Iran Seeks to Amend UN Nuclear Deal

Iran Wants Changes in UN-Drafted Nuclear Plan - Associated Press 

• State television said Tuesday that Iran will agree to the general framework of a U.N.-drafted plan to ship enriched uranium out of the country for processing, but will seek "important changes" in the deal that the West hopes will ease nuclear tensions with Tehran.
• The report suggests that Iran will accept the idea of sending the material abroad — something it had previously appeared reluctant to do — but that there could be a tussle with the U.S. and Europe over details of the plan.

EAS Calls Upon India to Sign CTBT - The Tribune (India) [link]

• In a clear attempt to mount pressure on India, the East Asia Summit (EAS) today called upon its member states to accede to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Wariristan Or Bust - Times of India [link]

• After nine suicide attacks in just 11 days that killed 160 people, the Pakistan army has finally started its long awaited offensive in South Waziristan where the Pakistani Taliban are based.
• The success of the offensive could be critical for the fate of Pakistan which is financially broke and politically paralysed.
• The spate of attacks could have been designed to prevent or delay the army offensive, but they also aimed to topple the government, impose an Islamic state and, if possible, get hold of Pakistan's nuclear weapons.

A View from the Outside 

The Rise of Nuclear Alarmism - John Mueller in Foreign Policy [link]

• In fact, the bomb's impact on substantive historical developments has been minimal: Things would likely have turned out much the same if it had never been developed. The only real effect of nuclear weapons is humanity's unhealthy obsession with them, a preoccupation that has inspired some seriously bad policy decisions.
• But instead it seems that the weapons actually changed little except our way of thinking -- as well as of declaiming, gesticulating, deploying military forces, and spending lots of money.
• With the demise of fears of another major war, many of the fantastically impressive, if useless, arms that struck such deep anxiety into so many for so long are quietly being allowed to rust in peace.

A View from the Dark Side

Biden's Missile Defense Missteps - Peter Brookes in the New York Post [link]

• Vice President Joe Biden's trip last week to Poland and the Czech Republic may have helped soothe rattled allies after Team Obama pitched overboard the W-era, anti-Iran missile shield that was to be deployed in both countries. But the new missile-defense plan he pitched has problems.
• But while Iran may be a threat to Europe, it's a much bigger threat to us (and Israel). So while it's appropriate to defend Europe as part of NATO, the new plan doesn't do enough to protect the good ol' US of A from the Iranian ICBM threat.
• So unless you're living in a fantasy world, brace yourself for the fact we'll be facing an Iranian nuclear-capable ICBM threat soon -- perhaps sooner than we thought -- without an effective defense.

Cheney Sounds the Alarm - Frank Gaffney Jr. in the Washington Times [link]

• There is a Churchill in our midst today. Like the original "Last Lion," he is loathed and slandered by his critics. His utterances about the present and growing threats and his past service to his country are savaged by the national leadership, even as they try to dismiss him as "discredited" (as Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat, put it on Sunday) or a liability for his party (as innumerable political operatives and pundits insist).
• Our Churchill's name is Dick Cheney.