Michael Ledeen reports that the Natanz uranium enrichment site has been shut down after a mysterious blast happened “in the next-to-bottom level of the underground structure.” A second explosion has struck a site in Zarin Dasht that is used for producing warheads and missile fuel and 7 people are missing.
Category: Geopolitical
The Investigative Project on TerrorismSpeaking out against religious extremism takes courage in today’s Egypt, especially when extremists make up an absolute majority in Parliament. The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) has translated the comments of two courageous Egyptian intellectuals who took to Arabic television to denounce the dominant Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafi parties.
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Israel’s New Strategic Environment
Israel is now entering its third strategic environment. The constant threat of state-on-state war defined the first, which lasted from the founding of the Jewish state until its peace treaty with Egypt. A secure periphery defined the second, which lasted until recently and focused on the Palestinian issue, Lebanon and the rise of radical Sunni […]
As noted yesterday, Dr. Khairat Al-Shater, Deputy Chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), will be the popular, mainstream Egyptian Islamic party’s candidate for the Presidency, breaking the MB’s pledge not to seek this executive office, and assure itself a potential monopoly on state power.
The Meir Amit Intelligent and Terrorism Information Center | Iran News Week of March 2012-Esfand 1390 Iran cut off from SWIFT international clearing house on the eve of Iranian New Year Better close than angry: Supreme Leader retains Rafsanjani as chairman of Expediency Discernment Council From torture chambers to social security: political controversy over appointment of […]
During his March 4 AIPAC speech, President Barack Obama came closer than ever before to declaring that, should sanctions fail, he was prepared to use military force to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Did this mean that the Obama administration is indeed prepared to launch a preventive strike at Iran’s nuclear facilities in the […]
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Afghanistan and the Long War
The war in Afghanistan has been under way for more than 10 years. It has not been the only war fought during this time; for seven of those years another, larger war was waged in Iraq, and smaller conflicts were under way in a number of other countries as well. But the Afghanistan War is […]
The Global March to Jerusalem: Part of the International Campaign to Delegitimize Israel Over the past few years there has been a Palestinian campaign focusing on the so-called “Judaization” of Jerusalem. A number of related topics have been raised recently in what appears to be an orchestrated campaign initiated by leading figures in the PA,·Hamas, […]
The Russian presidential election, won – as predicted – by Vladimir Putin, was dramatic, not because of the results, which were known ahead of time, but because of the public protest of recent months that marked the election propaganda and preparations. Manifestations of the protest continued even after the election and may be expected to […]
Simply put, China has three core strategic interests. Paramount among them is the maintenance of domestic security. Historically, when China involves itself in global trade, as it did in the 19th and early 20th century, the coastal region prospers, while the interior of China — which begins about 100 miles from the coast and […]
In this week’s Geopolitical Weekly, George Friedman discussed the geopolitical cycles that change with each generation. Frequently, especially in recent years, those geopolitical cycles have intersected with changes in the way the tactic of terrorism is employed and in the actors employing it. The Arab terrorism that began in the 1960s resulted from the Cold War […]
A growing immigrant population determined to avoid assimilation. Leading Islamic groups in Switzerland are seeking to establish a single national representative body that will enable all of the country’s Muslims to “speak with one voice.” The organizers say their new “parliament” will be called “Umma Schweiz” and be based on the principles of Islamic Sharia […]