Community Call on Iran
Oct 19, 2009
On October 8th, Council for a Livable World members participated in a Community Call with Council Board Member Dr. Jim Walsh. Dr. Walsh is a renowned expert on international security who has been involved in private nuclear arms control talks with Iranian officials. The discussion addressed the implications of recent developments in Iran’s nuclear program and U.S.-Iranian negotiations. Dr. Walsh assessed these developments and provided his recommendations for the U.S. strategy in dealing with Iran.
To read a summary of the call, click here.
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Board Member Jim Walsh in NYT: "Sanctions Can't Be the Centerpiece"
Oct 05, 2009
An Op-Ed by CLW Board Member Jim Walsh was recently posted on the New York Times "Room for Debate" blog discussing whether sanctions against Iran have actually been working. Here's an excerpt:
Today, like most days, talk about Iran is talk about sanctions. Politicians and policymakers are drawn to sanctions because they offer an alternative to the unpleasant choice of war or surrender. Sanctions are also good politics, especially with a regime whose president questions the Holocaust and whose recent election brought both protesters and prison sentences. No one wants to start another war in the region, and sanctions provide the satisfaction of “doing something.”
But will they work? Will they force Iran to abandon its nuclear program? Research on the effect of sanctions is difficult to assess, but some scholars conclude that sanctions work about half the time. They are most effective when applied over a long period of time on small countries that are dependent on the outside world. Iran is a big country with oil, and it can build centrifuges faster than the international community can impose sanctions. The Islamic Republic is also a proud country, the kind for which sanctions are as likely to elicit defiance, as they are cooperation. Indeed, the Islamic Republic has been under one kind of sanction or another since its founding 30 years ago. Any objective assessment would have to conclude that sanctions have completely failed to alter Iran’s nuclear policy. [...]
Council Expert Discusses Iran and North Korea
Jun 23, 2009
The last time the Council hosted a community call for several of its members, a number of people asked for a transcript or summary of the call. We didn't have summaries then, but now we do.
On June 4, approximately 20 Council for a Livable World members participated in a conference call on the nuclear crises in North Korea and Iran with Council Board Member, Dr. Jim Walsh. Walsh is a renowned expert on international security who has been involved in private nuclear arms control talks with Iranian and North Korean officials.
This call of course took place before the election in Iran, so post-election commentary isn't available, but Walsh did address what the election's outcome might mean for U.S.-Iran relations.
Other topics covered? What impact the President's recent speech in Cairo might have on U.S.-Iran relations, what the recent naming of a successor to Kim Jong-il means for North Korea, and whether the same formula can be used for dealing with the regimes in both countries.