Iran

The U.S. government has experienced many changes over the recent month, the republicans lost the Senate and the House to the Democrats. Many wonder this change and the resignation of Rumsfeld will affect the policy making of the US government. Further the new Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, a former Director of the CIA, is said to be a move to 'undermine' the Vice Presidents power. If that is true or not is hard to say at this point, what is likely is that Robert Gates will listen more intently to the CIA and the Joint Chiefs then his predecessor. It is also suspected that Robert Gates will favor talking to Iran instead of starting another war. Further it seems interesting that the CIA does not seem to have any conclusive evidence confirming the existence of a secret Iranian Nuclear-weapons program.

THE NEXT ACT (New Yorker)
CIA: Keine Beweise für Nuklearprogramm (Koelner Stadtanzeiger)