The new issue of _WMD Insights_, now with Michael Moodie at the helm, is out. “Read it here”:http://www.wmdinsights.org/. Among many other interesting articles, the issue features “a commentary”:http://www.wmdinsights.org/I26/I26_G1_ConfusedWest.htm by Thérèse Delpech titled “Confused West, Single-Minded Iran.” Summary is below.

*The West is currently engaged with Iran in a diplomatic process that has only one recognizable role: waiting until the U.S. presidential elections in November*. Meanwhile, Tehran sets “red lines,” as though it holds the stronger position.

Iran may well be right: Until a new U.S. administration is in place, Iran has time to deflect pressures, and, for the success of its nuclear program, time is of the essence. *In the West, no one seems to recall that diplomacy is not an alternative to the exercise of power, but an instrument of it, or a useful complement to it*.

Finally, Israel, which has a different sense of urgency, may be preparing a strike on Iran, reportedly condoned by Washington. *In sum, whatever the outcome of the present impasse, Western strategy appears far more confused than Iran’s*.