will likely either make concessions to avoid losing a war, or, if war breaks out, the resulting political gains will be worth the military costs to achieve victory. Wars [...]Read More
Iran will go on refining uranium “with intensity” and the number of enrichment centrifuges it has operating will rise substantially in the current year, the country’s nuclear energy chief was quoted as saying on Wednesday. The comments by Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, head of Iran‘s Atomic Energy Organisation, signaled continued defiance in the face of international demands [...]Read More
Israel — as its friends and enemies never forget — is a “one-bomb country.” One nuclear weapon is all it would take to wipe out a nation whose territory is smaller than Djibouti, with a population not as large as that of Burundi — fewer than 8 million people, 20 percent of them Arabs who [...]Read More
