Rafael Grossi, a veteran Argentine diplomat, took the helm of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Dec. 3, promising to bring renewed vigor and a higher profile to the world’s nuclear watchdog after the illness and death of his predecessor, Yukiya Amano of Japan. Grossi, who has previously served as Argentina’s permanent representative to the IAEA and the agency’s effective chief of staff, most recently has been heading preparations for next year’s review conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. In a fall contest that stretched over several rounds, Grossi bested Romanian diplomat Cornel Feruta and two other competitors to win [...]
When President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal last year and reimposed economic sanctions on Tehran, he justified it on the basis that the agreement did not go far enough to keep Iran from permanently acquiring nuclear weapons. Yet rather than give in to Trump’s pressure, Iran is responding by restarting nuclear activities that the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, had successfully frozen. Trump and others in his administration haven’t just focused on Iran’s nuclear program, though, pointing to other issues of concern with Tehran, including its missile tests, support [...]
One of the most startling revelations from the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump is just how recklessly his administration has been running America’s foreign policy. The new information—about a shadow foreign policy designed to pressure Ukraine to dig up dirt on the Bidens, in exchange for military assistance that was being withheld by the White House—hardly comes as a complete surprise, but it confirms the worst fears of many observers. The Ukraine debacle shows how the U.S. foreign policy apparatus, made up of career diplomats and other nonpartisan staffers, has been unable to prevent the president’s worst instincts from [...]
