One thing that I often get asked by audiences interested in our work at Watching America, translating foreign news about the U.S., is exactly how useful is the U.S. media in helping us understand what goes on beyond these shores. The reasons I can give for my answer, which is typically somewhere between “useless” and “next to useless”, could be the subject of an entire book, but one of them is simply that in the U.S., we get used to seeing the “surface story” without underlying information or context that would allow us to assess its veracity.
It is always satisfying when our work at Watching America turns up such information.
This article from Le Figaro, currently our feature, is one such.
HOW THE UNITED STATES SPIES ON IRAN
Since the Weapons of Mass Destruction fiasco in Iraq, America is concentrating its efforts on human information. A report published Monday on American intelligence estimates that Iran does not represent any imminent threat, and that Tehran suspended its nuclear military program in 2003. To arrive at these surprising conclusions, the US says that it used new methods of collecting information on Iran. What are they?
THE COLLECTION METHODS
The most important information on Iran was obtained through electronic images supplied by satellites placed above the country (such as modifications in the security of nuclear sites and repair of underground facilities). “Part of this information is communicated to the Israelis, who do not have sufficient satellite capability available, since theirs is concentrated on Lebanon and Syria,” stated an official with the French Ministry of Defense, who underlined the level of cooperation between the US and Israel concerning the threat of Iran.
Read the rest on WatchingAmerica.com
Robin Koerner is a British-born citizen of the USA, who currently serves as Academic Dean of the John Locke Institute. He holds graduate degrees in both Physics and the Philosophy of Science from the University of Cambridge (U.K.). He is also the founder of WatchingAmerica.com, an organization of over 100 volunteers that translates and posts in English views about the USA from all over the world.
Robin may be best known for having coined the term “Blue Republican” to refer to liberals and independents who joined the GOP to support Ron Paul’s bid for the presidency in 2012 (and, in so doing, launching the largest coalition that existed for that candidate).
Robin’s current work as a trainer and a consultant, and his book If You Can Keep It , focus on overcoming distrust and bridging ideological division to improve politics and lives. His current project, Humilitarian, promotes humility and civility as a basis for improved political discourse and outcomes.