Portrait of Shahram Chubin
Shahram Chubin, born in Iran and educated in Britain and the US is a Swiss national
. Currently he is a member of The Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), which is an international foundation that was established in 1995 under Swiss law to "promote the building and maintenance of peace, security and stability". The GCSP was founded by the Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports, in cooperation with the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. Currently he is the Director of Studies and Joint Course Director, International Training Course in Security Policy.
Before joining the GCSP he taught at the Graduate Institute for International Studies in Geneva (1981-1996). He has been Director of Regional Security Studies, IISS (London) and a fellow of the Wilson Center (Washington D.C.). He has published widely in such journals as Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, International Security, Daedalus and Survival.
Recent publications include:
- Iran’s National Security Policies, (Carnegie/Brookings 1994)
- The South and the New World Order, Washington Quarterly 16.4 (1993)
- Does Iran Want Nuclear Weapons? Survival, Spring 1995 (vol. 37 no. 1) 86-104.
- Iran-Saudi Arabia Relations and Regional Order, (AShahram Chubin, Charles Tripp), Adelphi Paper 304, London IISS. 1996.
- Engaging Iran (with Jerry Green), Survival Autumn 1998, (vol. 40 no 3) 153-167.
- Iran’s Strategic Predicament in Middle East Journal, Winter 2000 (Vol. 54 no 1) 10-24.
More recently, Dr. Chubin has published:
- Whither Iran? Reform, Domestic Policy and National Security: London: IISS Adelphi Paper 342 (London: OUP for IISS, 2002)
- Debating Iran's Nuclear Aspiration (with Rob Litwak), The Washington Quaterly Autumn, 2003.
His recent book Iran's Nuclear Ambitions (see the library in the left column of this blog) is the definite work on Iran's nuclear policy and is a required reading for European and American decision makers in foreign affairs.
View Shahram Chubin's speech at this conference.
2 comments:
I just listened to Shahram Chubin and Gary Samore at the annual Weinberg Founders conference. They presented two alternatives to deal with Iranians when and if they reach the point where they can produce nuclear weapons:
1. Military action against their nuclear facilities
2. Containing Iraninas so they won't be able to spread or use their nuclear weapons.
And there was a broad agreement that both alternatives would be very complicated to implement and the pros and cons for both strategies should be very carefully considered and analysed.
Well I wonder why a third alternative which in my opinion will be very effective for detering the entire region was not brought up. And that is to seriously work for an atom-free Middle East region, and should include India, Pakistan and Israel.
I admit that this may be the most complicated strategy to implement... but I think that the West and the regional countries should at least consider it seriously.
Wishfull thinking....
I guess the biggest hurdle against the idea of Middle East as an atom free region is the West's enourmous bias toward Israel. The Israeli's nuclear ability is a tabu in West and as long as this tabu exist, no one is willing to consider that option.
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