China, Russia want to inspect downed U.S. drone

After weeks of attempting to downplay the capture of the CIA drone by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, American officials have changed their position and now are expressing concerns about the drone being in the hands of the Iranians. The capture has surprised everyone, particularly the fact that the plane seems to be in tack without any apparent damage. Now Russia and China are asking permission to inspect the plane.

All in all, it is not a good day for American intelligence officials. The captured drone can reveal important and sensitive information, particularly on the methods of gathering information on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stephen Walt's Top 10 lessons of the Iraq War

Stephen M. Walt March 20, 2012 Foreign Policy This month marks the ninth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Regardless of your views on the wisdom of that decision, it's fair to say the results were not what most Americans expected. Now that the war is officially over and most U.S. forces have withdrawn, what lessons should Americans (and others) draw from the experience? There are many lessons that one might learn, of course, but here are my Top 10 Lessons from the Iraq War. Read the full article
Read more

Guardian Editorial--Iran: Time for cool heads

Monday 9 January 2012 This would be a good time for the US and Europe to decline the ayatollah's kind invitation to be his faction's re-election agent The following three propositions are all true: in March, Iran is facing one of the most crucial elections in the history of the regime; it is doing so in an atmosphere which has become militarised, not just externally, but internally too – the Revolutionary Guards control Iran's oil industry, key business interests, the nuclear programme and the oil and gas infrastructure; and the more militarised the election gets, the more it will benefit the hardliners around the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He himself has called the vote a potential security challenge. Given this, why are the US and EU about to impose oil sanctions, which even if they do not go as far as Ron Paul's "act of war" will squeeze the source of 60% of the regime's revenue? Ayatollah Khamenei's reaction to the forthcoming
Read more