92ST Y Debate over American policy in the Middle East
Moderated by Eliot Spitzer, Dershowitz and Jeremy Ben-Ami debated over American policy in the Middle East on Sat, Nov 21, 2009.
Should military solutions or diplomatic ones be favored? What is the role of pro-Israel advocacy at a time of changing relationships between the U.S. and Israel? Has J Street helped or hurt the prospects for peace? Does the traditional lobby speak for all, or even most, American Jews? highlights in the video of Alan Dershowitz, who has been called Israels top defender in the court of public opinion, and Jeremy Ben-Ami, the founder and director of J Street, wrestling with these and other issues.
Showing posts with label iran; US policy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iran; US policy. Show all posts
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Illinois divests $133 million in anti-nuclear Iran initiative
By Jane CHARNEY, Staff Writer Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, 9/24/09
Illinois State Sen. Jeff Schoenberg and Rep. Lou Lang announced Sept. 24 the results of a significant state-level effort to curb Iran’s nuclear threat: the divestment of $133 million in state pension funds from foreign companies doing business with Iran’s energy sector.
Illinois has been at the forefront of efforts to stop Iran’s nuclear program. In fact, the state passed the nation’s second divestment bill in 2007. The Illinois bill also was the first to require foreign companies seeking business with the state to indicate if they are doing business with Iran’s energy sector.
“The law declares simply the state’s readiness not just to speak out against Iran’s recklessness but to act to curb it as well,” Shoenberg said at a press conference announcing the results of divestment (watch the video of the event). “As long as the Iranian leadership continues to pursue nuclear weapons in defiance of international law, we are absolutely compelled to withhold our public investments from this rogue country.”
State Reps. Will Davis, Linda Chapa LaVia, and Sid Mathias, all of whom co-sponsored the original bill in 2007, again showed their support for the anti-Iran initiative by attending the press conference.
JUF’s Jewish Community Relations Council and its Government Affairs Office in Springfield played a key role in securing support for the legislation. They also worked with business associations generally opposed to divestment to remain neutral on the Illinois law and with the state pension boards’ compliance and general counsel officers on implementation and reporting.
“While others are calling for action and talking about what to do, Illinois already has acted and has emerged as a leader in this area,” said JUF Executive Vice President Michael Kotzin, who also spoke at the press conference. Read his entire remarks.
Preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons has been the top focus of lobbying efforts by Jewish organizations nationwide. In early September, 20 Chicagoans joined about 300 Jewish community leaders from around the country to urge lawmakers on Capitol Hill to take a tougher stance on Iran as part of the National Jewish Leadership Advocacy Day on Iran, coordinated by the National Inter-Agency Task Force on Iran. Rallies also took place Sept. 24 in New York and several other cities in solidarity with Iran’s opposition movement, which stood up against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s rule.
Jewish and non-Jewish lay leaders, students, and JUF staff met with Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin and Illinois Reps. Jerry Costello, Danny K. Davis, Luis Gutierrez, Bill Foster, Phil Hare, Debbie Halvorson, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Mark Kirk, Donald Manzullo, Mike Quigley, Peter Roskam, Aaron Schock and Jan Schakowsky to discuss upcoming House bills connected to Iran. Chicagoans comprised one of the largest groups at the fly-in.
The Illinois congressional delegation has been supportive of anti-nuclear Iran efforts. In particular, the entire delegation signed on as co-sponsors of the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act of 2009, which would strengthen the President’s authority to impose sanctions on any entity providing Iran with refined petroleum resources. Illinois legislators also are co-sponsoring the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act of 2009, which requires federal support for local and state governments’ and educational institutions’ divestment from entities investing more than $20 million in Iran’s energy sector.
By Jane CHARNEY, Staff Writer Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, 9/24/09
Illinois State Sen. Jeff Schoenberg and Rep. Lou Lang announced Sept. 24 the results of a significant state-level effort to curb Iran’s nuclear threat: the divestment of $133 million in state pension funds from foreign companies doing business with Iran’s energy sector.
Illinois has been at the forefront of efforts to stop Iran’s nuclear program. In fact, the state passed the nation’s second divestment bill in 2007. The Illinois bill also was the first to require foreign companies seeking business with the state to indicate if they are doing business with Iran’s energy sector.
“The law declares simply the state’s readiness not just to speak out against Iran’s recklessness but to act to curb it as well,” Shoenberg said at a press conference announcing the results of divestment (watch the video of the event). “As long as the Iranian leadership continues to pursue nuclear weapons in defiance of international law, we are absolutely compelled to withhold our public investments from this rogue country.”
State Reps. Will Davis, Linda Chapa LaVia, and Sid Mathias, all of whom co-sponsored the original bill in 2007, again showed their support for the anti-Iran initiative by attending the press conference.
JUF’s Jewish Community Relations Council and its Government Affairs Office in Springfield played a key role in securing support for the legislation. They also worked with business associations generally opposed to divestment to remain neutral on the Illinois law and with the state pension boards’ compliance and general counsel officers on implementation and reporting.
“While others are calling for action and talking about what to do, Illinois already has acted and has emerged as a leader in this area,” said JUF Executive Vice President Michael Kotzin, who also spoke at the press conference. Read his entire remarks.
Preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons has been the top focus of lobbying efforts by Jewish organizations nationwide. In early September, 20 Chicagoans joined about 300 Jewish community leaders from around the country to urge lawmakers on Capitol Hill to take a tougher stance on Iran as part of the National Jewish Leadership Advocacy Day on Iran, coordinated by the National Inter-Agency Task Force on Iran. Rallies also took place Sept. 24 in New York and several other cities in solidarity with Iran’s opposition movement, which stood up against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s rule.
Jewish and non-Jewish lay leaders, students, and JUF staff met with Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin and Illinois Reps. Jerry Costello, Danny K. Davis, Luis Gutierrez, Bill Foster, Phil Hare, Debbie Halvorson, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Mark Kirk, Donald Manzullo, Mike Quigley, Peter Roskam, Aaron Schock and Jan Schakowsky to discuss upcoming House bills connected to Iran. Chicagoans comprised one of the largest groups at the fly-in.
The Illinois congressional delegation has been supportive of anti-nuclear Iran efforts. In particular, the entire delegation signed on as co-sponsors of the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act of 2009, which would strengthen the President’s authority to impose sanctions on any entity providing Iran with refined petroleum resources. Illinois legislators also are co-sponsoring the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act of 2009, which requires federal support for local and state governments’ and educational institutions’ divestment from entities investing more than $20 million in Iran’s energy sector.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Is U.S. reconciled to a nuclear Iran? part 2
More evidence the Obama Administration isn't going to do much about Iran.
Asked by NBC's David Gregory if the effort to keep North Korea from going nuclear had failed, Mrs. Clinton answered, "No, I don't think so, because their program is still at the beginning stages." In other words, two nuclear tests and a stockpile of seven or eight nuclear weapons are no longer enough to join the club.
The Washington Times Tuesday, July 28, 2009
EDITORIAL: Defining the threat away
The traditional threshold for a country to join the nuclear-weapons club is straightforward. Any state that tests a nuclear weapon gets in. However, on Sunday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton proposed more exclusive membership requirements.
Asked by NBC's David Gregory if the effort to keep North Korea from going nuclear had failed, Mrs. Clinton answered, "No, I don't think so, because their program is still at the beginning stages." In other words, two nuclear tests and a stockpile of seven or eight nuclear weapons are no longer enough to join the club. Tough luck Pyongyang, you've been blackballed.
This would simply be an exercise in semantics if it weren't for the probability that Iran will soon test its own nuclear weapon. This administration, like its predecessor, has said that an Iranian nuclear-weapons capability would be unacceptable. But if Iran conducts a nuclear test sometime in the coming months, that apparently will not indicate the failure of diplomacy any more than the North Korean tests have. Faced with defeat, the State Department will define it away.
The Obama administration's willingness to accept the inevitability of a nuclear Iran could not be clearer. Mrs. Clinton said that if Iran is "pursuing nuclear weapons for the purpose of intimidating, of projecting your power, we're not going to let that happen." Yes, the United States will do "everything [it] can to prevent [Iran] from ever getting a nuclear weapon," she said. But failing that?
The secretary of state said that even a nuclear-armed Iran would be thwarted. Its pursuit of regional hegemony is "futile," she argued, because the "security umbrella" the United States would extend over the region would negate the advantages Iran seeks from atomic weaponry. Iran "won't be any stronger or safer because they won't be able to intimidate or dominate as they apparently believe they can, once they have a nuclear weapon," she said last week.
Tehran seems perfectly content with the futility of its pursuit. Iran has made substantial progress on uranium enrichment necessary for constructing a nuclear weapon, and most estimates agree that it will be able to construct and test a weapon within the year. Meanwhile, countries such as Israel that cannot protect their territory and people with semantic shields are preparing to take action. Israel's apparent state of readiness to exercise the military option against Iran -- and America's clear lack of readiness -- underscores the credibility gap in the U.S. position that all options are on the table. Israel is communicating a credible threat of force to Tehran, a necessary element in coercive diplomacy that the U.S. posture explicitly lacks.
The American "umbrella strategy" is purely defensive and thus more likely to encourage Iran's leaders than dissuade them. The Obama administration states firmly that an Iranian nuclear weapon would be unacceptable but at the same time indicates it will accept that. Nuclear Iran is not faced with massive retaliation but passive accommodation. That's not much of a deterrent.
------
hat tip to israelmatzav.blogspot.com
Asked by NBC's David Gregory if the effort to keep North Korea from going nuclear had failed, Mrs. Clinton answered, "No, I don't think so, because their program is still at the beginning stages." In other words, two nuclear tests and a stockpile of seven or eight nuclear weapons are no longer enough to join the club.
The Washington Times Tuesday, July 28, 2009
EDITORIAL: Defining the threat away
The traditional threshold for a country to join the nuclear-weapons club is straightforward. Any state that tests a nuclear weapon gets in. However, on Sunday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton proposed more exclusive membership requirements.
Asked by NBC's David Gregory if the effort to keep North Korea from going nuclear had failed, Mrs. Clinton answered, "No, I don't think so, because their program is still at the beginning stages." In other words, two nuclear tests and a stockpile of seven or eight nuclear weapons are no longer enough to join the club. Tough luck Pyongyang, you've been blackballed.
This would simply be an exercise in semantics if it weren't for the probability that Iran will soon test its own nuclear weapon. This administration, like its predecessor, has said that an Iranian nuclear-weapons capability would be unacceptable. But if Iran conducts a nuclear test sometime in the coming months, that apparently will not indicate the failure of diplomacy any more than the North Korean tests have. Faced with defeat, the State Department will define it away.
The Obama administration's willingness to accept the inevitability of a nuclear Iran could not be clearer. Mrs. Clinton said that if Iran is "pursuing nuclear weapons for the purpose of intimidating, of projecting your power, we're not going to let that happen." Yes, the United States will do "everything [it] can to prevent [Iran] from ever getting a nuclear weapon," she said. But failing that?
The secretary of state said that even a nuclear-armed Iran would be thwarted. Its pursuit of regional hegemony is "futile," she argued, because the "security umbrella" the United States would extend over the region would negate the advantages Iran seeks from atomic weaponry. Iran "won't be any stronger or safer because they won't be able to intimidate or dominate as they apparently believe they can, once they have a nuclear weapon," she said last week.
Tehran seems perfectly content with the futility of its pursuit. Iran has made substantial progress on uranium enrichment necessary for constructing a nuclear weapon, and most estimates agree that it will be able to construct and test a weapon within the year. Meanwhile, countries such as Israel that cannot protect their territory and people with semantic shields are preparing to take action. Israel's apparent state of readiness to exercise the military option against Iran -- and America's clear lack of readiness -- underscores the credibility gap in the U.S. position that all options are on the table. Israel is communicating a credible threat of force to Tehran, a necessary element in coercive diplomacy that the U.S. posture explicitly lacks.
The American "umbrella strategy" is purely defensive and thus more likely to encourage Iran's leaders than dissuade them. The Obama administration states firmly that an Iranian nuclear weapon would be unacceptable but at the same time indicates it will accept that. Nuclear Iran is not faced with massive retaliation but passive accommodation. That's not much of a deterrent.
------
hat tip to israelmatzav.blogspot.com
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Is U.S. reconciled to a nuclear Iran?
Israel slams Clinton statement on nuclear Iran
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent, and The Associated Press 7/22/09
A key minister in the Israeli government criticized U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's statement on Tuesday that Washington would provide "a defense umbrella" for its allies in the Middle East in the event that Iran develops nuclear weapons.
Dan Meridor, Israel's minister for secret services, told Army Radio that [Clinton's] comments imply a willingness to reconcile with the eventuality of a nuclear-armed Iran.
"I heard, unenthusiastically, the Americans' statement that they will defend their allies in the event that Iran arms itself with an atomic bomb, as if they have already reconciled with this possibility, and this is a mistake," Meridor told Army Radio. "Now, we don't need to deal with the assumption that Iran will attain nuclear weapons but to prevent this."
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent, and The Associated Press 7/22/09
A key minister in the Israeli government criticized U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's statement on Tuesday that Washington would provide "a defense umbrella" for its allies in the Middle East in the event that Iran develops nuclear weapons.
Dan Meridor, Israel's minister for secret services, told Army Radio that [Clinton's] comments imply a willingness to reconcile with the eventuality of a nuclear-armed Iran.
"I heard, unenthusiastically, the Americans' statement that they will defend their allies in the event that Iran arms itself with an atomic bomb, as if they have already reconciled with this possibility, and this is a mistake," Meridor told Army Radio. "Now, we don't need to deal with the assumption that Iran will attain nuclear weapons but to prevent this."
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
US increasingly concerned about Iranian threat: Gates
June 9, 2009
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States is increasingly concerned about recent advances in Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday.
"Our concern about the nature of the Iran problem has continued to rise as they continue to make further progress in enriching uranium," Gates told a Senate Appropriations Committee panel, "and also as they have enjoyed some success in their missile field."
The United States and other Western powers suspect that Iran is using its nuclear program to develop atomic weapons, but Tehran insists it merely aims to produce civilian nuclear energy.
"Our concern with Iran, with Iran's programs -- and I believe I can say also Israel's -- has continued to grow given the unwillingness of the Iranians to slow, stop or even indicate a willingness to talk about their programs," Gates said.
Israel, widely considered to be the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear armed power, has not ruled out military action against nuclear sites in the Islamic Republic, which it considers its main enemy.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that the Jewish state should be "wiped off the map." But US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Sunday that Iran would face "retaliation" if it launched a nuclear attack on Israel.
And President Barack Obama said Saturday during a visit in the northern French city of Caen that it would be "profoundly dangerous" for Iran to get a nuclear bomb.
In late May, Iran, which faces presidential elections on Friday, test-fired a new surface-to-surface missile called Sejil-2 with a range of up to 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers).
Iran was still defying the United Nations Security Council and has so far amassed 1,339 kilograms of low-enriched uranium hexafluoride (UF6), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a restricted report, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.
June 9, 2009
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States is increasingly concerned about recent advances in Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday.
"Our concern about the nature of the Iran problem has continued to rise as they continue to make further progress in enriching uranium," Gates told a Senate Appropriations Committee panel, "and also as they have enjoyed some success in their missile field."
The United States and other Western powers suspect that Iran is using its nuclear program to develop atomic weapons, but Tehran insists it merely aims to produce civilian nuclear energy.
"Our concern with Iran, with Iran's programs -- and I believe I can say also Israel's -- has continued to grow given the unwillingness of the Iranians to slow, stop or even indicate a willingness to talk about their programs," Gates said.
Israel, widely considered to be the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear armed power, has not ruled out military action against nuclear sites in the Islamic Republic, which it considers its main enemy.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that the Jewish state should be "wiped off the map." But US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Sunday that Iran would face "retaliation" if it launched a nuclear attack on Israel.
And President Barack Obama said Saturday during a visit in the northern French city of Caen that it would be "profoundly dangerous" for Iran to get a nuclear bomb.
In late May, Iran, which faces presidential elections on Friday, test-fired a new surface-to-surface missile called Sejil-2 with a range of up to 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers).
Iran was still defying the United Nations Security Council and has so far amassed 1,339 kilograms of low-enriched uranium hexafluoride (UF6), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a restricted report, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.
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