Yesterday The Los Angeles Times published an article entitled ‘A nuclear Iran? Not so fast’. Its author, expert, Doyle McManus, states that diplomacy, sanctions and even sabotage appear to have slowed
Tehran's efforts. According to him, after years of warning that an Iranian atomic bomb is right around the corner, Israeli officials now say Iran is at least four years away from deploying a nuclear weapon,
maybe more. And Obama administration officials agree, although they shy away from endorsing a specific time frame. The article also touches upon the improvement US relations with China and its effect on Obama’s position concerning the means of US foreign politics.
Another article, published today by the same media-agency touches upon the issues of ‘cybernetic war against Iran. According to its author, the ‘Stuxnet’, the game-changing computer worm that is believed to have significantly set back Tehran's progress in nuclear enrichment, may herald a new era of shadowy digital combat. This article also states that US and Israeli officials now tend to see the threat of Iranian nuclear bomb as a remote one. The author concludes that the Iranians would have to replace all the computer systems in their nuclear program to be sure they were rid of the worm, a tall order for a country under trade sanctions.
Last Saturday, The New York Times published an article touching upon the events of Moscow ethnic conflict that was triggered by the murder of a football fan by migrants from the Caucasus in December. The author describes how the unremarkable bus stop where Yegor Sviridov was killed 40 days ago turned into a shrine as hundreds of mourners streamed in, tossing flowers onto a mound that grew to shoulder-height. According to the article, some people who came to honor Sviridov’s memory were less focused on the attack on Mr. Sviridov, she said, than on the failure of the police to punish his assailants, a fact she attributed to corruption.
The New York Times also emphasized the topic of Stuxnet computer worm, calling it critical in Iran’s nuclear delay. The author of the article points out that neither American nor Israeli officials will even utter the name of the malicious computer program, much less describe any role in designing it. Tha article goes on stating that by the accounts of a number of computer scientists, nuclear enrichment experts and former officials, the covert race to create Stuxnet was a joint project between the Americans and the Israelis, with some help, knowing or unknowing, from the Germans and the British. Publicly, Israeli officials make no explicit ties between Stuxnet and Iran’s problems. But in recent weeks, they have given revised and surprisingly upbeat assessments of Tehran’s nuclear status.
Hurriyet published an article concerning recent negotiations with Kurdish party in Turkey. It states that the weekend conference showed little consensus exists among Kurds themselves. According to the same media-agency, the Sarıkeçili nomadic tribe may be the first ethnic group in Turkey to benefit from legislation to protect its culture thanks to a new law proposed in Parliament. Right now, the way of life of the Sarıkeçili is threatened by laws that forbid them from grazing the goats they breed along parts of their migratory paths. The proposed law would give them the exclusive right to graze their animals in forestry areas, a special status similar to that accorded the Maasai people in Kenya and Tanzania.
Iranian media agency Press TV reported today that the country will lodge a complaint with international bodies against Israel in connection with the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist.
Also, Iran's Ambassador to the IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh has hailed the presence of foreign diplomats at the country's nuclear facilities as a "gesture of goodwill and transparency” and said that Iran will
enter multifaceted talks with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1) on equal footing.
