Right Side News
Last week, I wrote on the strategic challenge Iran faces in its bid to shape a sphere of influence stretching from western Afghanistan to Beirut on the eastern Mediterranean coast. I also pointed out the limited options available to the United States and other Western powers to counter Iran. One was increased efforts to block […]
The European Union has agreed to an “unprecedented” set of sanctions against Iran, banning the importation of Iranian oil to its member states while also imposing currency and commodity sanctions on Iran’s central bank. But far from forcing Iran into a corner, the latest sanctions leave a backdoor open to the regime, affording it more time […]
Former Indian Army Officer Col. Dr. Anil Athale Warns: Expect a Chinese Attack Against India by ‘June/July 2012’ In a recent article, former Indian Army officer Dr. Anil Athale warned that China is carefully orchestrating security-related incidents against India. Such incidents include Chinese military incursions into Indian territory in the Western and North-Eastern border […]
Just recently President Obama crossed the Potomac River and stopped at the Pentagon to roll America’s newest national security strategy – Sustaining Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st Century Defense. The key thesis of the strategy is that after ten years of war in the Middle East and with the current fiscal crisis facing the United States […]
The United States reportedly sent a letter to Iran via multiple intermediaries last week warning Tehran that any attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz constituted a red line for Washington. The same week, a chemist associated with Iran’s nuclear program was killed in Tehran. In Ankara, Iranian parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani met with Turkish […]
This week top officials in Iran once again threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz in response to the sanctions on importing oil from Iran. Ali Fadavi, commander of the Revolutionary Guards navy, stated last weekend that Iran has previous experience closing the strait. He warned the United States against launching a naval conflict with […]
In early December I received a call from Fred Burton, Stratfor’s vice president of intelligence. He told me he had received information indicating our website had been hacked and our customer credit card and other information had been stolen. The following morning I met with an FBI special agent, who made clear that there was […]
Understanding the Islamic Republic of Iran presents complex challenges. It requires knowledge of Islam, Shi’ism, and the peculiar interpretation of Shi’ism that Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini developed to legitimize the formation of an Islamic state. It also requires an exploration of the complex and overlapping structures that together comprise the Iranian regime, as well as […]
Editors’ note: Yoaz Hendel now works in the Israeli prime minister’s office. This article was written before his government service; views expressed herein are his alone. While the Obama administration has not reconciled itself to the futility of curbing Tehran’s nuclear buildup through diplomatic means, most Israelis have given up hope that the international sanctions […]
President Barack Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met at the White House on Monday to map out the future relationship between the two countries now that American combat troops will be out of Iraq by the end of this month. While the president proclaimed that we leave Iraq with our “heads held high,” the re-emergence […]
With the Palestinians demonstrating and the International Monetary Fund in turmoil, it would seem odd to focus this week on something called the Visegrad Group. But this is not a frivolous choice. What the Visegrad Group decided to do last week will, I think, resonate for years, long after the alleged attempted rape by Dominique […]
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, which authorizes a no-fly zone over Libya and the protection of civilians by all means necessary, is the culmination of a decade-long effort to radically strengthen the ability of the UN to intervene in sovereign nations through the “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) doctrine. Behind the initiative are, unsurprisingly, some of […]