Dining with Mahmoud

Dining with Mahmoud

Sometimes a person you’ve been trained to hate comes across as reasonable. That happened to me when I met Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Every year, during the United Nations General Assembly, Iran’s mission to the United Nations offers a Persian dinner (no alcohol)...
More Lucky than Brilliant

More Lucky than Brilliant

If you were born before 1950, you probably remember what happened in October 1962. If you were born after that fateful month, you’re lucky. Exactly half a century ago, the United States and the Soviet Union reached the brink of a deadly nuclear showdown during...
Iran in the Campaign’s Crosshairs

Iran in the Campaign’s Crosshairs

The war of words over Iran’s nuclear program keeps expanding. It’s now a multi-sided melee pitting Iran against the West and Israel, Israel against the Obama administration, Mitt Romney against Barack Obama, and neo-conservatives like William Kristol...
Diplomacy Is the Only Way Forward with Iran

Diplomacy Is the Only Way Forward with Iran

Negotiators from the United States, the other four permanent members of the UN Security Council, and Germany recently met with an Iranian team in Baghdad to discuss Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Although there’s still a long road ahead, this resumed...