Suzanne Nossel

This morning Iran opened up a plant that produces heavy water, in blunt defiance of UN insistence that it stop its nuclear weapons production activities. They did so just days ahead of an end-of-August deadline imposed by the UN Security Council. Kofi Annan is now en route to Tehran to try to forestall a deepening […]

Sixty-three percent of Israelis reportedly want Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resign in the wake of what’s perceived to be a failed operation in Lebanon. They’re outraged that Israel’s revered military somehow faltered in dislodging Hezbollah’s leadership and securing the return of two captured soldiers. One interesting point of comparison is to President Bush – […]

The Administration struggled to moderate its response to Iran’s belated and belittling reaction to the proposal put forward by the U.S. and other major powers for a cessation of Tehran’s uranium enrichment activities in return for direct talks with the US and a series of other incentives. This came months after what some viewed as […]

After nearly two weeks of paltry commitments and unrealized promises, it now looks as though Europe is finally stepping forward to commit to providing at least several thousand troops to man the UN mission in Lebanon. To learn why the stakes tied to this mission are as high for the UN as they are for […]

It’s official: Pluto has been downgraded to dwarf planet status. Mnemonic devices and classroom paper mache exhibits world-wide will be subject to immediate recall. Why do we all naturally feel a twinge of pain at this? It’s a technical development in a field most of us have nothing to do with, affecting a place we’ve […]

First off, many thanks to my comrade-in-blogs, Kevin Drum, for giving me the opportunity to stand in his stead while he takes a well-earned, if too brief, vacation. It’s a pleasure to be here as a visitor from my regular habitat at www.democracyarsenal.org One of my co-blogganists over at DA, Shadi Hamid, is shaking of […]