Archivo etiqueta «Irán»
By Michael Makovsky, a Pentagon official during the George W. Bush administration who directs the Bipartisan Policy Center’s National Security Project, including its Iran initiative and Blaise Misztal, associate director of the center’s National Security Project (THE WASHINGTON POST, 10/12/11):
As recent events underscore the growing Iranian nuclear threat, the Obama administration appears to be pivoting toward a policy of containment. The emphasis of its rhetoric has shifted from preventing an “unacceptable” nuclear Iran to “isolating” it. When coupled with recent weaker action against Iran, we fear it signals a tacit policy change.
A few days after his … Seguir leyendo
By Ray Takeyh, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (THE WASHINGTON POST, 10/12/11):
Attention has returned to the potential nuclear threat building in Iran. It has long been assumed that the regime seeks the bomb for its deterrent power or as a means of projecting influence in a politically volatile region. As important as these considerations may be, Iranian nuclear calculations are predicated on a distinctly domestic calculus: The Islamic Republic perceives it can reclaim its international standing better with the bomb than without one. Instead of conceding to intrusive U.N. resolutions or amending their behavior … Seguir leyendo
By Arnaud de Borchgrave, editor-at-large of The Washington Times and United Press International (THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 08/12/11):
Afghanistan expects U.S. aid to flow without interruption for six more years following the final U.S. troop withdrawal at the end of 2014 – three years hence. By itself, the U.S.-trained and U.S.-fielded Afghan army will require $5 billion to $7 billion a year in U.S. support to field an army of 350,000 in a country the size of France. Nothing is less certain.
With major defense cuts now in the works, the Pentagon will have insufficient funds to maintain current force … Seguir leyendo
By Stephen Kinzer, a visiting professor of international relations at Boston University, a former New York Times correspondent and the author of Reset: Iran, Turkey and America’s Future (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 04/12/11):
If there is one country on earth where the cry “Death to England” still carries weight — where people still harbor the white-hot hatred of British colonialism that once inflamed millions from South Africa to China — that country would be Iran. And that is what the leaders of Iran must have been counting on when screaming militiamen, unhindered by the police, poured into the British … Seguir leyendo
By Avi Jorisch, a former Treasury Department official and a fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council (THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 02/12/11):
In recent years, the United States has imposed punishing sanctions on Iran’s financial sector. Last month, the Treasury Department announced new measures intended to hamper Iran’s ability to raise and move funds internationally. Several Western allies have followed suit in an attempt to tighten the noose around the Islamic republic and curb its ability to achieve nuclearization. Yet a close analysis of Treasury’s action demonstrates that the new sanctions regime is far weaker than existing … Seguir leyendo
By Max Boot, a contributing editor to Opinion and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is completing a book on guerrilla warfare (LOS ANGELES TIMES, 01/12/11):
In retrospect, weakness in the face of aggression is almost impossible to understand — or forgive. Why did the West do so little while the Nazis gathered strength in the 1930s? While the Soviet Union enslaved half of Europe and fomented revolution in China in the late 1940s? And, again, while Al Qaeda gathered strength in the 1990s? Those questions will forever haunt the reputations of the responsible statesmen, from … Seguir leyendo
By Mark Malloch-Brown, a former foreign officer minister and deputy secretary-general of the UN. He is currently Europe, Middle East and Africa chairman of FTI Consulting (THE GUARDIAN, 30/11/11):
William Hague had little choice. The hand of the Iranian regime was pretty visible in the ransacking of both the British embassy compound and the northern Tehran UK staff residences. Safety required the pulling out of British diplomats, and diplomatic pride required that he demand the expulsion of their Iranian counterparts in London.
But while right may seem to have been done, these tit-for-tat expulsions rarely end well for … Seguir leyendo
Por Ramin Jahanbegloo, filósofo iraní y catedrático de Ciencias Políticas en la Universidad de Toronto. Traducción de Jesús Cuéllar Menezo (EL PAÍS, 30/11/11):
Durante los últimos nueve meses las autoridades iraníes se han afanado por ofrecer su propia versión de las revueltas árabes. El presidente Mahmud Ahmadineyad declaró que los levantamientos de Egipto y Túnez se inspiraban en la actitud “desafiante” de Irán frente a las potencias occidentales. Por su parte, el líder supremo iraní, el ayatolá Alí Jamenei, elogió las revueltas de Bahréin, Egipto y Túnez, calificándolas de “despertar islámico” con “objetivos y orientación islámicos”.
Esa línea argumentativa tiene … Seguir leyendo
By Mehdi Khalaji, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (Project Syndicate, 30/11/11):
As the West ratchets up its economic pressure on Iran to halt its drive to develop nuclear weapons, the Islamic Republic’s rulers are not sitting idly by. Since Iran lacks the soft power and the economic capacity to counter Western pressure, it is likely that its leaders will resort to threats, and even to force, to prevent the West from cracking down further, as the recent attack on the British embassy in Tehran shows.
Iranian authorities claimed that angry “students” spontaneously stormed the … Seguir leyendo
By Malfrid Braut-Hegghammer, an assistant professor at the Norwegian Defense University College, Oslo (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 29/11/11):
Parallels between Iraq’s former nuclear weapons program and the Iranian nuclear program have shaped policy debates for nearly a decade. We are still paying the costs of failing in Iraq. Israel now seems determined to make similar mistakes in Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now claims that the real Iranian threat is hidden from view, and that it is necessary to act before the window of opportunity closes for good. His solution is straightforward: a targeted strike.
Many will agree … Seguir leyendo
Por Joschka Fischer, ministro de Asuntos Exteriores y Vicecanciller de Alemania de 1998 a 2005, fue un dirigente del Partido Verde alemán durante casi veinte años. Traducido del inglés por Carlos Manzano (Project Syndicate/Instituto de Ciencias Humanas, 28/11/11):
Mientras Europa sigue ensimismada en su crisis a cámara lenta y otras potencias mundiales siguen fascinadas por el extravagante espectáculo de los innumerables esfuerzos que hacen los funcionarios europeos para rescatar el euro (y, con él, el sistema financiero mundial), una vez más se van acumulando nubarrones de guerra sobre el Irán.
Durante años, el Irán ha estado ejecutando un programa … Seguir leyendo
Por Walter Laqueur. consejero del Centro de Estudios Internacionales y Estratégicos de Washington. Traducción: José María Puig de la Bellacasa (LA VANGUARDIA, 20/11/11):
¿Qué habría que hacer en lo concerniente a la cuestión de Irán? En Estados Unidos (y no sólo aquí) se han publicado estos días varios artículos titulados, por ejemplo, Cinco motivos para atacar y cinco motivos para no atacar. Las voces a favor razonan que Washington ha mantenido durante muchos años que un Irán nuclear es inaceptable a ojos de EE.UU. porque es agresivo, ha amenazado a varios de sus vecinos con atacarles o eliminarles e … Seguir leyendo
By Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former C.I.A. officer and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where Mark Dubowitz is the executive director and head of its Iran Energy Project (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 19/11/11):
The release last week of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s report on Iran’s progressing nuclear program has to make one wonder whether more than 30 years of sanctions have helped to thwart — or even stall — the country’s nuclear designs. There is no evidence to suggest that economic coercion has ever made Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, rethink the … Seguir leyendo
Par Thierry Coville, chercheur à l’IRIS, professeur à Novancia (LE MONDE, 17/11/11):
Tout d’abord, la question me gêne car il est difficile d’expliquer pourquoi un pays, Israël, qui dispose d’un arsenal nucléaire militaire (de 100 à 300 ogives nucléaires) s’arrogerait le droit d’attaquer un autre pays, l’Iran, signataire du Traité de non-prolifération (TNP), parce qu’il le soupçonne d’avoir l’intention de militariser son programme. L’argument qu’Israël n’a pas signé le TNP est peu recevable. Cela crée un véritable déséquilibre stratégique dans la région et que n’a-t-on pas écrit sur le refus des Etats-Unis de ratifier le traité de Kyoto alors … Seguir leyendo
Par Alain Dieckhoff, directeur de recherche CNRS, CERI-Sciences Po (LE MONDE, 17/11/11):
A la fin du mois d’octobre, l’éditorialiste Nahum Barnéa, généralement bien informé, écrivait que le tandem Netanyahou-Barak était favorable à l’idée de lancer une frappe sur le nucléaire iranien. Bien que le premier ministre et son ministre de la défense aient pris soin de préciser qu’aucune décision n’était prise, un débat public extrêmement vif démarra aussitôt en Israël et au-delà.
L’avertissement du président israélien Shimon Peres selon lequel une attaque contre l’Iran était de plus en plus vraisemblable ne pouvait qu’accélérer la crainte qu’une nouvelle guerre régionale … Seguir leyendo