Iran: Sanctions

Iran: European Sanctions Condemned(New York Times)…Reuters, June 25, 2008

Iran said new sanctions imposed by the European Union over its nuclear plans could hurt diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute. On Monday, the European Union agreed on punitive measures aimed at businesses and individuals the West says are linked to Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The sanctions include an asset freeze on Iran’s largest bank, Bank Melli, and visa bans on some officials. A Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, called the move “illegal” and made clear it would not slow Iran’s nuclear work.

Iraq: U.S. Chamber of Commerce

PRESS RELEASE: Enterra Solutions CEO Joins U.S. Chamber of Commerce as Co-Chair of Effort in Iraq (pdf)

“Enterra Solutions’ Kurdistan Business Center, and its creation of a repeatable process and infrastructure to enable foreign direct investment and joint venture transactions will be of great value to our Initiative Members,” said Aram Zamgochian, the Chamber’s Project Director for Middle East and Africa Affairs. “I look forward to highlighting this innovative and much-needed investment promotion vehicle in a strategically vital part of the world—Iraq.”

Enterra Solutions, at http://www.enterrasolutions.com, is the global leader in applying Advanced Enterprise
Management Systems™ to help public and private sector clients transform into resilient organizations
that proactively mitigate strategic risk, further competitive advantage and optimize enterprise
performance.

North Korea: Prime Time

Tower Destruction To Be Aired On TV
(Washington Times)…Unattributed, June 23, 2008
Pg. 22

North Korea has invited foreign television stations to broadcast its planned destruction of a key facility at the Yongbyon nuclear complex, South Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator said Sunday.

France: NATO

Sarkozy Woos NATO, (Washington Times)…Baptiste Etchegaray, June 23, 2008, Pg. 23

The decision by French President Nicholas Sarkozy to rejoin NATO’s military command has reopened a sensitive debate over the country’s strategic independence, a hallmark of French foreign policy since France left NATO’s integrated command in 1966.

Israel: Capability

Israel’s Jets Not Enough, (New York Post)…Dan Williams, Reuters, Jan 22, 1980, pg. 10

Israel has spent years training for a possible bombing run against Iranian nuclear sites, but its air force may be too small to finish the job alone, officials and independent experts said yesterday.

Officials, who declined to be identified given the censorship around Israel’s strategic capabilities, said the air force would be unlikely to deliver more than a one-time blow to the Iranian nuclear program, which international experts believe may require as many as 1,000 strikes to be destroyed.

“A hundred warplanes are enough for a raid, but they do not make for an air campaign – and that is what is needed to deal conclusively with Iran’s capabilities,” an official said. “Israel wants to go it alone against Iran as a last resort only.”

New Technologies: Less Weight

Wearable Power A Prize That Could Go To War
(San Francisco Chronicle)…Tom Abate, June 22, 2008
Pg. C1

…Pentagon officials hope to lighten soldiers’ loads by encouraging the development of new technologies, such as fuel cells, that can provide more juice and weigh less than bulky batteries. Rather than solicit bids, the Pentagon has set up a competition. In October, it will field test new power storage technologies in a contest offering three cash awards of $1 million, $500,000 and $250,000. The winning devices must deliver at least 96 hours worth of power in a package weighing less than 9 pounds.

Iraq: Patience and Policy

The Bush Paradox (New York Times)…David Brooks, June 24, 2008 Pg. 23

Let’s go back and consider how the world looked in the winter of 2006-2007. Iraq was in free fall, with horrific massacres and ethnic cleansing that sent a steady stream of bad news across the world media. The American public delivered a stunning electoral judgment against the Iraq war, the Republican Party and President Bush.

… More than a year on, the surge has produced large, if tenuous, gains. Violence is down sharply. Daily life has improved. Iraqi security forces have been given time to become a more effective fighting force. The Iraqi government is showing signs of strength and even glimmers of impartiality. Iraq has moved from being a failed state to, as Vali Nasr of the Council on Foreign Relations has put it, merely a fragile one.

The whole episode is a reminder that history is a complicated thing. The traits that lead to disaster in certain circumstances are the very ones that come in handy in others. The people who seem so smart at some moments seem incredibly foolish in others.

Cyber Warfare

Catching Spies Updated, (Washington Times)…Ed Timperlake, June 24, 2008

…The creation of the USAF Cyber Command is a tremendous first step in focusing technology and people to dominate what has been called “cyber-battle space.”

In this new century, with the continuing pressure of pacifist demilitarization, a new military threat is upon us as a country. With the emergence of world-altering computer technology, the Internet brings a new dimension of war and counterintelligence.

North Korea: Nuclear Assets

North Korea To List Nuclear Assets
(Wall Street Journal)…Jay Solomon, June 24, 1980.

North Korea is expected to turn over a declaration of its plutonium-producing nuclear assets this week in what could mark a breakthrough in the Bush administration’s five-year campaign to disarm Pyongyang, according to U.S. officials.

Israel, Iran, U.S. Elections

Israel ‘Will Attack Iran’ Before New US President Sworn In, John Bolton Predicts, (London Daily Telegraph)…Toby Harnden, June 24, 2008

John Bolton, the former American ambassador to the United Nations, has predicted that Israel could attack Iran after the November presidential election but before George W Bush’s successor is sworn in.

“An Obama victory would rule out military action by the Israelis because they would fear the consequences given the approach Obama has taken to foreign policy,” said Mr Bolton, who was Mr Bush’s ambassador to the UN from 2005 to 2006.

“With McCain they might still be looking at a delay. Given that time is on Iran’s side, I think the argument for military action is sooner rather than later absent some other development.”

William Kristol, a prominent neo-conservative, told Fox News on Sunday that an Obama victory could prompt Mr Bush to launch attacks against Iran. “If the president thought John McCain was going to be the next president, he would think it more appropriate to let the next president make that decision than do it on his way out,” he said.