Geopolitics of Energy Initiative

John Bolton, America's recent U.N. ambassador, brags in his new tell-all memoir about thwarting efforts by his successive bosses, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, to open a dialogue with Iran over its nuclear program.

If you're disturbed to read about U.S. diplomats backstabbing one another while our nation drifts toward yet another Persian Gulf war, then don't pick up Esquire's November issue, because it features a story that will make your blood boil.

Titled "The Secret History of the Impending… more

SIMON: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Thursday, announced new sanctions on the Quds division of Iran's Revolutionary Guard and on banks with links to the guard. The administration and the U.S. Congress have labeled the Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization. Flynt Leverett is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation where he directs the Geopolitics of Energy Initiative. In government, he worked on Middle East affairs at the State Department and at the National… more

Tough rhetoric from the Bush administration toward Iran over the past few months was matched today by sweeping new sanctions, punishment for what the administration regards as Iran's nuclear weapons program, for its shipping of weapons into Iraq, and for support of international terrorism. The move follow talks in Rome between Iran and a delegation from the European Union over Iran's nuclear ambitions, talks which appeared to have produced little movement. President Bush insists he remains committed to diplomacy… more

As the United States and Iran are locked in a battle for power and influence across the Middle East -- with the fear of an Iranian nuclear weapon looming in the background -- FRONTLINE gains unprecedented access to Iranian hard-liners shaping government policy, including parliament leader Hamid Reza Hajibabaei, National Security Council member Mohammad Jafari and state newspaper editor Hossein Shariatmadari.

In this report, FRONTLINE examines how U.S. efforts to install democracy in Iraq have served to strengthen Iran's position… more

Flynt Leverett, NSC, former Senior Director for Middle East Affairs (2002-03), discusses U.S. engagement with Iran. Leverett thinks the engagement policy with Iran may not have been serious and that the Administration is leaning toward naming the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization. He left the White House over policy differences. Esquire magazine recently wrote an article about Leverett. ...

To watch the interview, please follow this link. Also, for the complete story, visit "The… more

In the years after 9/11, Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann worked at the highest levels of the Bush administration as Middle East policy experts for the National Security Council. Mann conducted secret negotiations with Iran. Leverett traveled with Colin Powell and advised Condoleezza Rice. They each played crucial roles in formulating policy for the region leading up to the war in Iraq. But when they left the White House, they left with a growing sense of alarm – not only… more

On the eve of Putin’s visit to Iran, Pravda.Ru interviewed two major Middle East and Russian policy experts Marshall Goldman and Flynt Leverett. Marshall Goldman is Kathryn Wasserman Davis Professor of Russian Economics (Emeritus) at Wellesley College. Flynt Leverett is a Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation.

Pravda.Ru: How could you comment on Vladimir Putin’s visit to Iran?

Flynt Leverett: Since the end of the Cold War and the breakup of the Soviet Union, Iran has become an increasingly important regional… more

Flynt Leverett, who was a counterterrorism analyst on the Policy Planning Council in Colin Powell’s State Department, and senior director for Middle East affairs from 2002 to 2003 on the National Security Council, says the United States’ standing in the Middle East has fallen sharply because of the perception in the region that the United States is now “an occupier.” He says this started after the first Gulf War when U.S. forces were based in Saudi Arabia, and persists because… more

Iraq has the world's third largest proven reserves of oil, and they're barely tapped. This week, the price of oil reached $82 dollars a barrel -- the highest in history. And Alan Greenspan says in his new memoir that, at least for him, the U.S. invasion of Iraq was "largely about oil." Iraq's ocean of oil is a source of endless speculation, maneuver, sectarian tension, war and conflict -- inside Iraq and out -- over who gets what and how.… more

To: The New President From: The National Security Adviser Date: January 21, 2009

On May 1, 2003, President George W. Bush stood on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln under a banner reading "Mission Accomplished" and triumphantly proclaimed the beginning of a new era in America’s relations with the Middle East. As Bush and his advisers worked to define this new era, they rejected the regional strategy launched by another American president on the deck of another… more