In spite of the toll sanctions have taken on its economy, Iran wants a deal on its nuclear program that addresses none of the West’s concerns about its military ambitions. It is also moving forward with new uranium enrichment technology.
Tag: nuclear
As global warming melts the ice covering parts of the Arctic Ocean, new opportunities are opening up for the exploration of natural resources, including oil. But the accelerating cooperation on climate objectives could wind up saving the Arctic from both business and military interests.
Asia has become the new center of the world because of China’s growing power, which in Washington’s eyes has turned Japan from an important ally to the most important. But is Tokyo ready for the newfound responsibility?
? Bonġu!* Welcome to Friday, where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to two journalists risking their lives in Russia and the Philippines, the U.S. pushes the Iran nuclear deal back on the table, and a Swiss CEO is ousted after offering a different kind of COVID incentive to employees. From rural Sweden, we also […]
Ukraine’s leaders face toxic land-use challenges 35 years after the world’s worst nuclear accident.
The Israeli Prime Minister has taken his cue from a bold predecessor, Menachem Begin, to curb Islamic Iran’s regional presence and nuclear threat by any means necessary.
Besides partially destroying a key nuclear installation, the suspected sabotage at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility is also exacerbating tensions within Iran’s leadership ranks. Was that part of the purpose of the attack?
Categories
Why Is Washington Balking On Iran?
Certain Gulf States have joined Israel in sounding the alarm about a nuclear armed Islamic Republic. Washington, in the meantime, has been reluctant to show its cards.
One of the most striking photographs of the destruction caused by the tsunami that struck Japan and set off the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
With its nemesis Donald Trump gone, Iran’s regime has resumed old practices ahead of possible talks on its nuclear program, goading the West with suspect activities and meddling in the affairs of neighboring states.
Iran’s clerical regime is boosting its military and nuclear activities, perhaps in a bid to bolster its position ahead of possible talks to revive the 2015 nuclear pact.
The targeted killing of a top Iranian scientist has increased pressures on Iran’s regime at a time of speculation about a renewal of dialogue with the United States.
Donald Trump’s departure renews the possibility of talks between Washington and Tehran. But the Iranian leadership has reasons to be wary of the incoming administration in Washington.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei claims he has no interest in engaging with Washington. But the U.S. president, fighting right now to win reelection, tells a different story.
Welcome to Friday, where a mass shooting in Indianapolis leaves eight dead, Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai is sentenced and a Danish photographer’s image from Brazil wins World Press Photo of the Year. Independent media Kayhan-London also exposes how the suspected sabotage at the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran has done more than physical harm for the regime. [rebelmouse-image 27046599 original_size=”600×200″ expand=1] [rebelmouse-image 27046600 original_size=”394×47″ expand=1] • Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai sentenced: Two of Hong Kong’s best-known activists were sentenced today for their participation in unauthorized assemblies during the 2019 mass pro-democracy protests. Media tycoon Jimmy Lai was sentenced […]
Welcome to Tuesday, where global COVID-19 death toll surpasses 3 million, the Iran nuclear deal is back on the table, and a Soviet-produced Lord of the Rings is unearthed. Thanks to Die Welt, we also look at how the German auto industry is trying to keep up with Elon Musk. • Iran nuclear talks back […]
Categories
Iran: How Weak Is The Regime?
After the U.S. assassination of General Soleimani and Tehran’s accidental shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger jet, rising economic and political pressures have put Islamic rule in its most fragile state in memory.
As the showdown deepens over the contested region with Pakistan, India is now weighing whether to water down its nuclear no-first-strike policy.
ISTANBUL — One of the more prestigious duties for the pilots of the Turkish Air Forces during the Cold War years was the “nuclear watch.” The four main air bases in Turkey had been housing U.S. nuclear warheads since the beginning of the 1960’s. The nuclear class planes piloted by Turks were assigned to drop […]
The U.S. president wants to impose his will and whims on all partners. The EU, for the sake of its own security, needs to resist.
Kim Jong Un’s historic call for peace also included an unspoken message to U.S. President Donald Trump: North Korea won’t surrender its nuclear weapons easily. The agreement Kim reached Friday with South Korean leader Moon Jae-in declared “a new era of peace” and sought a formal end to the seven-decade-old Korean War. While it said both countries committed to a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, it gave no details on concrete steps to achieve it. More ominously, North Korean’s state-run media released a commentary shortly after the agreement was announced calling on the U.S. to drop its “anachronistic hostile policy” and “bad […]
The German chancellor’s upcoming visit to Washington will be a sober affair, particularly in contrast to the glitzy, red-carpet welcome the White House gave her French counterpart.
The bipolar world of yesteryear is gone. In its place is a shifting geopolitical landscape of circumstantial alliances and ascendant authoritarianism.
-Analysis- The PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games finally kicked off Thursday with the riveting-if-baffling sport of curling and a first victory for hosts South Korea. But all eyes will be on the official opening ceremony tomorrow, especially since a disproportionate dose of the attention for this edition will be focused off the ice and snow. Coming […]
—Analysis— WASHINGTON — More than any other issue that has threatened transatlantic cohesion this year, President Donald Trump’s decision to decertify Iranian compliance with the nuclear deal could start a chain of events that would sharply divide the United States from its closest traditional allies in the world. “After the Paris climate decision,” in which Trump withdrew the United States from a widely supported, painfully negotiated accord, “this could push multilateralism to the breaking point,” said a senior official from one of the three European signatories to the Iran deal. None of the three – Britain, France and Germany – […]
WASHINGTON — This month, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will open for signature at the United Nations. Signatories will promise never to “develop, test, produce, manufacture . . . possess or stockpile nuclear weapons’; never to transfer weapons to other parties nor to receive them; and never to “use or threaten to use nuclear weapons.” The treaty’s aims, if they could be universally effected, are noble. After all, the prospect of nations — including, now, an international pariah like North Korea — facing off with their respective nuclear arsenals is horrific. Their renewed use in war would […]
North Korea may now be too dangerous to be attacked. But that may force all to find a diplomatic solution.
-Analysis- WASHINGTON, D.C. — A military confrontation with North Korea may now be “inevitable,” says Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) The United States is “done talking” about North Korea, tweets U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. President Trump threatens “fire and fury like the world has never seen,” then says maybe his language “wasn’t tough enough.” The North Koreans return verbal fire, talking of using “absolute force” to hit the U.S. territory of Guam and even “turn the U.S. mainland into the theater of a nuclear war.” In this moment of heated, belligerent rhetoric, planners in and out of government are diving […]
-Analysis- Fox News opted for the verb “slam” to describe the first significant comments about Iran from new U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. “Tillerson slams Iran nuclear deal as “failed approach,”” the conservative network headlined its story yesterday, following Tillerson’s remarks about the 2015 nuclear accord inked by President Obama. But there is another […]
-Analysis- “The DPRK North Korea is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the U.S.” Coming in response to the U.S. deployment of a navy battle group to the Korean Peninsula, this chilling statement from the North Korean foreign ministry suggests that Donald Trump’s muscle-flexing has only raised the stakes in what […]
-Analysis- PARIS — For more than 70 years, the United States was the ultimate life insurance policy for Europe against the Soviet and now Russian thirst for power. The U.S. also held sway in Asia, in large part to counter China and to contain North Korea’s dangerous and eccentric drifts. The rise of China’s economic […]
France has long been the only country in continental Europe to invest in its military. Though others are now reacting to new threats, it may be too little too late.
Kim Jong-un will be celebrating his 33rd birthday this Sunday. Wishes and presents are usually in order on this type of occasion, but it’s difficult to see any desire the North Korean dictator hasn’t already seen fulfilled in his five years in power. For starters, the cult of personality has never been bigger in North […]
It was the worst nuclear plant accident in history, measured in both casualties and cost. And though the death count paled in comparison to the more than 100,000 killed by the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, the amount of radioactive material released in Chernobyl was 400 times higher. Six months after the 1986 disaster, the Soviet […]
Categories
On This Day – October 9
Hundreds of atomic bombs were detonated at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in eastern Kazakhstan during the Soviet regime. Scientists are now conducting research on the site, which was shuttered 25 years ago, to evaluate how radiation affected the reg
Categories
Istanbul Attack, Clinton Close, El Bronx
SPOTLIGHT: EURO 2016 ON EDGE The Euro 2016 soccer tournament starts Friday in France. By some accounts, it is the world’s third biggest sporting event, after the World Cup and Summer Olympics. This year’s contest will last for a month around the country’s biggest stadiums and is expecting to bring 2.5 millions fans to attend […]
Renmin Ribao, June 7, 2016 Tuesday’s front page of the Chinese state-run daily Renmin Ribao features President Xi Jinping in front of American and Chinese flags as he spoke at China-U.S. bilateral talks in Beijing. The 8th round of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Development and the 7th round of China-U.S. Cultural Exchanges and High Level […]
SPOTLIGHT: BREXIT LANDS IN JAPAN Why would Shinzo Abe care what British voters think about Europe? The Japanese Prime Minister, currently hosting the G7 summit, joined leaders of the world’s other top economic powers in a surprise declaration today to urge the UK to vote to remain in the European Union in next month’s so-called […]
This week, President Obama will become the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, the Japanese city that the United States nearly destroyed with a nuclear bomb in 1945. While the bombing is estimated to have killed as many as 150,000 people, Obama is not expected to apologize during his visit. It’s reasonable to ask, after more than 70 years, why not apologize for Hiroshima? One well-worn argument is that the bombing of the city (and the atomic bombing of Nagasaki that followed) was morally justifiable as it was the quickest way to end World War II — a conflict […]