December 04, 2008

Rafsanjani: Embassy "should not have been taken."

In reviewing Iranian reactions to the Obama election and emerging team, I came across a recently translated report of comments made by Iran's still influential Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani on November...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 02:15 AM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

November 19, 2008

Specter, Tierney spearheading diplomatic engagement with Iran

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Rep. John Tierney (D-MA) are at the forefront of a bold new effort to pull US policy away from its belligerent stance towards Iran and...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:40 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

October 28, 2008

The struggle for Baghdad's soul?

The WaPo's Mary Beth Sheridan has a piece in today's paper describing the US-Iraqi negotiations over a SOFA as having an important backstory of a US-Iranian struggle for influence over...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:43 PM | Fulltext link (15 comments)

Iraqi, Iranian dimensions of the Sukkariyeh raid

Well, as was quite predictable Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh has now trotted out new lines condemning Sunday's raid in which US ground forces took off from (presumably) Iraqi territory...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:04 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

October 23, 2008

'Bipartisan' group urges US escalation vs. Iran

I think it is too late now for the 'bomb Iran' networks that are deeply dug into various portions of the US political elite to launch an 'October surprise,' i.e....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 06:24 PM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

October 03, 2008

A "crude" question about gas prices

With Alaska's governor still proclaiming her dubious energy expertise, I was disappointed that she was not asked to explain the following simple, if "crude" question: With crude oil prices now...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 12:56 PM | Fulltext link (6 comments)

September 30, 2008

Olmert's late-term epiphany on Iran and Palestine

It was not quite Saul the tax-collector on the road to Damascus but it was almost like that. Ehud Olmert, still nominally in office as Israel's PM but leaving very...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:00 AM | Fulltext link (14 comments)

September 26, 2008

Dems back off from escalation vs. Iran

So it looks as if the Democratic Party leaders in Congress finally get it about the interdependence of the United States with the other six billion people of the world,...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:38 PM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

Dinner with Ahmadinejad

Yesterday evening I was one of about 250 participants in an interfaith iftar (fast-breaking dinner) and conversation hosted here in New York by the Iranian mission to the UN. The...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:26 AM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

September 16, 2008

Kissinger urges talks with Iran, no preconditions

Yesterday, Henry Kissinger once again expressed support for opening direct talks with Iran over its nuclear enrichment program, without preconditions. He did that at a forum where four other Secretaries...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:40 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

September 08, 2008

Peres warns against attacking Iran

This is a story everyone in the US-- but especially all those members of Congress who line up behind AIPAC's warmongering-- needs to read. Israeli president Shimon Peres tells the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:37 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

July 24, 2008

Brzezinski & Scowcroft: Transcript & comment

I see CSIS has now published the entire transcript of Tuesday's panel discussion with Brzezinski, Scowcroft, and Ignatius. You can access that-- or the audio or even video records of...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:12 AM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

July 23, 2008

Iran: Brzezinski, Scowcroft, and Ignatius speak

Former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski warned yesterday that, there are still some residual elements in the administration who are tempted by the use of force against Iran.. And...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:17 PM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

July 16, 2008

Khamenei speaks, endorses nuke negotiations

Today, Iran's most powerful figure,Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Tehran "is ready for negotiations over the nuclear crisis" but warned it would not step over any "red lines"...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:51 AM | Fulltext link (17 comments)

July 11, 2008

Israel ups the ante for US sitting-duck troops in Iraq

I have long argued-- most recently here-- that if an act of war is launched against Iran by the US or by Israel, then one of the most obvious ways...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:06 PM | Fulltext link (40 comments)

June 29, 2008

At week's end

The last couple of weeks have been extremely busy. Last week I did four events connected with my Re-engage! book. The one at USIP Tuesday really involved me doing some...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:11 PM | Fulltext link (6 comments)

June 21, 2008

What the Greeks say

AFP reports from Athens that: The Greek air force’s central command said Friday it had taken part in "joint training exercises" with Israel off the southern Mediterranean island of Crete....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:47 PM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

ElBaradei, Powell, and the key role of legitimacy

Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) today threatened to resign if Iran should be subjected to unwarranted military attack by any party. Now, that's leadership!...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:15 PM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

June 20, 2008

Iran: Israeli muscle-flexing, US vulnerability

The NYT's Michael Gordon and Eric Schmitt today published a report, sourced to Gordon's favored sources, those ever-anonymous "Pentagon officials", that states, Israel carried out a major military exercise earlier...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:37 PM | Fulltext link (21 comments)

May 22, 2008

Clawson preparing public for an attack on Iran?

Here comes another propaganda campaign designed to lull western publics into thinking that a military attack on a Middle East nation will likely be a whole lot more successful than...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:35 AM | Fulltext link (18 comments)

May 10, 2008

Can the Bushites honestly be THIS crazy??

Philip Giraldi of American (Paleo-)Conservative wrote yesterday: There is considerable speculation and buzz in Washington today suggesting that the National Security Council has agreed in principle to proceed with plans...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:32 PM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

April 08, 2008

Iran's US Policy in a Nutshell

My (Scott) octogenarian mentor and friend, Ruhi Ramazani, took a stab last week at reducing a lifetime of observations about Iranian foreign policy into a 20 minute presentation for an...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 04:32 PM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

March 29, 2008

Charlottesville forum: US, Iran, & Hope?

For those near Charlottesville, Virginia Sunday evening, consider joining a forum on US-Iran Relations that convenes at 6:00 p.m. at the Charlottesville Mennonite Church. (corner of Monticello Ave. and Avon...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 05:31 PM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

March 15, 2008

Kissinger: "Talk to Iran"

Late Thursday night, Henry Kissinger gave an interview with Bloomberg TV, and the 13+ minute segment can be viewed via this link. Kissinger is reputed to be among US Presidential...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 01:52 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

March 14, 2008

Iran's Parliament Elections & Red Cards

Iran's Parliamentary elections take place today, amid widespread criticisms of the process, especially from within. Iran's vetting Council of Guardians has been especially zealous in blocking thousands of prominent reformists...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 11:07 AM | Fulltext link (21 comments)

January 30, 2008

Ahmedinejad continues hateful anti-Israel tirades

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today announced that the days of Israel, which he calls the "filthy Zionist entity", are numbered and the said "entity" will fall soon or later. AFP...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:04 AM | Fulltext link (67 comments)

January 20, 2008

Two to Tango, or what did Khamenehi really say?

Among the spin-off benefits of a US-Iran hotline, as suggested by R.K. Ramazani in the previous entry, is the possibility that it "could help restore Iran-U.S. diplomatic relations...." As he...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 02:25 AM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

January 19, 2008

How to Prevent War at the Strait of Hormuz

R.K. Ramazani weighs in with an essay on how to prevent military incidents at the Strait of Hormuz from catalyzing war between Iran and the United States. Ramazani, known widely...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 01:05 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

December 06, 2007

China Hand called it on US-Iran-- back in October!

Alert readers here are aware that a few weeks ago I started paying good attention to the blog "China Matters" written by someone identifying her/himself only as "China Hand." I...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:13 AM | Fulltext link (11 comments)

December 03, 2007

US intel chiefs change view of Iran nuclear program

Excellent news today: the US government's Office of the Director of National Intelligence made public a key "National Intelligence Estimate" report stating on p.6 of that PDF file that: We...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:44 PM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

November 18, 2007

Exciting Swiss diplomacy on Iran-nuclear issue

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has told reporters in Saudi Arabia that he will be discussing with the Gulf Arab countries a plan (that they had proposed earlier) enrich uranium for...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:44 PM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

November 04, 2007

Hoagie beats the war-drums... again

The WaPo's sad "insider wannabe" columnist Jim Hoagland, still unrepentant for all the disinformation and escalatory war-wongering he propagated that helped catapult the US into invading Iraq, is now fully...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:36 PM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

October 22, 2007

Cheney on Iran: Just how alarming?

I come back to the US and to analyst/blogger mode after my great break in Spain, and find many signs of escalating tensions on the world scene. It's hard to...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:18 PM | Fulltext link (57 comments)

September 25, 2007

Ramazani: "Bridging the Divides"

** Updates posted below ** As regular justworldnews readers will recognize, Helena and I have presented and commented on numerous essays here by R.K. - "Ruhi" - Ramazani. Here's one...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 07:59 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

September 21, 2007

An Iranian Schindler's List: "Zero Degree Turn"

Remember the controversy over the current Iranian President's inflammatory questioning of the Holocaust, at one point doubting its extent, at other moments playing up old regional wounds, asking why the...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 12:34 AM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

September 08, 2007

Senator Chuck Hagel to "retire"

The New York Times web site is reporting that Senator Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska, will not run for re-election to the Senate, nor for the White House. We've written about Senator...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 06:14 PM | Fulltext link (10 comments)

September 07, 2007

Cartoon: Iranians as Cockroaches!?

I learned today of a particularly disturbing political cartoon published on September 4th in the Columbus (Ohio) Post-Dispatch. Drawn by Michael Ramirez, the cartoon very much illustrates themes I've written...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 11:14 PM | Fulltext link (17 comments)

September 05, 2007

An Iranian Surprise (or not)

I'm pre-occupied at the moment on two legacy projects, including an essay on former Iranian President Khatami. Nearly a year ago here at Monticello's International Center for Jefferson studies, Khatami's...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 02:26 AM | Fulltext link (25 comments)

August 06, 2007

Bush vs. Karzai

Sometimes a simple pairing of quotes speaks volumes. Case in point - Presidential comments about Iran by Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai and America's George Bush. Yesterday, Karazai appeared on CNN's Late...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 04:31 PM | Fulltext link (19 comments)

July 19, 2007

Forced 'confessions' in Tehran

My heart aches for Shaul Bakhash and Haleh Bakhash, respectively the husband and daughter of the Iranian-American scholar Haleh Esfandiari, who has been detained in Iran's notorious Evin prison for...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:11 PM | Fulltext link (15 comments)

July 14, 2007

Out of Iraq and Into Iran?

Pressure at long last is mounting across the U.S. political spectrum and heartland for either a withdrawal of American forces from Iraq, or a dramatic pull-back from the front-lines. You'd...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 10:49 AM | Fulltext link (30 comments)

July 13, 2007

"Whistling in the Dark" (Iran-media spat)

For all of the ongoing press woes in the Islamic Republic of Iran, commentaries in Iranian papers can still be extraordinarily boisterous -- too lively at times for Iran's neighbors....
Posted by Scott Harrop at 12:34 PM | Fulltext link (18 comments)

July 11, 2007

Iranian Bikers for peace...?

I'm all for exploring new ways to work for peace, including by demonstrations, marches, marathons, even "honking for peace." Sure beats marching for war -- like when Jerome Corsi (of...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 05:25 PM | Fulltext link (16 comments)

July 02, 2007

How likely is a dramatic Bush shift on Iran?

In the post I put up here in the wee hours of this morning, I was writing about the (perhaps fairly divergent) assessments that the secretary of Iran's Expediency Council,...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:36 AM | Fulltext link (18 comments)

A high-level Iranian overture

Newsweek's Michael Hirsh had an important piece in today's WaPo, reporting on the fact that Gen. Mohsen Rezai, the former head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and the secretary of the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:18 AM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

June 05, 2007

Waterloo, Iranians & the Mennonite Dialog

On Memorial Day, American and Iranian diplomats finally managed to "talk" in Baghdad, Iraq -- as we noted here with approval. The same day, by contrast, protesters forced the cancellation...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 12:45 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

May 28, 2007

US-Iran Talks -- and a partnership?

US-Iran watchers are holding their collective breath in hopes that the talks between America and Iran bear fruit. I'm guardedly impressed that the talks are happening. President Bush has belatedly...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 01:08 AM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

May 22, 2007

Judith Miller sighting - @ the Guardian?

There ought to be a dictionary entry for Judith Miller -- as in 1.) "journalist" of dubious reputation, 2.) front-page fiction writer; 3.) war fodder. Related google "search terms" could...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 08:13 PM | Fulltext link (11 comments)

May 09, 2007

Swiss-American prof urges attack on Iran

Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:25 PM | Fulltext link (24 comments)

April 23, 2007

McCain v. Sa'di

I once admired Senator John McCain. We even appeared together 16 years ago on a national radio call-in show, just after I returned from my first trip to Iran. I...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 02:52 PM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

April 18, 2007

When all else fails, blame Iran (Part II)

Matters must be really deteriorating in Afghanistan. Why else would the Pentagon brass now be darkly suggesting that Iranian arms have been "captured," supposedly on their way to the Taliban?...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 11:47 PM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

April 06, 2007

Iran and Britain in the Gulf, contd.

The 15 British naval POWs arrived home yesterday, after having been freed by Iran late Wednesday night. But even as they were boarding their plane to freedom in Teheran, four...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 07:31 AM | Fulltext link (19 comments)

April 01, 2007

Crazed retired US Air Force general urges war on Iran

I can't get full-text versions of Wall Street Journal articles online. So it's good that on Friday WaPo blogger Bill Arkin offered some substantial excerpts from a crazed and inflammatory...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 06:29 AM | Fulltext link (6 comments)

March 21, 2007

Molewatch: Cheney & Ahmadinejad?

On a lighter note, Nicholas Kristof recently suggested that Americans will learn more about Israel's real problems by reading Israeli papers than in the self-censored pablum in the US mainstream...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 01:42 AM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

March 19, 2007

US-Iran Thaw: Is it for Real?

R.K. Ramazani writes on the signs of a US-Iran "thaw" and asks ”Is it for Real?" Read the extended essay here. To get you started, I offer a few personalized...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 11:59 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

March 11, 2007

Halliburton's Move to Dubai: Reasons?

In our capitalist system, Halliburton ostensibly does what's best for Halliburton. No doubt... Halliburton (aka HAL on Wall Street) has announced it's moving its corporate headquarters from Houston to Dubai,...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 10:01 PM | Fulltext link (19 comments)

March 09, 2007

The US and Iran, in Iraq

One week ago today we were sitting in the lobby of our hotel in Amman, Jordan, talking with the very smart and well-informed Middle East analyst Joost Hiltermann about the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:38 AM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

March 05, 2007

Senator Webb's Leash for the Dog of War

"We have already given... one effectual check to the dog of war, by transferring the power of letting him loose from the Executive to the Legislative body, from those who...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 11:52 PM | Fulltext link (19 comments)

February 27, 2007

Hersh's 'bombshells': Real info and/or Sy-war effort?

I read with interest Sy Hersh's recent New Yorker article on the Bush administration "Redirection" in the Middle East. It contains a wealth of "information"-- some of it new, some...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:39 AM | Fulltext link (11 comments)

February 26, 2007

Rafsanjani: "Let's negotiate"

Iran's Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani is akin to that old advertising pitch for E.F. Hutton: when he speaks, people listen... or at least they should. It's so much "easier" for the...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 12:51 PM | Fulltext link (15 comments)

February 25, 2007

US church leaders finish Teheran visit

A delegation of thirteen leaders from US church institutions has just finished a six-day visit to Iran, culminating in a 150-minute discussion with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The delegation includes two...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:15 PM | Fulltext link (15 comments)

February 19, 2007

Farzaneh Milani: "Iran as Enigma to Americans"

I have the pleasure to highlight an important essay by another leading light here at the University of Virginia - Farzaneh Milani. Professor Milani, a distinguished scholar of Persian literature...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 02:58 AM | Fulltext link (19 comments)

February 13, 2007

Thread to discuss the Bushists' anti-Iran claims

I don't have time right now to write anything substantive on the whole campaign the Bushists have been waging to build a "casus belli" against Iran... Dan Froomkin had an...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:41 AM | Fulltext link (38 comments)

February 11, 2007

Ramazani: "Wider Conflict Threatens"

The reputed "Dean" in America of Iran foreign policy studies weighs in this morning on the dangers inherent in the looming US-Iran clash and on a better way to engage...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 11:45 AM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

February 08, 2007

Sunni Arab view of US-Iran Tensions

If jwn readers and our generous host will pardon me, I (Scott) wish to draw early attention to Helena Cobban's important column in today's Christian Science Monitor. Writing from Cairo,...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 12:01 AM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

February 05, 2007

Ramazani: "Surging Backward"

We have featured several essays by R.K. Ramazani here before, and I am happy to draw attention to his latest pithy oped entitled, "Bush's 'new way leads backward." Ramazani, like...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 03:16 PM | Fulltext link (14 comments)

January 15, 2007

The President's "mind"

Does the President think the citizens he serves are that stupid? Does he assume everybody has minds turned to jello by 24? In the face of mounting bi-partisan criticisms of...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 01:59 AM | Fulltext link (6 comments)

December 03, 2006

Ramazani on engaging Iran

One month ago, I featured here an essay by my mentor, R.K. Ramazani, on how the Bush Administration was misreading Iran's nuclear policy. His latest essay in today's Daily Progress...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 09:16 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

November 20, 2006

Anyone want to bomb Iran?

Well, foaming-at-the-mouth neocon Joshua Muravchik wants the US to do it, as he argued in this overwrought op-ed in today's LA times. Muravchik's main argument was that Iran seemed poised...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:33 AM | Fulltext link (11 comments)

November 05, 2006

Understanding Iran's Nuclear Policy (Ramazani)

Our local paper today features another of Professor R.K. Ramazani's opinion essays, this time focusing on Washington's chronic misreading of Iran's negotiating nuclear strategy, its decision-making process, the urgent need...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 05:06 PM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

September 24, 2006

US religious leaders and Ahmadinejad: nuclear issues, de-escalation, Holocaust, etc

While Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was in New York for the U.N. General Assembly last week, one of the groups he met with was a group of around 45 "religious...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:29 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

Ahmadinejad, Bush, and the avoidance of war

Veteran Washington (now WaPo) columnist David Ignatius is, as I've written here numerous times before, a savvy and very well-connected journo. Within the past three weeks he has: (1) made...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:36 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

WP Ahmadinejad Interview & the Stealth Dialogue

Today's Washington Post includes a remarkable interview with Iran's President Ahmadinejad, conducted by senior WaPo editor Lally Weymouth. Ahmadinejad's visit to the US, to speak at the UN, was intensely...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 03:05 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

September 13, 2006

CSM column on US-Iran relations

My column urging easing of US-Iran tensions is in Thursday's Christian Science Monitor. It uses some of the material I gleaned from Pres. Khatami's visit here. The column is titled...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:11 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

Patrick Lang: "The Best Defense..."

On 9/11, the Miller Center at the University of Virginia featured a talk by Colonel Patrick Lang - who returned here by reputation as a voice of reason, experience, "independence,"...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 10:28 AM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

September 10, 2006

Khatami at Monticello, calls for de-escalation with U.S.

Iran's former president, Mohammad Khatami, came back to Charlottesville yesterday. His main message while here was that American and Iranian leaders should both find ways to de-escalate the hostility of...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:28 PM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

September 04, 2006

A Different Face on Iran

I admit to having been "busy" of late; perils of being a long term Iran watcher. Yet I, for one, am delighted at the prospect of the former Iranian President...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 10:42 PM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

September 03, 2006

Khatami in US (& coming to C'ville!)

Iran's former (reformist) president, Muhammad Khatami, arrived in the US recently for a ten-day tour. Kudos to him for coming-- and that his schedule will include participation in a United...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:59 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

August 22, 2006

Bernard Lewis Watch

Bernard Lewis, where are ye when we need ye? (Irony alert) At a time when nattering bloggers, columnists, traditional conservatives, and even neoconservatives are openly questioning our rightly guided President's...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 01:15 PM | Fulltext link (32 comments)

July 19, 2006

Chinese Commentary on Iran Nuclear Case

If you've only been briefed by American MSM sources about the latest page in the saga over Iran's nuclear program, you might be thinking that finally, the great powers, including...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 10:55 AM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

George Will vs. The Weekly Standard

In a wildly confused front-page Washington Post story today (19 July), Michael Abramowitz asserts that President Bush is "facing a new and swiftly building backlash on the right over his...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 04:58 AM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

July 15, 2006

"A bad movie rerun" and international opinion

I'm glad Helena has already focused our attention on Friday's WaPo essay by David Ignatius. I think it worthy of further comment, particularly to draw out his points about...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 04:15 AM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

July 10, 2006

A "Global Hunger Strike?"

A “Global Hunger Strike”? Commonly understood, “hunger strikes” are intended as a form of non-violent action, a voluntary fast with an intended political or human rights aim. Yet I confess...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 10:42 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

June 27, 2006

Graham Allison on Taqiyya?

Harvard Professor Graham Allison is one of the better known political scientists in America. His classic text, "The Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis" remains widely inflicted on...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 10:34 PM | Fulltext link (15 comments)

June 22, 2006

Something's changed: Bush to Iran

Having closely followed the US-Iran saga for well over 20 years, I've seen a lot of false starts and missed opportunities to improve relations. Yet despite having had my hopes...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 12:30 PM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

June 06, 2006

6-power overture to Iran working?

Iran's positive response to the international negotiators' overture is really exciting. Long may this progress towards de-escalation in the Persian/Arabian Gulf and the broader region continue! Wednesday is the 25th...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:03 PM | Fulltext link (10 comments)

June 05, 2006

The Khamenei text

Huge kudos, once again, to Juan Cole for having made available to the public a key publicly funded product of the US government's "Open Source Center"-- namely, the OSC's English...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:04 AM | Fulltext link (14 comments)

May 04, 2006

150,000 American hostages?

Riverbend had a good new post on her blog Tuesday. In her inimitable way, she sketched some of her memories of the US capture of Baghdad back in early April...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:08 AM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

April 16, 2006

Clark and Simon against attacking Iran

Richard Clarke and Steven Simon have a very significant op-ed in today's NYT that argues forcefully against the idea of the US bombing Iran in attempt to halt the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 06:19 PM | Fulltext link (6 comments)

April 12, 2006

CSM column on Iranian nuclear program and the NPT

The column I wrote yesterday about the Iranian nuclear program, western concerns about that, and the urgent need to preserve the NPT is now up on the Christian Science Monitor...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:40 PM | Fulltext link (46 comments)

April 06, 2006

Iran, the nuclear issue, the NPT

Javad Zarif, the Iranian ambassador to the UN, has a significant op-ed piece on the nuclear issue in todays NYT. Titled "We Do Not Have a Nuclear Weapons Program", the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:11 AM | Fulltext link (37 comments)

March 14, 2006

Bushite meddling in Iran-- backfiring?

Today's WaPo had a very interesting article by Karl Vick and David Finkel, that was datelined Teheran and titled U.S. Push for Democracy Could Backfire Inside Iran. The lead is...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:58 PM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

February 20, 2006

Dinner with George and Laura

... That would be George Packer, the author of the best book to date on US follies (and worse) in Iraq: The Assassins' Gate, and Laura Secor, a writer and...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:47 AM | Fulltext link (14 comments)

February 08, 2006

Iran nuclear issue open thread

I'm still deep in revising my Mozambique chapter. It's just as hard as Rwanda was. My deadline to get the entire manuscript revised and sent back is Feb. 15. One...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:19 AM | Fulltext link (21 comments)

January 24, 2006

Flynt Leverett on Bush's Iran mis-steps

Flynt Leverett, who was a White House/ National Security Council insider at the beginning of the first Bush administration, wrote an important piece in the NYT today in which he...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:51 PM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

January 23, 2006

Iranian-Canadian blogger to visit Israel

The Iranian-Canadian blogger Hoder (Hossein Derakshan) has two interesting posts up today. In this one, he writes, I wrote a few weeks that the single biggest reason Ahmadinejad is ranting...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:22 PM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

January 13, 2006

Washington's Iranian dilemma

All three of the major Middle East crisis-areas that I identified in this JWN post last week are entering new and even more dangerous phases. That is: Iraq; Israel-Palestine; and...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:53 AM | Fulltext link (19 comments)

November 16, 2005

Iran, the PA, and Israel

Israel's veteran strategic-affairs commentator Ze'ev Schiff had an intriguing piece in Ha'Aretz today. In it, he wrote quite movingly about a recently retired PA intelligence colonel whom he called Abed...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:07 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

October 27, 2005

Ahmadinejad's toxic fallout

Recently elected Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday in a speech to youthful organizers of the country's annual "Jerusalem Day" observances that, "Israel must be wiped off the map." This...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:09 AM | Fulltext link (132 comments)

June 18, 2005

Iranian voters defy Bush

Two days before Iran's election on Friday, President Bush-- that champion of democracy worldwide!-- urged the country's voters to stay home. 62.7 percent of Iranians defied his call, according to...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:17 PM | Fulltext link (16 comments)

June 10, 2005

Iranian soccer revels

Here are some intriguing pictures of the revelries at various spots around Teheran on Wednesday night, after the Iranian soccer team beat Bahrain and thus secured a spot in the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:23 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

December 03, 2004

Qom, Islam, views of democracy...

(Writing started Friday morning, Teheran airport.) Yesterday, Thursday, was one of the most interesting days of this whole, two-month-long visit to the Middle East. In the morning, Bill and I...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:02 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

December 01, 2004

From Teheran

We got to Teheran. Never made it to Mashhad for reasons I'll explain later. Today we had a great tour round the bazaars here. We're being hosted by an extraordinarily...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:10 AM | Fulltext link (20 comments)