Amidst UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi’s attempts to achieve a temporary Syrian ceasefire, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this week announced a boost in American non-lethal assistance to the Syrian rebels. Meanwhile, Russian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Nikolai Makarov declared… Continue Reading
By Paul Mutter Rolf Ekéus, who was executive chairman for the UN Special Commission on Iraq between 1991 and 1997, writes with Målfrid Braut-Hegghammer, a nuclear expert at Standford University, on the parallels between the run-up to the Iraq War and the present state of… Continue Reading
The Guardian is reporting that a “reformulated” proposal including “limited sanctions relief” will be launched by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (p5+1) after the US presidential election. Earlier this week Al-Monitor reported along the same lines and Secretary… Continue Reading
via IPS News When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the U.N. General Assembly last month that Iran’s nuclear programme was unlikely to breach his “red line” for presumed military action until next spring or summer, many observers here looked… Continue Reading
I forgot to blog on this when it came up last week, but, in the wake of the State Department’s decision to de-list the MEK, two “senior State Department officials” who cannot be otherwise identified, briefed the press on the… Continue Reading