Iran’s leader must choose between enmity and economy

Barack Obama is a “dithering” president whose controlling tendencies and extreme risk-averse attitude to foreign policy has damaged American interests in the Middle East, according to a new book by a senior former State Department adviser. The insider account of the damaging divisions between the White House and the State Department comes as diplomats wait to see if John Kerry, the new US secretary of state, can persuade Mr Obama to show greater engagement on Syria, Egypt and the wider Middle East.

The UN has added to the costs and inconveniences of Iran’s foreign policy, but the latest penalties will not be ‘crippling’, write Ray Takeyh and Suzanne Maloney

The conventional wisdom is that if Iran acquired nuclear weapons capability that this will likely spark a region-wide nuclear arms race. But as my colleagues Brian Katulis and Peter Juul point out there are some reasons to doubt this is right:

Vali Nasr, a scholar and former State Department official recruited shortly after President Barack Obama took office, sharply criticized Obama in an

By Michael Fitzsimmons:How time flies! It's been over three years since I published my strategic long-term comprehensive energy policy

Press TV, Iran’s primary English-language broadcaster, went live last month with its latest report on the state of human rights in Canada. Overtop archival footage of Niagara Falls, the Athabasca Oil Sands and Parliament Hill protests, reporter Ali Dashti outlined Ottawa’s policies to “steal indigenous children,” drive a pipeline to the West Coast in “ignorance of the First Nation land rights,” jail refugees arbitrarily and authorize heavy-handed crackdowns on student protesters in Montreal.

All the tin hats that disputed Ron Paul's position that Iran was not developing nuclear weapons can now hear the same thing from US Secretary of Defense. Please consider Panetta admits Iran not developing nukes. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta let slip on Sunday the big open secret that Washington war hawks don’t want widely known: Iran is not developing nuclear weapons.