Steeljaw Scribe

The term tipping point describes a point at which a slow gradual change becomes irreversible and then proceeds with gathering pace. It is derived from the metaphor of a rigid solid object being tilted to a point where it begins to topple.
Couple of observations from the region…
Iran to launch 1st domestic satellite soon - Ahmadinejad
(16 [...]

“War Is The Unfolding of Miscalculations”
That quote, attributed to author Barbara Tuchman, is generally ascribed to the events that ran up to the First World War. However, it, along with other illuminating principles such as the Rule of Unintended Consequences find a wider, and sadly, more common range of applications including those events presently [...]

(h/t ArmsControlWonk 5)
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In a curious action, the 1974 National Intelligence Assessment on foreign nation’s nuclear arms development programs was released by the Bush Administration on the eve of his trip to Israel and the Gulf States.  The NIA contains some rather stunning wording - in prticular, the assessment by CIA that:

We believe Israel already has [...]

Unlike most sales, arms sales have a wider impact beyond the primary parties (buyer/seller) and indeed, the recent announcement of the long sought sale of an improved S300 system to Iran by Russia has a wider circle of interested parties and corresponding impact beyond those two. First, though, we begin with the buyer.
Iran – Filling a [...]