From the Dept. of Two Cents. With all due respect to Geoff’s take, the latest Iranian position in the endless saga of the Zombie Fuel Swap is not, properly speaking, a confidence-building measure; it’s a confidence-demolition measure. Except for one very important feature, the new Iranian stance is quite close to previous ideas discussed by …
CBMs Gone Wild
by | 2010-05-17 | 8 Comments
If confidence building measures (CBM) were people, the TRR refueling deal would be a college student partying it up in Cancun, complete with all the risky behavior usually associated with that lifestyle. Why didn’t the West simply say, “Thanks, but no thanks” when Iran started to try to change the terms of the deal? Instead, …
Zombie Fuel Swap, Back from Dead, Again
by | 2010-05-17 | 73 Comments
It seems Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan have convinced Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to send 1200 kg of low enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for new fuel for the TRR. Robert Naiman gets off the best line, even if it isn’t quite fair, saying “It’s …
New START and Missile Alert Rates
by | 2010-05-14 | 9 Comments
We have a bunch of New START documents now, including the article-by-article analysis and an unclassified summary of the 1251 report. I am still a little puzzled by the proposed treaty compliant force structure, but I think — think — the Administration might have decided to reduce the alert rate of the ICBM force. New …
