How to Talk Down Tehran’s Nuclear Ambitions
Richard Haass and Michael Levi in the Wall Street Journal outline how best to maximize Iran’s recent readiness to engage in negotiations over its nuclear program.
Negotiations need to achieve meaningful results if they are to be embraced. The guiding principle is that Tehran must allow intrusive inspections and limits on its nuclear activities so that it cannot complete a dash for the bomb without providing the world with enough advance warning to react.
‘The Pursuit of a Two-State Solution Is a Fantasy’
Palestinian academic Sari Nusseibeh explains to Der Spiegel his own solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and discusses his skeptism about Hamas.
[I]t took Israel a long time to accept that there is a Palestinian people. It took us, the Palestinians, a long time to accept that we should recognize Israel as a state. The problem is that history runs faster than ideas. By the time the world woke up to the fact that the two-state solution is the best solution, we had hundreds of thousands Israelis living beyond the Green Line. There is a growing fanaticism on both sides. Today, the pursuit of a two-state solution looks like the pursuit of something inside a fantasy bubble.
Back to their Old Ways? Iran, Hizbollah, and International Terrorism
Yoram Schweitzer of the Institute for National Security Studies explores the implications of a decision by Iran and its Lebanon-based proxy to resume attacks on foreign soil.
The international political and economic sanctions imposed on Iran, the implied threats about possible military attacks on Iran by Israel and the US, and the weak response of the nations where the recent attacks failed to produce damage and deaths are all liable to spur Iranand Hizbollah once again to pursue intensive terrorism on the international arena.
An open letter to President Abbas
Al Jazeera publishes a public missive from John V. Whitbeck, the lawyer who advised Palestinian negotiators on its talks with Israel.
[E]ven though the turnover of five non-permanent members on January 1 does not appear to have changed the eight-affirmative-votes-only reality, this does not mean that there is nothing that Palestine can constructively do to recover the initiative and positive momentum of last fall.
Revolutions expose the frailties of Arab armies
Writing in Asharq Alawsat, Amal Al-Hazzani takes Arab nations to task for the disrepair of their armies and the policies that led to this situation.
So, has the reality of the Arab armies been buried under a layer of propaganda? The answer is partially yes, because the vast majority of Arabs used to believe that the Arab military and logistical solidarity alone could destroy Israel. The Egyptian army’s size, the Syrian army’s belief in resistance, and the Gulf states’ logistical support could all contribute to Israel’s defeat.
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