Years · 2006

May 2006

30 posts

Article

Rohani Letter

Not to be outdone, Hassan Rohani, former Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, has an open letter in Time. I was particularly taken by this line: Could it be that the extremists all around see their interests — however…

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Ahmadinejad Letter

I’ve read the full text of the letter (as posted by the Wall Street Journal) and let me say that it is much, much odder than a mix tape. Reportedly your government employs extensive security, protection and intelligence systems—and even…

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The Ballad of ABomb and GDub

Ahmadenijad (A-bomb) sent Bush (G-Dub) a letter that suggesting some “new solutions” in the context of US-Iran relations: Iran’s leader has written to President Bush proposing “new solutions” to their differences in the first letter from an Iranian head of…

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Iran's 164 Centrifuge Cascade

Somehow this news story didn’t get wider attention, but Dafna Linzer’s article in the Post last week claimed some of Iran’s centrifuges appeared to crash during the operation of the 164 centrifuge cascade. Linzer cited “several officials with knowledge of…

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Silliness

It’s kind of like them changing the name of the movie. It’s stupid. “Oh we don’t want to give too much away.” Of course you do! You want people to know they’re coming to see people trapped on a plane…

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UNSC Iran Resolution

The FT has the text of the draft UNSC resolution that the US, France and the UK introduced. These are the most interesting portions, IMO. Note the blank. Concerned by the proliferation risks presented by the Iranian nuclear programme, mindful…

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More About Intelligence

A quick follow-up to Jeffrey’s post about intelligence and political pressure. Paul Pillar, former National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia, said during a 7 March CFR appearence: MR. BASS: In your Foreign Affairs piece, you talk…

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Starfire Optical Range

More than a year after we started complaining in earnest about antisatellite research scheduled at the Air Force’s Starfire Optical Range (see ACW, Starfire Optical Range, 8 April 2005), Bill Broad at the New York Times discovers the “largely secret…

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Quote Of The Day: Gary Payton

We’d be fools to actually get into the kinetic energy anti-satellite business. It would be hugely disadvantageous for the U.S. to get into that game. —Deputy Undersecretary of the Air Force for Space Programs Gary Payton (no, not that Gary…

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Politicizing Intel

I’ve long complained the definition of “politicizing” intelligence is too narrow—“whether any analysts had been pressured to change their analysis or assessments” in the phrase of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee and “make or change any analytic judgments in response…