PROFNET Expert Alerts: Iran's Nuclear Capabilities
President Obama imposed new sanctions on Iran after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Iran has produced its first batch of enriched uranium, sparking concerns from the U.S. and its allies that Iran can easily make the leap to weapons-grade enrichment. Following are experts who can comment:
1. JORDAN SEKULOW, director of international operations, AMERICAN CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE (ACLJ), can discuss the importance of tough sanctions on Iran and next steps for the allied nations: "The Obama administration's first year has provided little tangible gain in cooperation on the sanction effort within the international community, with the P5+1 negotiations with Iran (five permanent members of the U.N. security council and Germany) failing to produce any satisfactory deal with the Iranians. A failed sanctions effort will lead to the inevitable. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a resolute and strong leader who will not allow the mullahs of Iran to move forward in their quest to wipe Israel off the map." In addition, the ACLJ has filed reports to the high commissioner of human rights and the Human Rights Council on the human rights abuses following the June elections and continuing to this day, detailing them and exposing them so that it isn't just the "nuclear" issue, but the "human rights" issue that must not be forgotten. Sekulow is not just a commentator; he's helped directly confront the Iranian Republic in the forum they despise the most: the U.N. At ACLJ, Sekulow oversees the organization's work in the Middle East, Africa and Pakistan, liaising between the ACLJ, the European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ) and the Slavic Center for Law and Justice (SCLJ). Sekulow, along with the ACLJ, is dedicated to exposing human rights violations in the Middle East. He frequently travels overseas to capture stories about the international work the ACLJ and ECLJ are engaged in around the world and at the U.N. Sekulow is located in Washington, D.C. News Contact: Maggie Davis, mdavis@5wpr.com Phone: +1-212-584-4281 (2/17/10)
2. RAJAN MENON, the Monroe J. Rathbone professor of international relations at LEHIGH UNIVERSITY in Bethlehem, Pa., and a fellow at the NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION in Washington, D.C., is an expert on Iran: "Iran's leaders are seeking to make a move that will create a rally around the flag effect, and are banking on three major calculations: 1) that Obama has taken the use of force off the table and that much of Iran's nuclear infrastructure is dispersed and underground; 2) the U.S. will restrain Israel, which will need overflight rights from Islamic countries to reach Iranian targets, and as much as the governments in these countries worry about a nuclear Iran, they don't want to be seen as acting in cahoots with Israel; and 3) Iran can use diplomacy and the tensions between the U.S., China and Russia to peel off the latter two countries, which Iran hopes will not back a Security Council resolution authorizing additional steps to squeeze Iran. Bottom line: It's a game of chicken, with political conditions inside Iran playing a major role." News Contact: Dina Silver Pokedoff, dis204@lehigh.edu Phone: +1-610-758-6656 Web site: http://www3.lehigh.edu/about/news/vidmenon.asp (2/17/10)
3. JEFFREY LANTIS, professor of political science and international relations at THE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER, based in Wooster, Ohio: "While the Iranian government is nowhere near the capability to build nuclear weapons, a careful analysis suggests that hard-line leaders are likely to continue their progress in spite of sanctions. There are at least two reasons they may move forward: 1) Iranian strategic culture shows a strong determination to build security and influence in the region -- the Obama administration and its allies have not taken major actions to enhance Iranian security, and the threat of an Israeli airstrike on Iran's facilities looms large; 2) Obama administration efforts to stop Iran are often undermined by other countries' support for its development of 'peaceful nuclear energy' programs. The global non- proliferation regime continues to be challenged by back-door deals for sensitive nuclear assistance, and the upcoming Non-Proliferation Treaty review will be an important forum for a discussion of many dimensions of concern." News Contact: John Finn, jfinn@wooster.edu Phone: +1-330-263-2145 (2/17/10)
4. KANISHKAN SATHASIVAM, Ph.D., associate professor and chairperson, Department of Political Science and the William H. Bates Center for Public Affairs, SALEM STATE COLLEGE: "My view on Iran's nuclear program reflects the U.S. and international community view, that Iran is under international law entitled to nuclear science and technology for peaceful purposes, but not for weapons. Iran has always claimed its program is for peaceful purposes, but Iran's own actions in the past several years undermine that claim. The onus is therefore on Iran to establish its trustworthiness on the issue." Sathasivam received his Ph.D. in political science from Texas A&M University in 2000; and has an M.S. degree (1991) from the University of Tennessee and a B.S. degree (1989) from Saint Louis University, both of these in aerospace engineering. His teaching centers on international and comparative politics with a particular focus on international security and foreign policy analysis. His research interests include the enduring rivalry between India and Pakistan, security and conflict in the Middle East and Central Asia, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and geopolitics among the great powers of the world. His recent publications include a monograph titled "Uneasy Neighbors: India, Pakistan and U.S. Foreign Policy" (2005). News Contact: Margo Steiner, msteiner@salemstate.edu Phone: +1-978-542-7505 (2/17/10)
5. BILL MARTEL, professor of international security studies at The Fletcher School, TUFTS UNIVERSITY, in Medford, Mass.: "Sanctions are utterly useless as a deterrent to Iran's nuclear program." Martel is the author of the book "Victory in War" and has been quoted in many publications on this subject. News Contact: Ian Davis, ian.davis@tufts.edu Phone +1-617-627-6410 (2/17/10)
6. AMBASSADOR NABIL FAHMY is the founding dean of the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the AMERICAN UNIVERSITY in Cairo. He is also the chair of the Monterey California Center for Nonproliferation Studies' Middle East Project. He is the former Egyptian ambassador to the United States and is currently ambassador at large at the Egyptian Foreign Ministry. Fahmy played an active role in the numerous efforts to bring peace to the Middle East, as well as in international and regional disarmament affairs. He headed the Egyptian delegation to the Middle East Peace Process Steering Committee in 1993 and the Egyptian delegation to the Multilateral Working Group on Regional Security and Arms Control emanating from the Madrid Peace Conference from December 1991. Over the years, Fahmy has been a member of the Egyptian Missions to the United Nations (disarmament and political affairs) in Geneva and New York. He was elected vice chairman of the First Committee on Disarmament and International Security Affairs of the 44th Session of the UN General Assembly in 1986. And from 1999 until 2003, he was a member of the UN Secretary General's Advisory Board of Disarmament Matters where he served as its chairman in 2001. Fahmy has written extensively on Middle East politics, peacemaking, and regional security and disarmament. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in physics/mathematics and his Master of Arts in management, both from the American University in Cairo. Fahmy is fluent in Arabic. News Contact: Morgan Roth, mroth@aucnyo.edu Phone: +1-646-341-7436 (2/17/10)
7. DR. MEHDI NOORBAKSH is an associate professor of international affairs at HARRISBURG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY. His academic background includes international politics, global energy, and democratic movements and processes in Middle East politics. Noorbaksh has published extensively on Middle East politics, including for the Foreign Policy Association, Middle East Policy Journal and International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. He is currently working on a number of articles on the Middle East and Iran, and a book on the interaction of Islam, nationalism and democratic change in Iran. Additionally, his father-in-law, Ebrahim Yazdi, was foreign minister in the interim government that followed the Shah's fall in 1979, and has been in jail since late December. Noorbaksh is fluent in Persian. News Contact: Steven Infanti, sinfanti@harrisburgu.edu Phone: +1-717-901-5146 (2/17/10)
8. Following are experts from TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY who can comment:
- JASEN CASTILLO, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Bush School of Government and Public Service. Prior to joining the Bush School, Castillo worked in the Department of Defense's Policy Planning Office. Before working in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, he was an analyst at the RAND Corporation, where his research focused on military strategy, nuclear deterrence, and WMD terrorism. Prior to RAND, he was a consultant for the Institute for Defense Analyses. Castillo earned his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago, where he received research support from the National Science Foundation and the Smith Richardson Foundation. His research interests include international security, U.S. defense policy, and military history. Currently, he is pursuing two research projects: one on the sources of a military's will to fight and another on the potential deterrence strategies of new nuclear states. Web site: http://bush.tamu.edu/faculty/DOCS/vitae/castillo.pdf
- WILLIAM S. CHARLTON, Ph.D., associate professor of nuclear engineering, is the director of the Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute, TEES. His areas of interest: 1) Nuclear nonproliferation and international security: Interests include reactor modeling for material production calculations, inverse problem analysis, signature development for identification of covert nuclear weapons programs, nuclear terrorism, treaty verification technique development, and innovative safeguards methodologies. 2) Reactor physics and fuel cycle analysis: Interests include lattice and full-core modeling applications, proliferation resistance modeling for fuel cycles, transmuter fuels, and development of proliferation resistant nuclear fuels. 3) Reactor experimentation and nuclear data development: Interests include development of benchmark experiments for reactor physics code verification, development of experimental measurement techniques, and measurement and analysis of fundamental nuclear data.
Web site: http://nuclear.tamu.edu/people/faculty/charlton/charlton.pdf
- DAVID R. BOYLE, Ph.D., is the deputy director for research programs at the Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute (NSSPI). His areas of interest include safety and efficiency of plutonium storage and disposition approaches. Web site: http://nuclear.tamu.edu/people/faculty/boyle/boyle.pdf
News Contact: Tom Hughes, tomhughes@tamu.edu Phone: +1-979-862-4001 (2/17/10)
PROFNET is an exclusive service of PR Newswire.
Posted 18/02/2010
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