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Let Russia Stop Iran

[New York Times] Oded Eran, Giora Eiland and Emily Landau - Western intelligence estimates that Iran will be in a position to create a working nuclear weapon no later than mid-2010. Without tougher sanctions, there is no hope that Iran will reconsider its determination to make a bomb. The key to a tougher Security Council resolution is Russia, and this provides an opening for Barack Obama. After taking office, he should offer Moscow a grand bargain. For its part, the U.S. would suspend or even cancel its plans to set up the missile defenses in Eastern Europe that the Kremlin adamantly opposes, and also adopt a more cautious stance on admitting into NATO the countries that Russia views as part of its zone of influence. Russia's side of the bargain would be to join in the West's tougher stance against Iran's nuclear military program and to stop supplying Iran with conventional weapons, many of which then find their way to Hizbullah in Lebanon and other militant groups in the region. Oded Eran is the director of the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University. Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Giora Eiland and Emily B. Landau are senior research associates at the institute.
2008-12-22 06:00:00
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