A poster of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini is seen next to bank of centrifuges in what is described by Iranian state television as a facility in Natanz, in this still image taken from video released Feb. 15, 2012. IRIB Iranian TV via Reuters TV/Reuters
Iran Maneuvers For Upper Hand Ahead Of Nuclear Talks -- Scott Peterson, Christian Science Monitor
Expectations for a breakthrough at the talks are low. The P5+1 appears to be offering little new and an IAEA report shows Iran has made steady nuclear progress since talks stalled last spring.
Iran is continuing to advance its nuclear program, according to a new report by United Nations inspectors, gaining bargaining chips on the eve of a new round of talks with six world powers in Kazakhstan.
After an eight-month hiatus, Iran will sit down on Feb. 26 with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (known as the P5+1) to find ways to cap Iran’s nuclear progress.
After three failed rounds of talks last spring, P5+1 diplomats now say they will make a “substantial and serious offer” to Iran in an effort to convince it to give up sensitive nuclear work that could lead to a bomb.
Yet expectations are low for a breakthrough in the Kazakh city of Almaty.
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Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials
Damascus blasts show us Assad barely controls his own capital -- Stepehn Starr, The Globe and Mail
Welcome to Phase Three of the Arab Spring -- Paul Berman, New Republic
Mali: the worst is yet to come -- Imad Mesdoua, The Guardian
Egypt Wants Its Business Tycoons to Return -- David J. Lynch, Bloomberg Businessweek
Is the Muslim Brotherhood seeking to kill Egypt's NGOs? -- Kristen Chick, Christian Science Monitor
Pyongyang’s reckless threat -- Joong Ang Daily
Why Wasn’t There a Chinese Spring? -- Steve Hess, The Diplomat
What Japan's hawkish Prime Minister Abe wants from Obama -- Peter Ford, Christian Science Monitor
Hyderabad blasts a stark reminder -- Gulf News
The West should support Japan’s recovery -- Washington Post editorial
Three Steps Forward in Afghanistan -- Max Boot, Commmmentary
The Persistance of the 'Cyprus Problem' -- Louise Osborne, The Atlantic
Five myths about picking a pope -- Thomas J. Reese, Washington Post
Sneaking in the Back Door: Did Hugo Chávez quietly slip back into Venezuela to die? -- Peter Wilson, Foreign Policy
Does Hollywood Have a Foreign Policy? -- Joshua Keating, Foreign Policy
