Word: nuclear
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...focus on supposed morality at the expense of actual consequences. For example, the Bush administration’s refusal to negotiate regularly with the Iranian government, while grounded in a generally sound moral judgment of that government’s character, had the practical effect of allowing the Iranian nuclear program to progress substantially. Insofar as dispassionate factual analysis prevents this sort of moral indignation as policy, it is worth encouraging...
...incident came a week after Pyongyang said it was continuing to produce weapons-grade plutonium and just before an expected U.S. decision to restart talks with Pyongyang, under the auspices of the Chinese, about the North's nuclear program. The combination of the attack and Pyongyang's defiant announcement that it is still reprocessing plutonium may seem like aberrant behavior on what may be the eve of the North's re-engagement with the outside world. But for Pyongyang, it's more like standard operating procedure. "Unpredictable surprises are the strength of North Korea," says Jeung Young-tae, a senior...
Iran has thus far proved to be one of the most significant tests of President Barack Obama's national-security leadership. And the stakes are high: failure could mean an Iranian nuclear weapon and a Middle East arms race on the one hand, and military action by the U.S. or Israel that could inflame the region and create an Islamic backlash against the U.S. on the other. The key question is what price the President is willing to pay to avoid such outcomes...
Working with Russia to block Iran's nuclear program will not be easy. Obama will have to do much better than he did when trying to win Russian support for Chicago's Olympic bid: he called Putin two days before the crucial vote, when Moscow was already committed to Rio, and offered nothing in return to the rather unsentimental Russian Prime Minister. Sadly, this too little, too late approach to Moscow on Iran's nuclear program may force the Administration to make precisely the decision it hopes to avoid: between a nuclear Iran and a new and dangerous...
Besides the U.S. and Iran, Russia seems to be the other major player on the nuclear issue. Whether or not Iran follows through on a draft deal to send much of its low-enriched uranium to Russia for further processing into fuel for a medical-research reactor, Moscow is in the middle. If the agreement works, it will boost Russia's international role, securing gratitude from the West without damaging Russia's ties to Tehran. If the accord falls through - or Iran agrees but does not comply - Moscow's support will be essential in imposing U.N. sanctions. China...