Middle East

Obama Can Solve the Iran Question

By Neil Leslie

Analysts suggest that Iran is only one to two years away from being able to enrich the uranium needed for a nuclear bomb, and according to the most recent IAEA report Tehran remains silent over possible weaponization activities. How then does President Barack Obama address this growing crisis when he takes office in January?

Russia and Iran’s Proposed Gas Cartel

By Neil Leslie

Russia’s Gazprom recently announced plans for the formation of a ‘gas troika’ along with Iran and Qatar. Initially proposed by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 2007, the development has raised fears in the West that a gas cartel will destabilize energy supplies and pose a security threat to Europe.

Ahmadinejad Dinner’s Main Course Is All Image

By Frederick Kempe

The questions I had scribbled in my notebook, going into what would become a three-hour dinner meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, were key to knowing how dangerous he might be. 1) How much power does he have? 2) Is he as deranged as his rhetoric would suggest? Behind the first question was whether he […]

Iraq Debate: Strategy Not Tactics

The current debate on Iraq is wrongly “focused on the tactics of the moment” rather than the long-term strategic questions, retired Marine General James L. Jones told a full house at the Atlantic Council and a C-SPAN audience. The way forward requires thinking “beyond the next election.” Download the PDF