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New York Times -The Opininator:A Gathering of Opinion From Around The Globe The Latest on Bombing or Talking to Iran Let’s start with the bombing. Ace at Ace of Spades HQ points to a Jerusalem Post story today in which a former Israeli official floats a conditional timeline for bombing Iran. Israel will be compelled to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities if Western powers do not impose serious sanctions against Teheran by the end of 2009, former deputy defense minister Ephraim Sneh said on Wednesday. He also points to a second Post story, a report on Nicholas Sarkozy’s comments earlier today...

Israel is keeping its options open to deal with the Iranian nuclear programme, a senior official said on Monday, after the Russian president said he had been assured it would not take military action. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made the comments in an interview with US television, excerpts of which were released by the Kremlin on Sunday. "When Israeli President (Shimon) Peres was visiting me in Sochi recently, he said something very important for all of us: 'Israel does not plan any strikes on Iran, we are a peaceful country and we will not do this'," Medvedev said. Peres's office...

President Dmitry Medvedev said Israel had given Russia assurances it plans no strike on Iran and reserved Moscow's right to sell Tehran arms, in an interview released by the Kremlin on Sunday. Medvedev described an Israeli attack as "the worst thing that could be imagined" but said President Shimon Peres had ruled out such fears when the two leaders met in the Russian resort of Sochi in August. "When Israeli President Peres was visiting me in Sochi recently, he said something very important for all of us: 'Israel does not plan any strikes on Iran, we are a peaceful country...

When Yasser Arafat first addressed the U.N. General Assembly in November 1974, he told the world body he came bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun. "Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand," stated the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, at that time still considered a terrorist organization by the United States and Israel. Today, the odds have increased. The gun has been replaced by nuclear warheads. Despite a mysterious air raid by the Israeli air force last Sept. 6 on what it said was a nuclear processing facility in the Syrian desert, Damascus...

Directive Sent to Team At Talks in Beijing After a Chinese request for greater flexibility during last week's six-nation talks on the North Korean nuclear crisis, President Bush instructed the U.S. delegation to make it clear that the administration's patience in diplomatically seeking North Korea's dismantling of its weapons program could run out, U.S. officials said. The instructions, delivered as a third day of talks began last Friday in Beijing, came as the negotiators at the talks struggled to draft a detailed, two-page statement laying out the steps for resolving the crisis. Bush, after consultation with Vice President Cheney and...