Avatar photoLarijani tries to resign, for the 5th time

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani has apparently tried to resign five times in the last few months. As in his earlier attempts, the resignation was rejected by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Why does Larijani want out? Asharq Al Awsat, a Saudi newspaper, reports that, well, Ahmadinejad is annoying. From Mideastwire.com: Asharq Al Awsat, an independent …

Avatar photoRussian HEU + AQ Khan = New Nuke Book

In the New York Times this past weekend, Jonathan Raban reviews the new book by William Langewieshe (yes, I’ve been wondering too… it’s long-gah-vee-shuh). The Atomic Bazaar combines Langewieshe’s pieces from the Atlantic Monthly, one on smuggling nuclear materials from Russia and the others on the A.Q. Khan network (part 1 and part 2). Raban …

Avatar photoGreetings from Airlie Center

I’ve been attending the New America Foundation’s annual Board & Senior Staff retreat. (I forgot my camera. The beautiful image is from this Flickr photo set.) I’ve been to various meetings at Airlie over the years and positively adore the Whistling Swan. We’ve had interesting panels, including “American Foreign Policy After Bush” with Francis Fukuyama, …

Avatar photoMinimum Means Review in ACT

Brad Roberts has a civil, but largely negative review of my book in the latest edition of Arms Control Today. It points out some things that I could have done better. But one thing really annoys me. Roberts says that I blame the US for driving instability: His assessment of the problem strikes me as …