Russia Reform Monitor: No. 1599
Politkovskaya trial begins;
Capital flight fails to dent defense budget
Politkovskaya trial begins;
Capital flight fails to dent defense budget
China to help Pakistan with 10 nuke plants;
North Korea shells Chinese fishing boat
Iran's preconditions for dialogue;
Wooing Sistani;
Fiscal fixes, and their discontents;
Ahmadinejad's challengers begin to emerge
Damascus tightens Internet controls;
Russian advances in Central Asia...;
...and the Gulf;
Syrian-Saudi cold war continues
These must be heady days for Iran’s ayatollahs. Just a year ago, American efforts to contain and isolate the Islamic Republic seemed to be gathering steam. A third UN Security Council resolution censuring Iran for its nuclear advances was on the horizon, and the Bush administration could claim headway on the creation of a regional coalition of Sunni Arab states to counteract Iran’s growing clout. Today, however, things are very different. Western efforts to control and contain the Islamic Republic have clearly faltered, while Iran’s march toward the bomb gives every indication of having accelerated.