Only Diplomacy, Not Force, Will Prevent Nuclear-Armed Iran By Laicie Heeley November 7, 2013 America’s core interests in the Middle East will pivot around Geneva this week as five world powers and Iran resume negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program. The United States should remain committed to a reasonable, verifiable and enforceable deal, as all other […]
AFP Wire Story on Nuclear Modernization Spending Quotes Kingston Reif
US to spend billions ‘modernizing’ nuclear arsenal/a> November 6, 2013 By Mathieu Rabechault Washington — The United States plans to spend billions to upgrade a decades-old atomic bomb designed to stop a Soviet invasion of Europe, as part of a controversial project to modernize its nuclear arsenal. Some lawmakers and experts dismiss the effort as […]
Iran, United States Finally Learning to Talk
This week, talks between Iran and the P5+1 regarding Iran’s nuclear program will resume. All eyes are on Geneva, given that the first series of talks was reportedly the most productive and positive that the two sides have had in quite some time.
To help us better understand why the last round of Geneva talks was significant, I’ve written a piece in The National Interest analyzing that negotiation. I focus on the ways in which these talks represented a welcome improvement over the past decade of negotiations with Iran, which have too often been characterized by unrealistic demands, an unwillingness to focus on the most important issues, and an inability to link interim progress with long-term goals.
Here’s an excerpt:
“Finally, a crucial, if subtle, shift in the two sides’ approaches has been a greater willingness to look at the ultimate goals of the talks—what commentators like to call the ‘endgame’—and to work backwards from there to determine interim steps. To an outside observer, this may seem like an obvious way to negotiate, but as Trita Parsi pointed out, the West in particular has studiously avoided discussions of the ‘endgame’ in an effort to maintain the upper hand in past negotiations. Now, that could be about to change.”
Have a look at the full piece, here.
National Interest OpEd on Diplomacy with Iran by Usha Sahay
Time for a Deal with Iran By Usha Sahay November 4, 2013 Frequently, when statesmen or governments make the blunders that their predecessors also made, it’s pointed out gloomily that history repeats itself. But earlier this month in Geneva, the world saw a welcome example of nations attempting to learn from history. Nuclear negotiations between […]
Roll Call OpEd: U.S. Would Benefit From Fixing the Problems With Missile Defense
U.S. Would Benefit From Fixing the Problems With Missile Defense By Lt. General Robert Gard and Philip Coyle In his recent commentary, David Trachtenberg called for more diversity in America’s missile defense systems and claimed that the current U.S. missile defense program “is but a shadow of the robust program needed to protect the nation.” […]