Nukes for Peace!

Analysis…

Photo by Reuters

Iranian officials test fired three short-range missiles earlier this week, much to the dismay of the Western world.  The missiles have the potential to strike Israel and parts of European and American bases in the Persian Gulf; so basically, any place that threatens Iran.  The Obama administration has sanctioned Iran and is currently working on establishing “tougher” sanctions to punish the country.  Bloggers and critics assess the enforcer role the Obama administration has assumed, and whether or not Iran will submit to it.

The Atlantic Politics Channel |  Whether the U.S. is working toward complete disarmament can be debated. President Obama said in Prague in April that he wants to live in a world where no nuclear weapons exist; he succeeded in passing a nonproliferation resolution as he chaired a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York last week; it’s one of his pet international issues. At the same time, there’s a discussion within the administration and the Defense Department about what to do with old American nukes that need to be replaced, modified, or maybe even improved for tactical superiority.
Iran’s complaint, after the revelation of its previously undisclosed enrichment plant and the test of missiles that could hit Tel Aviv, is about casting first stones. But at least the U.S. is working toward a non-proliferation agreement with Russia this December.

The Foundry |  So if Iran has twice test-fired missiles this year that can hit targets stretching from Israel to Europe, then how can the Obama administration possibly justify reneging on agreements with Poland and the Czech Republic to host land based missile defense?
Before President Obama’s reversal we were building systems to protect against medium and long-range threats. All the Obama administration did is cut our missile defenses in half. We are in a desperate race to beat the clock on Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. Why on earth are we stopping now to let the Iranians catch up?

Townhall |  Iran is reported to have test fired a long range missile [Monday}, which is all the reply a sensible person needs to understand how the mullahs will conduct themselves over the next two months.  [Monday’s] coverage of this event tell[s] us a lot about whether Beltway-Manhattan media elites even understand what is unfolding around the world.

Atlas Shrugs |  Amid growing international pressure in advance of highly anticipated talks this week, Iran displayed its defiance of Western threats against its nuclear program by announcing Sunday that it had test-fired at least two short-range missiles.
“We are going to respond to any military action in a crushing manner, and it doesn’t make any difference which country or regime has launched the aggression,” Gen. Hossein Salami, head of the Revolutionary Guard Air Force, said, according to Iranian state media.

The Nation |  …and what it isn’t clear that the Obama administration gets, is that the US can’t just bluster and threaten Iran with sanctions to get its way. Negotiations succeed when both parties, not just one, can claim victory. To succeed, the United States is going to have to put on the table an offer to accept Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, without calling for a “freeze” or the dismantling of the whole thing. In exchange, Iran is going to have to accept strict and intrusive international oversight and inspections of its facilities, to ensure that it doesn’t have a military dimension. That’s the deal that will work. Anything less just ain’t happening.

News…

• An Obama administration plan to build huge new solar energy plants in the Southwest is causing heartburn in the environmental community (Read more).
• The U.S. Secret Service is investigating a Facebook survey that asked whether people thought President Barack Obama should be assassinated, officials said Monday (Read more).
• Western powers have condemned Iran for test-firing its most advanced long-range missiles, with the White House calling the move “provocative” (Read more).
• In a dramatic acceleration of forecasts for global warming, UK scientists say the global average temperature could rise by 4C (7.2F) as early as 2060 (Read more).
• McChrystal says he has talked with Obama once since taking command in Afghanistan (Read more).