Iran and the I.A.E.A.: What We're Reading Now
Nov 18, 2011

IRAN
Iran nuclear sanctions hurt the middle class, not Guards
Oren Dorell, USA Today - November 17, 2011
International sanctions aimed at Iran's nuclear program have hurt the country's middle class and caused factories to shut down while low-quality goods flood the country, say foreign policy analysts.

Nuclear Watchdog Seeks Consensus on Iran
Alan Cowell, NYT - November 18, 2011
The global powers dealing with the bitter international dispute over Iran’s nuclear intentions were reported on Friday to be seeking a consensus for new demands on Tehran to allay deepening apprehensions about its suspected efforts to build a nuclear weapon.

Iranian delegate accuses IAEA chief of security leaks that threaten Iranian lives
AP - November 18, 2011
A senior Iranian envoy is accusing the head of the U.N. nuclear body of security leaks that expose his country’s scientists and their families to the threat of assassination by the U.S. and Israel.

Iran and the I.A.E.A.
Seymour M. Hersh, The New Yorker - November 18, 2011
The first question in last Saturday night’s Republican debate on foreign policy dealt with Iran, and a newly published report by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Nuclear Watchdog Seeks Mission to Iran: What We're Reading Now
Nov 17, 2011

IRAN
Nuclear Watchdog Seeks Mission to Iran
Alan Cowell, NYT - November 17, 2011
dding new pressures on Tehran over its disputed nuclear program, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said on Thursday he wanted to send a high-level mission to Iran to investigate a report by his agency that Iranian scientists had engaged in secret and possibly "ongoing" efforts to construct a nuclear weapon.

East-West Split Threatens Nuclear Unity on Iran
ABC News (AP) - November 16, 2011
The U.S. and its Western allies face an unpalatable choice over Iran at a key U.N. atomic agency meeting Thursday. They can defy Russia and China with a demand that the Islamic Republic start answering questions on its alleged secret nuclear arms program or face renewed referral to the U.N. Security Council.

NORTH KOREA
S. Korea, U.S., Japan to hold talks on N. Korea in Bali
Yonhap News - November 17, 2011
Senior diplomats from South Korea, the United States and Japan will hold trilateral talks in Indonesia on Thursday to coordinate their joint strategy on the North Korean nuclear standoff, a Seoul official said.

U.S. foreign policy turns toward Asia: What We're Reading Now
Nov 16, 2011

IRAN
Arabs, Israel to attend nuclear talks, Iran uncertain
Fredrik Dahl, Reuters - November 15, 2011
Arab states and Israel plan to attend a rare round of talks next week on efforts to free the world of nuclear weapons but Iran has yet to say whether it will take part in the meeting in Vienna, diplomats said on Wednesday.

Iran’s nuclear defiance finds rare common ground in fractured country
AP (Washington Post) - November 15, 2011
Banners proclaiming Iran’s “obvious right” to nuclear technology are draped over building facades. State media describe the head of the U.N. atomic watchdog agency as an American puppet and dismiss claims about nuclear weapons advances as made-in-USA falsehoods.

Iran ready to help Turkey with nuclear plant - aide
Louis Charbonneau, Reuters - November 16, 2011
An adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader said on Tuesday that Tehran was willing to share its controversial nuclear technology with neighboring countries, suggesting it could help Turkey build an atomic power plant.

Defense spending and Iran
The Hill - November 15, 2011
Over the last couple of weeks, there has been a lot of chatter about the possibility of Israel bombing Iran’s nuclear site, with or without U.S. participation.

The 2012 Election and the Rebuplican Party's Foreign Policy: What We're Reading Now
Nov 15, 2011

IRAN
Analysis: Israelis doubt world will stop Iran's nuclear quest
Dan Williams, Reuters - November 15, 2011
The latest report by U.N. inspectors has hardened suspicions that Iran is seeking nuclear arms capability, but Israeli experts have little confidence that international action will deny the Islamic Republic the means to make a bomb.

Handicapping a War over Iran's Nuclear Aims: Noe & Raad
Nicholas Noe & Walid Raad, Bloomberg (Opinon) - November 14, 2011
As concerns mounted over a possible military confrontation between Israel and Iran, several leading Arab commentators argued that such worries were overblown.

NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA
Seoul halts flying leaflets to N. Korea
Kim Young-jin, The Korea Times - November 15, 2011
Seoul has suspended its launches of anti-regime pamphlets into North Korea, a military source said Tuesday in the latest sign of easing tension on the peninsula.

N. Korea down bitter rivals Japan in W.Cup qualifier
Hiroshi Hiyama, AFP - November 15, 2011
North Korea downed bitter rivals Japan 1-0 on Tuesday in a bad-tempered World Cup qualifier dripping with political tensions and littered with yellow cards.

GOP contenders spar over Pakistan, foreign aid at debate: What We're Reading Now
Nov 14, 2011

IRAN
Obama vows new bid to thwart Iran nuclear effort
AP - November 13, 2011
President Barack Obama says sanctions on Iran are having "enormous bite," but he still wants to work with Russia and China to find more ways of putting pressure on Tehran to halt its nuclear program.

Politics stokes fears over Iran nuclear plans
Roula Khalaf, Financial Times - November 14, 2011
In January this year, Hillary Clinton sounded an unusually relaxed note about Iran’s nuclear programme. “The sanctions are working,” the US secretary of state declared, adding that the US authorities’ best estimate was that the programme had been “slowed down”.

Behind Iran's Nuclear Quest: An Ancient Civilization's Pride and Insecurity
Karl Vick, Time (Blog)- November 13, 2011
Every nation has its pride, but the feeling runs especially deep in Iran. There, the sense of nationhood extends back 2,500 years, to the time of Darius and Xerxes and other names that Americans might possibly have heard of somewhere — maybe in the action movie 300 — but which anchor modern Iranians to a stream of history that predates every Abrahamic religion, including Islam, and carries real implications for the nuclear issue. For outsiders, it makes the issue a lot tougher.

McManus: Facing a nuclear Iran
Doyle MacManus, LA Times (Op-Ed) - November 13, 2011
Republicans are critical of Obama's approach, but their own policies aren't that different.