Middle East and North Africa

Retired General Visits Cincinnati, Talks ISIS Huy Nguyen April 8, 2014 | The News Record As the global ISIS threat continues, Retired Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton arrived in Cincinnati April 1 to address how exactly ISIS began and what America can do to stop it. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIS, ISIL and Daesh, continues to rampage through the Middle East, dismantling families and government institutions. Within four months after its rise in June of 2014, ISIS had murdered over 5,500 people, according to Newsweek. Just this Tuesday, it was discovered that a mass grave in Tikrit exceeded 3,000 victims, Newsweek reported. Eaton attended a dinner in Xavier University’s Conaton Board Room led by the Foreign Policy Leadership Council in… Read More ›

Misunderstanding Wars in Yemen, Vietnam, and Yemen Once Again By J. Dana Stuster, NSN Policy Analyst April 6, 2015 | Foreign Policy There’s an moment in the 2003 documentary The Fog of War in which former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara lays out what he got wrong in Vietnam. “We saw Vietnam as an element of the Cold War,” he says. “Not what they [the Vietnamese] saw it as: a civil war.” I thought of that the other day as I listened to Adam Baron, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, talking about the Saudi intervention in Yemen. “This is treated as a sectarian battle between Iran-backed Shia and Saudi Arabia-backed Sunnis, but really when you look at the essence of Yemen’s… Read More ›

Sen. Corker’s Iran Legislation: A Bad Bill Beyond Repair April 13, 2015 Tomorrow, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to mark up the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, a bill proposed by Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ). The bill has been percolating in Congress for months and has been described as a reasonable alternative to sanctions legislation that would derail the P5+1 Iranian nuclear negotiations. However, Sen. Corker’s legislation contains a litany of provisions that would move the goalposts on an agreement and make any deal – even a good deal – almost impossible to implement. Some senators are expected to propose several amendments tomorrow to try to rectify some of these concerns, while Republican members plan on… Read More ›

Dr. Bruce Jentleson, NSN board member and Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at Duke University, had this to say about the Corker-Menendez bill working its way through the Senate: But in the name of preventing a bad deal, the Corker-Menendez bill weaves a procedural spider web for congressional review and includes a poison pill provision that hinders, rather than helps, getting a good deal. The procedural web starts with a five-day initial reporting requirement for the June comprehensive agreement, including full analysis of its components and a verification assessment. Even for less complex international agreements, it usually takes at least a month for all elements to be analyzed and the reliability of verification to be assessed by State Department, intelligence community and other… Read More ›

Five Myths about the Iran Framework Deal April 6, 2015 The framework for a comprehensive agreement reached by P5+1 negotiators at Lausanne, Switzerland, last week has established the overarching terms of a sustainable, peaceful solution to the Iranian nuclear issue. The terms are more favorable than many expected, and even skeptics of diplomacy – from experts like United Against Nuclear Iran’s Gary Samore to pundits like Bill O’Reilly – say it’s a credible deal worth pursuing. However, some people still aren’t convinced and have brought out many of the same arguments against the deal that were being made before there was a deal to criticize. Here are five of the top reasons critics say the United States should reject the deal, and why they’re wrong.… Read More ›

Writing in Politico Magazine, NSN Advisory Board Chair Sandy Berger had the following caution for those who think more sanctions will lead to a better deal: [I]t is highly unlikely that even our allies in Europe would join us in further sanctions against Iran in the wake of a nuclear agreement they believe is sensible and positive. That is even truer for other countries—like India, Japan, South Korea and China—that were pulled into the existing sanctions regime quite unwillingly. The support of these countries for the oil sanctions in particular has been critical to the sanctions’ effectiveness. They will not willingly sign up for more… Indeed, the proponents of tougher sanctions to get a “better” deal have misunderstood the nature of the Iranian sanctions. The… Read More ›

Concern Obama’s Iran deal hurts US relationship with Israel April 3, 2015 | Fox News NSN Board member David Mercer appears on Fox News’ Strategy Room to discuss the recent Iran framework agreement. Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com For the original posting, click here. Read More ›

5 Key Takeaways from the Iran Deal April 3, 2015 The framework for a nuclear agreement with Iran announced yesterday in Lausanne, Switzerland, lays the foundations of a strong, sustainable solution to Iran’s nuclear program. Former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger joined other members of NSN’s Board of Directors and Advisory Board in a statement saying, “the Obama Administration and international partners have taken a responsible approach to negotiations…” They added, “A comprehensive final agreement would demonstrate that the United States can secure major security interests without the use of force, even if it must deal with one of its long-standing adversaries. It is our hope that a final comprehensive agreement will demonstrate that the United States can pursue its interests in the Middle East… Read More ›

Progress Report: Negotiations Toward a Final Deal with Iran National Security Network and National Iranian American Council April 2, 2015 NSN cohosted a House staffer briefing with NIAC entitled “Progress Report: Negotiations Toward a Final Deal with Iran” which featured presentations by Jamal Abdi (NIAC), Kelsey Davenport (ACA), and Liz Rosenberg (CNAS) and was moderated by John Bradshaw (NSN).  Jamal discussed the importance of reaching a final agreement with the P5+1 and Iran, noted how far the U.S. and Iran have come in redeveloping diplomatic channels, and the proper role for Congress in the deal’s implementation. Kelsey explained the key nuclear metrics that would judge a final deal as good and laid out the key sticking points in the negotiations on nuclear outputs. Liz explained the… Read More ›

A Window onto Iran By Tara Sonenshine April 3, 2015 | The Hill Many months of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program have given the U.S. and the West an unprecedented window onto Iranian thinking and policy. Regardless of where one stands on the merits of the diplomatic outcome, diplomacy usually leads to better policymaking. It is far wiser to understand other countries — particularly longstanding adversaries — than misread them or have them misread you. The framework agreement announced yesterday between the P5+1 nations (the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany) and Iran represents historic progress toward the goal of preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. While much work remains to be done to achieve an effective and verifiable comprehensive… Read More ›