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The futures of Lebanon and nuclear weapons in the Middle East now intertwine, and Iran is the common link. But Tehran will rebuff pressure in one area by indirectly threatening to make things worse in the other. Iran’s counterparts must step back and develop a more comprehensive diplomatic strategy.
Iran has said no to the U.N. Security Council's legally binding demand that Tehran suspend enrichment of uranium, as a first step toward resuming negotiations over the future course of its nuclear-energy program and broader relations with the West. It's now time for the U.S. to quietly rally Europe, the Middle East and Asia to develop plans for containing and deterring a nuclear-armed Iran.
The title of my talk—“Towards a New Stage in U.S. Kazakh Relations in the area of Security Relations”—is designed to be illustrative. I believe that the long-established and deeply rooted cooperation in the area of security relations can serve as an important foundation for taking U.S.-Kazakh relations to a new stage.
The administration's refusal to talk to Syria and Iran reflects a view of diplomacy that is at odds with the practice of most other countries and of other American administrations. If countries are directly at war, diplomatic relations are out of the question. But most countries conceive of diplomacy as a means of resolving conflicts with adversaries short of war.
On July 26, the US House of Representatives passed the “
The House also demanded periodic reporting from the President on
These modifications have generated apprehension on the Indian side. Among the political parties, the CPI (M), a key leftist ally of the ruling Congress government with a traditionally anti-US stance, has expressed a heightened sense of concern about the deal’s impact on
The nuclear deal was recently approved by the U.S. Congress but average educated Indians have mixed feelings about the U.S. The combination of Indian intellectuals over 40 who came of age during the Cold War, younger intellectuals who associate the U.S. with materialism and a sizable Muslim minority opposed to U.S. foreign policy means that India is yet to overcome the past.
President Bush's view of Israel as a strategic ally and vision of a "new Middle East" has seen the escalation of the second intifada, the eclipse of Arafat's Fatah by the more radical Hamas, and a two-front war in Gaza and southern Lebanon. Bush's "new Middle East," has begun to look even less hospitable than the old.
Even though many Lebanese people and several Arab governments criticized Hezbollah for instigating the crisis with Israel, the Israeli air attacks -- including the killing of many civilians -- have now quieted the criticism, and in fact have worsened the already poor standing of the United States in the Arab world.
Aggressive acts like the ones Hizballah and Hamas have perpetrated against Israel in recent weeks are rare against a country that has the strongest military in the region and the world's only military superpower as its chief sponsor. The raids are attributable less to U.S. engagement in Iraq, for instance, than to Washington's disengagement in recent years from the Middle East peace process.
Over the last few decades most, if not all, Arab-Israeli crises have occurred when the United States has been either unable or unwilling to play an aggressive role as a mediator; and most have only abated after the United States has finally thrown itself into the middle of them.
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