Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada’s reiteration of support last week for the Iranian fuel swap proposal outlined in the Tehran Declaration is the latest sign of a strategic reorientation in Japanese international nuclear policy. That this announcement was accompanied by reports of Japan exploring the possibility of constructing quake-resistant nuclear plants in Iran is further indication that a shift in Japanese nuclear diplomacy is being effected — one that doesn’t necessarily adhere to a U.S.-led approach, but instead seeks to leverage Japan’s inherent strengths in the global nuclear renaissance to advance its own geopolitical interests. Despite being the only country [...]
Negotiations are set to resume in September between Iran and the P5+1 countries — the five permanent U.N. Security Council members along with Germany — with an eye to restarting a diplomatic process that might lead to a resolution of the stand-off over Iran’s nuclear program. The question is whether something akin to the 2003 Libyan breakthrough is possible — or even desirable. By that scenario, Iran would stop all of its efforts to achieve a nuclear weapons breakout capability — notably, the ability to enrich uranium. In return, the U.S. and its Western allies would agree to lift sanctions [...]
KYIV, Ukraine — To many observers, Ukraine’s recently elected President Viktor Yanukovych is the same pro-Russian stooge he was in 2004, when he walked away the loser of the Orange Revolution that catapulted pro-Western former President Viktor Yushchenko into power. The apparent evidence of Yanukovych’s pro-Moscow slant abounds. Since taking office in February, he extended the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s lease on its Ukrainian base in Sevastopol, a move attacked by opponents as endangering Ukraine’s sovereignty. He also signed an array of cooperation agreements across several sectors during one of his many meetings with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. And he [...]
