Ban urges N. Korea to work with UN on food crisis: What We're Reading Now
Sep 30, 2011
IRAN
On Iran, Turn Rhetoric Into Results
Reza Marashi, The Huffington Post -- September 30, 2011
For President Obama to peacefully defuse the Iran crisis, he must actively seek to do the right thing in the end -- turn his compelling vision into practical policy, and rhetoric into results.
US threatens sanctions on China banks over Iran
AFP -- September 28, 2011
A top US envoy said Wednesday that Washington could penalise China's four biggest state banks if they were found doing business with an Iranian insurance firm in violation of US nuclear sanctions.
NORTH KOREA
North Korea Wants to Sell South Unused Fuel Rods: Sources
Global Security Newswire -- September 30, 2011
North Korea requested that South Korea buy its unused nuclear fuel rods should it accept other nations' demands for relaunching multilateral talks aimed at shuttering Pyongyang's nuclear program, the Asahi Shimbun reported on Friday.
Ban urges N. Korea to work with UN on food crisis
AFP -- September 29, 2011
UN leader Ban Ki-moon called on North Korea to be more open with UN agencies battling the country's food crisis, during a meeting with a Pyongyang minister, a UN spokesman said Thursday.
What We're Reading Now
Aug 26, 2011
IRAN
The martyr state myth
Matthew Duss, Foreign Policy -- August 24, 2011
The "martyr state" myth is based upon two flawed assumptions. First, that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been uniquely willing to endure the deaths of its own citizens in order to achieve its policy goals. Second, that the Iranian Shiite regime's End Times theology actually induces it to trigger a conflagration.
Tehran's Nuclear Endgame
Michael Rubin, The National Review -- August 25, 2011
When considering Iran’s nuclear weapons, however, the character of the regime is less important than the ideology of those who would have custody, command, and control of the nuclear arsenal.
Iran sees fresh hope in nuclear inspections
Kaveh Afrasiabi, Asia Times -- August 26, 2011
he United Nations' nuclear watchdog has had a fresh look at Iran's facilities and this, together with Tehran's embrace of a Russian proposal to gradually resolve the nuclear standoff, may set the stage for a new round of multilateral nuclear talks in the next few weeks.