No dearth of Islamic dilemmas But apparently despite this report - which has captured the heart of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who this week said that "Iran is showing good cooperation" and implied that he would not lend his hand to implementing sanctions - America would prefer a different report, the one prepared by the British International Institute for Strategic Studies, which predicts that Iran will have a nuclear weapon in the near future.
Slipping and sliding Iran, the local bad boy of the region in US eyes, seems to be the next target and the stated reason again is weapons of mass destruction. The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, in a press launch (September 6) of its study of Iran’s Strategic Weapons’ Programme, assessed that its nuclear option was not imminent and it was several years away from producing enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon. Even the Americans do not have an accurate picture of...
America must worry about its own actions Yet precisely such double standards were inherent in the question from Donald Rumsfeld, defence secretary, last June: "Since no nation threatens China, one must wonder: why this growing investment? Why these continuing large and expanding arms purchases?"To this, the Chinese can justifiably react by asking why the US needs to spend as much on its military as the rest of the world put together. With Canada and Mexico as its neighbours, why does it feel so threatened? To this the US...
China not enforcing WMD export controls "China has been a significant proliferator in the past, but there now is a sense that some of this is coming back to haunt it and that international proliferation is something now seen as a challenge that China's foreign policy has to address," said Adam Ward, an East Asia security expert at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Iraq offers no early exit Toby Dodge, an analyst at Queen Mary College, University of London, said the draft constitution might have some utility for public opinion in the United States, but not for Iraq."The Americans have been pushing a series of theatrical events, including creation of the Iraqi governing council, the January elections and now the constitution," he said. "None of them has helped the situation in Iraq. Most have made it worse."
The Failure of Containment Europe and Washington appear to be downplaying the whole situation, presenting supposedly new research, along with a series of conspicuous leaks, to convince public opinion that the Iranian nuclear threat isn't so urgent after all. One National Intelligence Estimate report, leaked last month, claimed that Iran was 6 to 10 years away from making an atomic bomb. The International Institute for Strategic Studies, a British think tank, which echoed that claim last week, was quickly followed by...
Oh what a disastrous war We liked to believe that that was due to our soldiers' superior mode of operations. While American forces roared through the streets of the capital in heavily armoured convoys, our soldiers' friendly faces looked out from open topped vehicles. Whereas GIs shot from the hip, British troops engaged the Iraqis' hearts and minds. Such illusions are shattered. Nearly 100 British soldiers have died since the war began. Toby Dodge of Queen Mary College, University of London, believes that the...
Front line of fire In a separate conference in Geneva last weekend organised by the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies, one of Britain's leading intelligence experts, David Omand, pointed to the sharp differences in perception by governments of the seriousness of the global terrorist threat. "Without a greater degree of convergence of understanding over what and who we are fighting, and what strategy we are actually to follow, it is hard to see how the worldwide threat can be contained...
Iran: Drive To UN Security Council Patrick Cronin of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, told RFE/RL the Europeans had little choice."The United States has been obviously eager to refer it to New York, to the UN Security Council for the past three years," Cronin said. "And it's been the EU diplomacy, and the EU-3 diplomacy in particular, that has forestalled that. Here, with the breakdown of an apparent agreement, the Europeans had promised to move forward with a referral. The votes...
Post-Election Security in Afghanistan Experts say some military practices, including raids and searches of homes by U.S. soldiers, are particularly offensive to Afghan tradition and culture. The home is the private domain of women and the family, says Colonel Christopher Langton, head of the defense analysis department at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He says having foreign soldiers forcibly enter an Afghan’s home is equivalent to seeing them attack his wife. It is a deep personal insult to Afghans, one...
Emerging Strategic Nuclear Environment According to the minutes of a meeting of Select Committee on Foreign Affairs of the British Parliament, its chairmen described Dr. AQ Khan “history's greatest nuclear proliferator” . Dr. Gary Samore from the International Institute for Strategic Studies said , “ I think we know from documentary evidence that representatives of AQ Khan approached Iraq in the months leading up to the 1991 war, and that Iraq never followed up on that offer. That is one case. According to public...
Soldiers Incident Is Blow To Security Plans "I think that what the British decided, with the benefit of experience, was that there was no point in trying to exercise total control over something which you cannot expect totally to control," said Colonel Christopher Langton of the International Institute of Strategic Studies. "This expedience has allowed certain activities of the militia, who are a part of the local way of life, to continue."
British raid reveals Basra's troubled core "The larger context is the very poor situation in Basra, where the British are not really in control of things," Toby Dodge, an Iraq analyst at Queen Mary College, University of London, said in reaction to Monday's military operation.
Iraq images shock Britain, but Blair is safe "A myth had been perpetrated that the Brits are great and everything's OK in Basra. But the softly-softly approach was not nation-building," said Toby Dodge, an Iraq analyst at Queen Mary's College, University of London.
Iran 'close to nuke know-how' His comment contrasted with a recent assessment by the independent International Institute for Strategic Studies that Tehran was at least five years away from producing enough fissile material for a single bomb, and 15 years was a more likely timeframe.
Day of violence in Basra exposes myth Toby Dodge, an expert on Iraq, based at Queen Mary's College, London, said: "The British presence has been incredibly light. They have a laissez-faire attitude." Two British soldiers were killed by a roadside blast earlier this month and the two undercover men were "probably after those who were responsible for that attack".
Israel: Iran may be 6 months from bomb The authoritative, independent International Institute for Strategic Studies said this month Tehran is at least five years away from producing enough fissile material for a single bomb, and that 15 years was a more likely time frame.
IAEA to Discuss Iran's Nuclear Program All of us who watch these matters and also watch the kinds of reports that come out on these subjects, tend to be cautious now after the errors that were made in judging Iraq's capabilities in 1991, which were much further along than anyone thought, and then Iraq's capabilities in 2003 and 4, which were much further behind what the Bush administration and people like me speculated," said Mr. Spector. "So there are some new reports out about Iran, but let's be cautious about them. The...
An eye on the straits The maiden flight of the Malaysian Hercules C130 military plane under the Eye in the Sky (EiS) programme marks another significant co-operative regional move by the three littoral states to secure the Straits of Malacca against pirates and threats from terrorists. As Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said, the EiS issues "a clear signal to the international community that we are serious about ensuring safety and security in the straits". The three months that it took for...
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