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....Ahmadinejad is odious but I don’t think he’s dangerous. Some people do of course find him dangerous, especially in the Israel he gratuitously insults and threatens, and yet others — many more I’d say — find it convenient to find him dangerous.... Yes, Ahmadinejad is the bogeyman from Central Casting. One of the things there’s time for, if you’re not playing games with the Iran specter, is a serious push for an Israeli-Palestinian breakthrough that would further undermine the Iranian president. I don’t expect that, however. And here are two more predictions: Obama won’t attack Iran and nor will Israel,...

New York, NY - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met here, September 21, with 100 leaders and representatives of anti-war, labor, alternative media and Iranian and Palestinian solidarity organizations. Among the participants were Sarah Martin, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Margaret Sarfehjooy, board member of the Minneapolis-based Women Against Military Madness, former attorney general Ramsey Clark, former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, Sara Flounders from the International Action Center, Brian Becker of the ANSWER coalition, Ramona Africa of the Free Mumia Coalition and Amiri Baraka, poet and activist. The meeting was called by the president of Iran with the hope that a frank and...

Sources in the Gulf region report that Iran is preparing for a possible attack by Israel and/or the United States on one or more of its nuclear production units by stockpiling arms and munitions with its proxy militias in Kuwait and Bahrain. This comes as Bahrain arrests 23 opposition leaders accused of terrorism offences and hints that Iran is behind an alleged plot to overthrow the government. SIGNIFICANCE: Bahrain's attempted coup reports should be taken seriously, as Iran knows that its best chance of fighting the US and/or Israel is by proxy. Hitting Bahrain hard would greatly upset the overall...

While President Obama enjoys his sixth vacation of the year, at the exclusive playground of America’s liberal elites at Martha’s Vineyard, the United States’ most dangerous state-based adversary on the world stage is celebrating the opening of its first nuclear reactor, the Russian-built power plant at Bushehr. Although purportedly for civilian purposes, there can be no doubt that this is a huge leap forward for Iran’s nuclear weapons programme, with US officials acknowledging Iran is just “12 months from a nuclear weapon.” Earlier this week, Tehran announced it was building 10 uranium enrichment plants in protected mountain strongholds, and on...

The Obama administration, citing evidence of continued troubles inside Iran’s nuclear program, has persuaded Israel that it would take roughly a year — and perhaps longer — for Iran to complete what one senior official called a “dash” for a nuclear weapon, according to American officials. White House officials said they believe the assessment has dimmed the prospect that Israel would pre-emptively strike against the country’s nuclear facilities within the next year, as Israeli officials have suggested in thinly veiled threats. For years, Israeli and American officials have debated whether Iran is on an inexorable drive toward a nuclear bomb...

Russia says it will launch Iran's nuclear power plant in Bushehr next week. The Russian nuclear agency Rosatom, which is building the facility in Bushehr, announced that engineers will start loading the reactor with fuel on August 21, under strict control. A Russian delegation, headed by Rosatom Director General Sergey Kiriyenko, will attend the launch ceremony.

Iran's light water nuclear power plant at Bushehr is preparing to go "live" - again. Iranian and Russian nuclear scientists and officials have announced Bushehr's reactor will soon be receiving its first shipment of nuclear fuel 36 years after construction first began on the project. This claim may be quietly fueling speculation that a military strike on Iran by Israel - or the United States - may be imminent. The Persian-language news site Mardom Salari reported on August 3 that members of the Iranian armed forces had been transferred to Bushehr to evaluate the security of the air space above...

Former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton said he didn't see "any signs whatsoever that President Obama would make the necessary decision" to strike Iran's nuclear reactor, speaking in an interview with Israel Radio Tuesday. Bolton claimed Israel has only three days to strike before Russia "begins the fueling process for the Bushehr reactor this Friday," after which any attack would cause radioactive fallout that could reach as far as the waters of the Persian Gulf. In an interview with Fox Business Network earlier Tuesday Bolton had said the deadline was eight days, but he revised it to three...

The Obama Administration is pushing for a nuclear-free world to prevent what happened in Japan from ever happening again.. A top Department of Defense official says the U.S. is committed to reducing nuclear weapons but will also counter any nuclear threats from terrorists. The Obama Administration says it will not be conducting underground nuclear tests or developing new nuclear warheads, because it does not want a repetition of what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Many years ago, I was privileged to attend a dinner with James Rowe, one of the passion-for-anonymity young aides to Franklin Roosevelt, original author of the winning strategy for Harry Truman’s 1948 campaign, and close confidant of Lyndon Johnson. Rowe described how Johnson tested insider opinion. He would call an ideologically wide range of acquaintances and ask their views on an issue of the day. Most responded as he expected. But when one or two said something he hadn’t expected, he would take notice. Maybe things weren’t going as he thought. That memory returned as I read three recent articles...

MOSCOW (AFP) – Iran is close to having the potential to build a nuclear weapon, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday in the clearest indication yet of Russian alarm over Tehran's atomic drive. "Iran is nearing the possession of the potential which in principle could be used for the creation of a nuclear weapon," Medvedev said at a meeting with Russian diplomats quoted by Russian news agencies. Russia, traditionally a diplomatic and economic ally of the Islamic republic, in the past took a milder line against Tehran than Western powers but recently noticeably hardened its position. Iran has over the...

THE DEPROLIFERATOR — Since the end of the Cold War, the circumstances under which a U.S. president might authorize the launch of nuclear weapons have changed. First, it bears mentioning that, even though he or she is always accompanied by the “nuclear football,”* a president’s ability to exercise complete command over the response to a nuclear attack has long been overrated. Back in 2004, Global Zero Co-Coordinator and President of the World Security Institute Bruce Blair wrote: . . . the president’s supporting command system is not actually geared to withhold retaliation in the event of enemy missile attack, real...

When it comes to nuclear weapons, oldies are goodies. Take, for example, the American B61 nuclear device. About the same shape as a 1,000 pound (455 kg) bomb, many NATO fighter bombers were equipped (with the electronics) to use this bomb during the Cold War (and many can still do so). Some 3,200 B61s were built since it entered service in the late 1960s, and about a third of those remain available for use. Some are to be refurbished, but politicians are still debating doing this just to keep B61s good for another two decades. Without the refurb, all these...

For more than 60 years, nuclear-armed fighters have been a key part of the US deterrence calculus, particularly in Europe. Indeed, providing the umbrella of "extended deterrence" to NATO nations has been a mission performed by generations of USAF air crews, maintainers, and security forces. It now appears that, before long, the iconic nuclear fighter role, performed in recent years by the F-15E and F-16, will pass to a new heavyweight—the F-35 Lightning II. As the Obama Administration sees it, nuclear weapons delivered by fighters will continue to play an important role in the nation’s international affairs. The 2010 Nuclear...

North Korea said Monday it will bolster its nuclear arsenal "in a newly developed way" to counter what it calls U.S. hostile policy and military threats toward the communist nation. The North also claimed in a separate statement that the U.S. has brought "heavy weapons" into a truce village that straddles the divided Koreas, warning of strong military action if they are not quickly withdrawn. North Korea has stepped up its fiery rhetoric against the U.S. in recent weeks after Washington sided with Seoul in condemning Pyongyang for the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in March. "The recent...

Iran has enough low-enriched uranium to make two weapons, which it could have prepared and ready for delivery as early as 2012, CIA director Leon Panetta warned Sunday. "We think they have enough low-enriched uranium for two weapons," Panetta told the ABC network's "This Week" program. Tehran would need a year to enrich it fully to produce a bomb and it would take "another year to develop the kind of weapon delivery system in order to make that viable," he said. Iran is under mounting international pressure over its suspect nuclear program, which the West fears masks a covert weapons...

Despite an ongoing Defense Department review of potential follow-on options for the Air Force's premiere intercontinental ballistic missile program, development of a new ICBM system will not be one of those options, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said today. While the final results and subsequent recommendations from the Minuteman III ICBM review are not due for months, the service is not ready to dedicate funding or other resources toward the development of a new nuclear missile, Donley said during a breakfast in Washington. “We have already taken steps to get [the Minuteman III] to 2020; now we are focused on...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-obama-and-president-medvedev-russia-us-russia-business-summit Home • Briefing Room • Speeches & Remarks The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release June 24, 2010 Remarks by President Obama and President Medvedev of Russia at the U.S.-Russia Business Summit U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 3:08 P.M. EDT PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, good afternoon, everybody. It is a pleasure to be here with my friend and partner, President Medvedev, and I want to thank him again for his leadership, especially his vision for an innovative Russia that’s modernizing its economy, including deeper economic ties between our...

The United States studied a plan for a nuclear strike on North Korea in 1969 but advisers to then-president Richard Nixon concluded it was best to remain calm, declassified documents showed Wednesday. The documents, obtained by the National Security Archive at George Washington University, foreshadow present-day US frustration on how to handle Pyongyang following its nuclear tests and the sinking of a South Korean ship. In 1969, North Korea shot down a US spy aircraft over the Sea of Japan (East Sea), killing the 31 personnel on board. Despite US outrage, the new Nixon administration chose not to retaliate other...

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Sunday refused to address the notion of having to contain a nuclear armed Iran, saying US efforts were aimed at preventing it from acquiring atomic weapons. "I don't think we're prepared to even talk about containing a nuclear Iran. I think... our view still is we do not accept the idea of Iran having nuclear weapons," he said in an interview with Fox News Sunday. "And our policies and our efforts are all aimed at preventing that from happening," he said. Asked whether a military strike against Iran was preferable to it acquiring nuclear...