(L-R) Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, British Foreign Secretary William Hague, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif gather at the United Nations Palais in Geneva November 24, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Carolyn Kaster/Pool
Iran Nuke Deal Quietly Collapses -- Amir Taheri, New York Post
Less than a month after it was hailed as “a great diplomatic coup,” the so-called Geneva accord to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions seems to have come unstuck.
The official narrative in Tehran is that Iran signed nothing. “There is no treaty and no pact,” says Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham, “only a statement of intent.”
Originally, Iran’s official media had presented the accord as a treaty (qarardad) but it now refers to a “letter of agreement” (tavafoq nameh).
The initial narrative claimed that the P5+1 group of nations that negotiated the deal with Iran had recognized the Islamic Republic’s right to enrich uranium and agreed to start lifting sanctions over a six-month period. In exchange, Iran would slow its uranium enrichment and postpone for six months the installation of equipment for producing plutonium, an alternate route to making a bomb. A later narrative claimed that the accord wasn’t automatic and that the two sides had appointed experts to decide the details (“modalities”) and fix a timetable.
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Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials
War and peace in Syria. Where are the good guys? -- The Economist
U.S. inaction in Syria could be far more costly than intervention -- Washington Post editorial
How the Arab Spring Survived 2013 -- Noah Feldman, Bloomberg
Can North Korea grow up? -- Korea Joongang Daily
China in 2014: The three Rs -- Robert Daly, Special to CNN
Q&A: South Sudan army clashes -- BBC
South Sudan may implode socially and economically -- Gulf News editorial
From Icon to Exile: The Price of a Nude Photo in Egypt -- Takis Würger, Spiegel Online
How big agriculture is carving up Africa for industrial farmland. -- Richard Schiffman, Foreign Policy
Russia's Middle East Chess Game -- Jiri Valenta, Leni Friedman Valenta, National Interest
Putin gambles on Ukraine bailout -- Lidia Kelly, Reuters
Maintaining Russian Power: How Putin Outfoxed the West -- Christian Neef and Matthias Schepp, Spiegel Online
Danger and delay on dirty bombs -- Kenneth N. Luongo, Reuters
Plotting the Snowden plea bargain -- Jack Shafer, Reuters
Why Does America Only Fear Hypothetical Nukes? -- Zachary Keck, The Diplomat
So You Think Obama’s 2013 Was Bad? Just Wait Until 2014 -- Peter Wehner, Commentary
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