Former IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei saw it as part of his mission to keep the West from Iran’s throat. Does new Director-General Amano share his agenda?
What Effect Will Resignation of Iran Hard-Liner Have on IAEA?
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Focal Points Blog
Here We Go With the Pallets of Cash Again (Remember Paul Bremer?)
On the heels of the firing of Gen. McChrystal, the $3 billion in cash openly flown out of Kabul International Airport in the past three years provides further impetus for the drawdown of our troops from Afghanistan.
A Confirmation for Petraeus Is a Confirmation of the Surge Narrative
Ever since the surge narrative took root, there has been little public debate about the situation in Iraq. Thus, it is no surprise that, instead of an ongoing conflict, Iraq figured into the Petraeus confirmation hearings as an historical event.
Doesn’t a Spy Need, Like, Secrets?
American officials don’t understand why the Russians set up this spy system when the prospect of a pay-off was so slim.
The Guns of August in the Middle East?
Israel risks painting itself into a corner with its talk of preemptive strikes against Iran. Meanwhile, Iran once again finds itself the odd man out in the shopworn Israel-Iran-Arab triangulation game.
Burma’s Junta Built to Last
Whether or not Myanmar holds elections this year, democracy seems to be a mirage on the horizon. The military is geared to remain in power for the foreseeable future.
Afghanistan by the Book — THE Book, That Is
If Afghanistan is, in fact, a COIN engagement then the Obama administration should be using the best available COIN guidelines to assess it. Towards that end, the author has taken the liberty of extracting key points from Gen. Petraeus’s seminal work on the subject, Field Manual 3-24, to use as metrics.
Would You Trust a Country That Named Its First Nuke Test ‘Smiling Buddha’?
Not only does India refuse to sign disarmament treaties such as the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, it’s also developing anti-satellite systems.
Are Nuclear Weapons ‘Realists’ Afraid to Confront Reality?
It’s notoriously difficult to defeat realists in a debate about disarmament. But two Stimson Center researchers finally provide disarmament advocates with some powerful tools.
G20’s Central Role? As a Lightning Rod
Endorsement of minimal financial regulation and an informal agreement to disagree over the stimulus question are likely to be the vapid results of this latest summit of the world’s so-called powerhouse economies. But the structural fissures of global capital have become too great to be papered over by the G20 in Toronto.