Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
Even if Iran gets the bomb, Israel has one already. What Israel needs is a nuclear strategy based not on overwhelming military superiority, but on mutually assured destruction, and which views Iran as a rational actor
If you favour putting the arms race into reverse, chew on this: Formal arms reduction treaties can create perverse incentives and even be worse than doing nothing. Reductions happen more effectively if negotiators butt out
"One must ultimately ask whether the conjectured consequences of an Iranian bomb would be worse than war with Iran. The conjectures are just that. They are worst-case speculations, not adequate justifications for going to war"
A counterargument to alarmist commentary on Iran's nuclear programme. If Tehran is lying, or changes its mind and does develop nuclear weapons, it will find they're essentially useless and a waste of time and money. Here's why
Much talk recently about how Iran should be prevented from developing nuclear weapons and, were it to have them, how it would behave. But what does the historical record tell us about states that have acquired such weapons?
Gripping account of Israeli perspective on Iranian nuclear programme. Israel thinks it has about nine months in which to derail project. After that, Iran would be able to withstand an attack. Will it act? Looks that way, to Bergman
Another nuclear scientist is killed on the streets of the Iranian capital. He's the fourth to be assassinated in recent years. Who did it? Look to who had the means, motive and opportunity
Excellent piece on uses and limitations of sanctions. An economic means trying to achieve a political end. Even if economic impact is severe they rarely work. They don't avoid war either. Can even lead to it
Interview with former Rafsanjani and Khatami adviser, Seyed Hossein Mousavian, gives Iranian view on recent nuclear row. "Sanctions have only intensified Iran's ethos of resistance" and suspicions about America's real intentions
Much of the uranium for the Manhattan Project came from a mine in north-west Canada. The indigenous people who worked there had no idea what use the material would be put to, or how their own health would suffer
Analysis of deepening ties between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Many shared strategic interests, increasingly difficult relations with US ally. Saudis fund Pakistani madrasas, possible other things too, employ Pakistani soldiers
Nuclear weapon strategists still stuck in Cold War era of second strikes and mutually assured destruction. All a country needs now is a few cheap bombs to deter any aggressor
