Nuclear Issues

19 Items

Analysis & Opinions - Foreign Policy

Bibi Blows Up the Special Relationship

| March 2, 2015

"...[A]nyone who questions the special relationship or the role the lobby plays in preserving it is still likely to be accused of anti-Semitism (if a gentile) or self-hatred (if Jewish). The special relationship has rested to some degree on intimidation, and as noted most people don't like being bullied. The question, therefore, is whether this flap will turn out to be an isolated incident or whether more people will begin to say what they really think."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks about Iran during a joint meeting of the United States Congress.

Getty Images

Analysis & Opinions - Agence Global

A milestone in United States-Israel relations

| February 28, 2015

"The controversy over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech before the U.S. Congress next week has generated intense reactions from Israelis and Americans of all political shades. Its long-term impact is unknown, but its significance to date is that it has provided us with a rare opportunity to see what happens when American congressmen and women are caught uncomfortably between two very powerful forces in their lives: standing with the American president, or standing with the leader of Israel regardless of what that leader does, including directly challenging the American president."

Yemeni women put their fingers to form the shape of a star, painted in the colors of the Tunisian (top L), Syrian (C), Libyan (top R), Yemeni (bottom R) and Egyptian (bottom L) flags.

Getty Images

Analysis & Opinions

Democracy and division in the Arab world

| June 12, 2014

"Tensions in Iraq may be dominating the headlines, but there are complex patterns of division and polarization across the Arab region. When the World Economic Forum polled experts and leaders on the world’s most significant challenges for the Outlook on the Global Agenda 2014 (now available in Arabic), rising societal tensions and polarization in the Middle East and North Africa came out top."

An Egyptian man shows his thumb, marked by red ink, after voting at a polling station in Egypt.

Creative Commons

Analysis & Opinions - The Washington Post

A new political dilemma for Egypt’s ruling military

    Author:
  • Ellis Goldberg
| June 2, 2014

The election that was to provide confirmation of former Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s presidency in the aftermath of his removal of former president Mohamed Morsi did not go as well as expected. Sisi won more than 95 percent of the votes against an essentially token opposition. Turnout was considerably less than Sisi had called for, although estimates range from 25 to 40 percent of the electorate."

Marchers in San Francisco's Union Square wave American and pre-1979 Iranian Flags in February, 2011.

Creative Commons

Analysis & Opinions - Agence Global

U.S.-Iranian Leaders’ Dazzling Opportunity

| September 21, 2013

"The positive possibilities that could emanate from the escalating signs of a direct Iranian-American engagement are dazzling in their intensity and historic in their scope. Rarely in modern history has the Middle East region experienced such a hopeful moment as this, when one major diplomatic shift towards productive American-Iranian relations could positively impact half a dozen conflicts in the region."

Iranian President Hasan Rouhani, center left with white turban, leaves at the conclusion of a session of the parliament to debate on his proposed Cabinet in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2013.

(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Analysis & Opinions - The Boston Globe

Obama has an opening with Iran

| August 15, 2013

With a speed few predicted, Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, has signaled his interest in negotiations this autumn on Iran’s controversial nuclear program," writes Nicholas Burns. "This could produce the first extensive contact between Washington and Tehran since diplomatic relations ruptured during the Jimmy Carter administration."

Prime Minister Netanyahu meets with President Obama at the White House.

AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Analysis & Opinions - The Boston Globe

Coping with Netanyahu on Iran

| July 18, 2013

The debate about how to handle the Iranian nuclear program has resurfaced since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent comments on CBS's "Face the Nation." Professor Burns looks at it from both sides and reiterates his warning that marching to war--right now--is not the right approach.