World Press on Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus (December 9, 2011)

The Washington Post published the article headlined “The wrong signals to Iran.” It says that Iran has been showing signs of increasing nervousness about the possibility that its nuclear program will come under attack by Israel or the United States. From the West’s point of view, this alarm is good: The more Iran worries about a military attack, the more likely it is to scale back its nuclear activity. The only occasion in which Tehran froze its weaponization program came immediately after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, when it feared it might be the next American target. That’s why the Obama administration, like the Bush administration before it, regularly repeats that “all options are on the table.” Officials say they worry about the damage sanctions could cause to the economy or to relations with allies such as South Korea and Japan. Iran, they argue, could end up benefiting if oil prices spike. While these are not unreasonable concerns, the administration’s stance resembles Mr. Panetta’s message. In effect, it is signaling that it is determined to prevent an Iranian nuclear weapon — unless it means taking military or diplomatic risks, or paying an economic price.

The New York Times reported that Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin accused Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday of inciting unrest in Russia, as he grappled with the prospect of large-scale political protest for the first time in his more than decade-long rule. In a rare personal accusation, Mr. Putin said Mrs. Clinton had sent “a signal” to “some actors in our country” after Sunday’s parliamentary elections, which were condemned as fraudulent by both international and Russian observers. Anger over the elections prompted a demonstration in which thousands chanted “Putin is a thief” and “Russia without Putin,” a development that has deeply unnerved the Kremlin. Speaking to political allies as he announced the formation of his presidential campaign, Mr. Putin said that hundreds of millions of dollars in “foreign money” was being used to influence Russian politics, and that Mrs. Clinton had personally spurred protesters to action. The comments indicate a breakdown in the Obama administration’s sputtering effort to “reset” the relationship between the United States and Russia.

“Iran airs footage of US drone, protests 'violation'” is an article published by the Turkish information agency Hurriyet. It says that Iran made a formal protest yesterday over a U.S. drone entering "deep" into its eastern airspace last week, and aired footage of what appeared to be the downed aircraft on state television. Swiss ambassador Livia Leu Agosti was summoned to the foreign ministry and told the incident suggests Washington has upped its "provocative and covert actions" against the Islamic regime, the state television website reported. The Swiss embassy handles U.S. interests in the absence of Iran-U.S. diplomatic ties. Iran "strongly protests the violation of an RQ-170 spy aircraft deep into its airspace," the report said, adding that Tehran asked for "an urgent response and compensation from the U.S. government." It did not elaborate.