January 2011
11 posts
Washington's Last Best Hope?
Mohamed ElBaradei (the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency) is a very unlikely candidate to influence the course of events in Egypt. He is a professional bureaucrat — a cookie pusher, if you like — who is accustomed to the small battles and victories of diplomatic swordplay. From the looks of him on Tahrir Square, he has still not quite mastered the swagger of a man...
Revolutions: The Egyptian Case
From Gary Sick: A number of outside observers (including me) have put the events in Egypt in the context of other revolutions, particularly the experience in Iran — in 1978 but also in the failed protests by the Green Movement in 2009. Although the Israeli government is officially remaining absolutely silent, some Israelis are calling for the United States to resist the temptation to side...
The Worst of Both Worlds - By Gary Sick →
The string of popular uprisings that are rocking the Arab world, most recently in Egypt, have created a fundamental dilemma for U.S. policy in the Middle East. Policymakers are being forced to place a bet on an outcome that is inherently unpredictable and pregnant with some unsavory consequences.
See the full text on the Foreign Policy blog at the link above.
Talking Human Rights at the White House →
Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch and a respected colleague for more than a decade, was invited to the state dinner at the White House for visiting Chinese head of state Hu Jintao. As he notes in this op-ed, he knew he was there as a symbol. But it is a symbol that is too often shunted aside. We could use some of that symbolism in our relations with our favorite dictators...
While You Were Reading About Ukrainian Nurses … →
My thoughts on WikiLeaks and the upcoming negotiations with Iran.
And Life Goes On: An Iran Snapshot →
A recent visitor to Iran, who is both knowledgeable and analytical, provides a snapshot of what he found there. The bottom line seems to be that things are changing constantly and those of us watching from the outside really don’t properly understand what is going on.
Things in Iran are often not good, but they are almost always never as bad as they are made out to be in the West. For...
The Stuxnet Worm and Iran: The Day After
Congratulations to the New York Times for an example of good, old-fashioned investigative reporting. Three reporters provide a persuasive account of how the United States and Israel collaborated on building a so-called worm that would attack Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities. Clearly this was a reporting project that was pursued quietly and imaginatively for months. It doesn’t tell us...
Carne Ross: Uncomfortable Lessons From the... →
Ross, a British diplomat who resigned in protest “because my government lied about why it went to war and ignored available alternatives to war,” is appalled at the reception given to WikiLeaks.
Instead of hysteria or smug acceptance of irresponsibility, he argues that “The contents of the leaked cables should demand a deep reflection on our foreign policy.” It...
Outgoing Mossad chief: Iran won't have nuclear... →
Congratulations, I guess, to the outgoing head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence organization. He is not crying wolf.
There is, however, a telling paragraph at the end of this article by noted Israeli columnist Yossi Melman:
The Israeli intelligence community’s assessments of Iran’s nuclear capability have changed during Dagan’s tenure. In 2003, Israeli intelligence officials thought Iran...
Juan Cole: Glaspie Memo Vindicates Her, Shows... →
A myth has grown — certainly within the Congress, but also in the public that remembers that far back — that US Ambassador in Baghdad April Glaspie gave a “green light” to Saddam Hussein to invade Kuwait in 1990.
This myth was permitted to grow, shamefully, by then-Secretary of State James Baker and President George H.W. Bush, who knew better. And it was abetted by a...
Sarah Shourd: All Good Things Come in Threes
Sarah Shourd was a hostage in Iran, with her fiance, Shane Bauer, and their friend Josh Fattal. Sarah was finally released, but the others remain in Iranian custody — simply because they went for a hike in the mountains. Here is a note from Sarah as she starts the new year:
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2011 10:01:36 +0330 From: Sarah Shourd Subject: All Good Things Come in Threes Dear Friends and...