Iran crisis

TNI

Sep 12 2006

Praful Bidwai's vignettes from Iran (11 June 2006):

Iran: Bush Isolated, Under Pressure, Tries to Talk the Talk Without Walking the Walk 2 June 2006
By Phyllis Bennis
The Bush Administration’s decision to participate in talks with Iran reflects Washington’s international isolation. But the US government’s insistence that Iran abandons all enrichment activities before talks is not credible. The US should talk directly to Iran without preconditions, argues Bennis.

Phyllis Bennis Nuclear nutcases June 2006
Despite all the talk of negotiations, the threat of a US military strike on Iran is real, argues Phyllis Bennis. What would be the consequences of such an attack? And what really needs to be done to resolve the issue?

Praful Bidwai Iran's Snub Calls for New EU Offer 20 May 2006
The best way forward in the Iran crisis would be to refer the issue of Iran’s rights and obligations under the non-prolifieration treaty to the International Court of Justice at The Hague for an advisory opinion, argues Bidwai.

Praful Bidwai Inside Iran 13 May 2006
Iran faces a US Security Council resolution asking it to suspend uranium enrichment. Praful Bidwai reports from Iran, where the Iranian establishment – defiant on enrichment – is simultaneously reaching out for a peaceful resolution to the Issue.

Praful Bidwai Iran: Sabre-rattling Won't Work 4 May 2006

Praful Bidwai Defiant but Ready to Deal 27 April 2006
Adopting a tough posture and demanding the sanctions be imposed on Iran, or worse, launching a military attack on its nuclear facilities, will strengthen the hands of the nuclear hawks who at present constitute a minority in the Teheran regime, writes Bidwai.

Phyllis Bennis Iran: The Day After 19 April 2006
What if, following heated debate and threats, the US really attacks Iran? It is virtually certain that Iranian retaliation would be swift and lethal, says Bennis, who maps out the possible consequences.

Phyllis Bennis New War Dangers: Iran, the U.S. and Nukes in the Middle East 15 March 2006

Appeal to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to create a High Level UN Commission to mediate the nuclear weapons proliferation crisis in Iran, drafted on February 16, 2006 and delivered to the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General on March 14th, 2006

Last Chance for Diplomacy? 17 February 2006
By Praful Bidwai
A meeting between Iranian and Russian officials in Moscow may be the last chance for diplomacy before international sanctions are imposed, writes Bidwai.

Iran vs the United States - again 14 February 2006
By Fred Halliday
Washington's confrontational rhetoric and wishful thinking about "regime change" is fuelling the power of Tehran's own hardline rulers, says Fred Halliday.

The Iran Issue 11 February 2006
By Achin Vanaik
Since the end on the Cold War the US has sought to establish permanent global dominance by creating an informal empire. This requires control over the strategically vital region of West Asia, where the US suffered a huge political-strategic defeat with the overthrow of the Shah of Iran, its client regime, and the establishment of an intransigent clerical regime opposed to its ambitions. The decision to refer Iran to the UN Security Council over its nuclear programme should be seen in this light, says Vanaik. Now that China and Russia support the US position in the IAEA, India can hide behind them. But the US strategy remains to impose sanctions, and Bush certainly hasn't abandoned the possibility of a military option.

Impasse over Indo-US nuclear deal? 11 February 2006
By Praful Bidwai
By voicing dissent over the US "shifting the goalpost" of the India-US nuclear deal, the Indian Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar may have made an unintentional contribution to distancing India from the US. Given the perils of getting too close to the US on Washington's terms this is a welcome development, says Bidwai.

Iran: Consequences of a War
By Paul Rogers, Oxford Research Group, February 2006

Snags Surface in India-US Nuclear Deal 6 February 2006
By Praful Bidwai
For the 'pragmatists' in India's pro-bomb lobby, the US-India nuclear deal is an opportunity to get India recognised as a nuclear weapons state, while nuclear ultra-nationalists claim the deal is a US attempt to limit India's nuclear arsenal and compromise her sovereignty. If the nuclear deal falls through because of the conflict between nuclear ultra-nationalists and pragmatists, the peace movement would become an unintended beneficiary of its collapse, writes Bidwai.

Sacrificing sovereignty 28 January 2006
By Praful Bidwai
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's weak response to the US fatwas, his pro-Western stand on Iran, and his decision to divest Mani Shankar Aiyar of the Petroleum Ministry speak of a new willingness to kowtow to Washington, comments Bidwai.

Bumpy Ride for Indo-US Nuclear Deal 26 January 2006
By Praful Bidwai
The "nuclear co-operation" agreement signed six months ago in Washington by United States President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has run into trouble over the separation of India's civilian installations from the military. Anyway, the agreement represents an unprecedented challenge to the global nuclear non-proliferation order, as it proposes a one-time exception for India under, which will breed resentment across the globe, above all in Iran, predicts Bidwai.

Nuclear poker over Iran 28 January 2006
By Praful Bidwai
As a confrontation builds up over Teheran's nuclear activities, the West appears both confused and hypocritical and India increasingly directionless, writes Bidwai.

Iran: Confrontation in the Cards 3 January 2006
By Praful Bidwai
Now that the Western powers have reached a deal with Russia and China to refer Iran's nuclear activities to the UN Security Council, a serious escalation of tensions with Teheran is on the cards, writes Bidwai.

Delusions of equality 28 January 2006
By Praful Bidwai
India and Pakistan like to propagate the idea that their relations with the US are on terms of equality. However, the unilateral US bombing of a village in Pakistan, allegedly targeting terrorists, as well as the US' stance in its nuclear agreement with India shows very different relations.

Bush and Iran Create Risks 26 January 2006
By Boris Kagarlitsky
The current war of words between the US and Iran looks like brinksmanship, as each government tries to sure up its domestic popularity. We can only hope that when the time comes they will be able to prevent the conflict from spiraling out of control, writes Kagarlitsky.

Iran Opens Nuclear Locks and Hornet's Nest 11 January 2006
By Praful Bidwai
If Iran is to be dissuaded from its nuclear pursuit, the leading nuclear powers must lead by example – by taking concrete, measurable steps towards nuclear arms reduction and disarmament. If they do not, the situation could worsen rapidly, warns Bidwai.

Nuclear Clouds Gather Over Asia 26 December 2005
By Praful Bidwai
The US's inconsistent non-proliferation criteria could alter the strategic balance in some of the world's most volatile regions, argues Praful Bidwai. The US is currently talking tough on Iran, softening its attitude to North Korea, and treating India as a 'responsible nuclear power', whilst taking an uncertain stand on Japan's possible nuclear build-up. Bidwai predicts two new arms races in Asia - one between Japan and China, and the other between China and India.

Active Consent 11 October 2005
By Achin Vanaik
India's decision to vote against Iran at the recent International Atomic
Energy Agency meeting is a response to a situation created by the USA, argues Vanaik. It is not that Iran is 'cheating', but it is the US that is shifting priorities of the NPT from disarmament to
non-proliferation, and trying to pave the way internationally for legitimising a future attack on Iran in the name of preventing Iran for going in for weapons of mass destruction.

Politics of a Prize 23 October 2005
By Praful Bidwai
There is something dubious in awarding the Nobel Peace prize to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its Director-General Mohamed El Baradei, says Bidwai, especially when the Agency's Board of Governors is trying to corner Iran. True that he didn't capitulate to US pressure on Iraq, but one can't say that he has promoted nuclear disarmament.

The `Ayatollahs' are here 5 November 2005
By Praful Bidwai
With Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran's October 24 speech, India has executed another retrograde shift in foreign and security policy. It has all but abandoned the goal of nuclear disarmament and embraced the hegemonic agenda of non-proliferation as Washington's junior partner.

A Prize and a Warning 12 October 2005
By Phillis Bennis
The awarding of the Nobel Peace prize to the International Atomic Energy Agency and its director general Mohamed el Baradel, was a slap in the face for the Bush administration's unilateralism, its undermining of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treat (NPT), and especially its war in Iraq, says Bennis.

UN Nuclear Watchdog ELBaradei Wins Nobel Peace Prize Months After US Tries To Force Him From Job as Head of IAEA
Phyllis Bennis, in a debate on Democracy Now! Radio, remarked that the decision by the Nobel Committee to give the Peace Prize to IAEA and its director general highlights the importance of focusing on international co-operation, which has special connotations in the Iraq case.

The loser in Iran vote 2 October 2006
By Praful Bidwai
India's vote for the IAEA resolution to reprimand Iran was primarily driven by its keenness to join the global cabal called the Nuclear Club, and that on US terms under the July 18 nuclear deal. By doing so, India sacrificed its policy independence, and it subordinated its vital interests to its unequal partnership with Washington. In the process, India split the Non Aligned Movement, writes Bidwai.

India Ditches Iran and Nonalignment 28 September 2006
By Praful Bidwai
By voting for a Western-sponsored resolution at the IAEA, India has signaled the collapse of its long-standing policy of nonalignment, argues Bidwai.

A Prize And A Warning 12 October 2005
Phyllis Bennis
The awarding of the Nobel Peace prize to the International Atomic Energy Agency and its director general Mohamed el Baradel, was a slap in the face for the Bush administration's unilateralism, its undermining of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treat (NPT), and especially its war in Iraq, says Bennis.

Don’t ditch Iran 17 September 2005
By Praful Bidwai
India and Pakistan are both under growing pressure to side with the United States in its escalating diplomatic-political confrontation with Iran, and in particular, to abandon the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline. The pipeline makes a lot of sense, writes Bidwai, and calls on the two countries to resist US pressures.

How the US supplied Iran with nuclear know-how 8 September 2005
By Saul Landau
There is much hype about Iran's nuclear programme, but it was US policy, not anti-American Moslem fanaticism, that led Iran directly into the nuclear age, writes Landau.

Praful Bidwai Europe Plays Nuclear Poker with Iran Inter Press Service, 2 August 2005

India's Nuclear Albatross 24 September 2005
By Praful Bidwai
New Delhi deluded itself that it scored a coup by signing the July nuclear deal with Washington. It must now confront a bitter truth: ‘normalising’ its nuclear weapons will entail erosion of its policy independence in various different fields. The crisis over Iran’s nuclear programme is the starkest example.

Europe Blinked: The US-EU Negotiations on Iran
By Phyllis Bennis
In what was called a compromise but was in fact a major abandonment of the European
Union's longstanding commitment to diplomatic engagement over Iran's nuclear policy,
Britain, France and Germany not only accepted Washington's militarised approach, but also
agreed to join it, writes Bennis.