Clik here to view.
US dithering on Iran deal re-entry causing rift with Europeans
The U.S. and European participants (Britain, Germany, and France) to the nuclear agreement with Iran have submitted on June 7 to the Board of Governors of the IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog, a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
NATO boasts unity but potential for division lies ahead
As the leaders of NATO gathered in Madrid for their summit on June 29, they predictably made a show of unity and solidarity in countering the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and in defense...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Iran hawks' dangerous hubris
If there is something that distinguishes the Iran hawks, it is their seemingly insatiable lust for a war with Iran. The latest iteration of the theme is found in Foundation for Defense of Democracies...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Azerbaijan and the EU’s faltering gas realpolitik
As the European Union scrambles to compensate for the loss of Russian gas as a result of Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen Monday flew to Azerbaijan,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What if the US took a more nuanced view of Iran?
As the talks to revive the nuclear accord known as the JCPOA are reaching the critical stage, the traditional Washington view holds Iran solely responsible for its antagonistic relationship with the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Caucasus conflict highlights US hawks' reckless support for Azerbaijan
U.S. hawks have a habit of disparaging diplomatic engagement with the country’s adversaries as acts of appeasement, even when it clearly serves the national interest. Yet they turn conspicuously...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Protests in Iran make restoring the JCPOA more urgent than ever
The Iran hawks never miss an opportunity to get things wrong. As the murder of a young Iranian woman Mahsa Amini by the infamous “morality police” in Tehran triggered nationwide protests, Nikki Haley,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The US should stay away from Azerbaijan-Iran tensions
One of the persistent weaknesses of U.S. foreign policy is its propensity to enable what a prominent scholar Barry Posen called “reckless driving” — embolden, intentionally or not, U.S. allies and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Saudi-Iran deal exposes EU's waning Middle East influence
The announcement of the restoration of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, under Chinese mediation, has exposed the limits of the European Union’s influence in the Middle East. While...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Will Israel follow Saudi Arabia and make a deal with Iran?
Among the flurry of comments on the China-facilitated normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran, one stood out as particularly intriguing: former chief of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cruz stunt highlights Washington's unhealthy addiction to sanctions
A few hours before President Joe Biden’s White House meeting with his Argentinian counterpart, Alberto Fernandez, last week, the hawkish Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced a bill that seeks to impose...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The folly of Macron-bashing
There’s a certain déjà vu about it: another of those periodic rounds of French-bashing in Washington. This time the trigger was French President Emmanuel Macron’s interview about his recent meetings...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fears of Iranian influence in Latin America are way overblown
The former president of Colombia Ivan Duque, while on a visit to Israel in the end of May, sounded an alarm about Iran enjoying an “increasingly friendly environment” in Latin America that amounts to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The MEK’s waning fortunes
The former vice president of the United States Mike Pence joined a long list of former U.S. dignitaries who have thrown their weight behind the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Qatar emerges as go-between on frozen US-Venezuela front
Spanish newspaper El Pais had a scoop last week: at the beginning of June, Juan Gonzalez and Jorge Rodriguez — President Joe Biden’s adviser on Latin American affairs and Venezuelan President Nicolas...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fresh hysteria over detail-less Bolivia-Iran security deal
Just days after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s trip to Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, concerns about Tehran’s “infiltration” of Latin America were reignited with a deal signed by the Middle Eastern...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hawks hurl lies over Iran prisoner swap but can't hide this truth
After years of discreet negotiations mediated by Qatar, Oman and Switzerland, the U.S. and Iran have reportedly reached an agreement according to which Iran will release five imprisoned dual...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Is BRICS big enough for the Saudi-Iran rivalry?
One of the remarkable aspects of the “big bang” expansion of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) announced at the summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, this week, is the invitation...
View ArticleClik here to view.
EU's vaunted unity is disintegrating over Gaza crisis
Back in 2019, when the current European Commission assumed its term, its president, German conservative Ursula von der Leyen, proclaimed the ambition to build a “geopolitical Commission,” or to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The US needs to talk to Iran
As the war between Israel and Hamas rages on, with horrifying humanitarian toll for the civilians in Gaza, the United States is continuing its unwavering support for Israel: it is not only sending...
View ArticleClik here to view.
On foreign policy, Argentina’s Milei leans neocon, not libertarian
The shock election of a self-proclaimed “libertarian liberal," the chainsaw-wielding eccentric Javier Milei as Argentina’s president has attracted a flurry of attention globally. Most of it was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Is Biden taking the Iran nuclear deal off life support?
When Joe Biden was running for U.S. president, he promised to reverse many of his predecessor’s decisions on foreign policy, generally hewing towards more restraint and diplomacy, and less bluster,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
US push to expand anti-Houthi coalition miffs allies
U.S. efforts to cobble together an international coalition to protect the freedom of navigation in the Red Sea against attacks by the Yemeni Houthi militias who demand an immediate ceasefire in the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
EU-NATO countries entirely split over Israel, Iran, and Houthis
As the United States plunges ever deeper into a fresh Middle East conflagration — this time fighting Iran-backed non-state actors, including Yemen’s Houthis and Shiite resistance groups in Syria and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The EU’s flagging credibility in the Middle East
With no ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas in sight and Houthi forces in Yemen still firing missiles and drones at commercial shipping in the Red Sea, the EU’s efforts at addressing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Iran elections: Hardliners have grip, but foreign policy leans pragmatic
On March 1, Iranians voted for a 290-seat Majles (the parliament) and an 88-seat Assembly of Experts, a clerical body tasked with overseeing the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic and selecting...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Latvia suggests it must 'destroy' Russia. That's not helpful.
When the presumptive Republican nominee for the U.S. presidency Donald Trump threatened that he would withdraw NATO protection from delinquent allies (i.e. those who do not invest enough in their own...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How will Europe respond to Israeli strike on Iran's consulate in Syria?
The fear in Europe that the effects of the war in Gaza would engulf the entire Middle East came one step closer to reality this week with an Israeli air strike against the Iranian consulate in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Europe's hopelessly murky, mixed messaging on restraint
The EU has condemned Iran’s April 14 drone and missile attack against Israel conducted in response to Israel’s lethal bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria on April 1. However, while the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It's time for Iran and Israel to talk
The tit-for-tat strikes between Iran and Israel wrapped up, for now, on April 19 with Israel hitting Iranian targets around the city of Isfahan, with no casualties — just like the Iranian strike on...
View Article
