Review of Kenneth M. Pollack'sThe Persian Puzzle: The Conflict Between Iran and America and David Harris's The Crisis; The President, the Prophet, and the Shah.

The rapid ticking of the Iran nuclear clock also marks an increasingly dark hour for the United States and its closest allies and partners, because it coincides with a third clock that Pollack did not imagine in 2004: the timetable of retreat set in motion by Barack Obama.

Insights into Iran can be found in five books by experts in the field.

Barack Obama is determined to resolve our differences by talking to other countries; however, this tactic has been used for years with little results.

Barack Obama's New York Times op-ed betrays a strategic understanding that is deeply disturbing.

Prime Minister Maliki"s actions in Basra indicate that the Iraqi central government is gaining strength.

A great hoax is being perpetrated on the world: the hoax of negotiations as an untried method to "solve" the "Iranian problem."

President George W. Bush’s desire to maintain a "balance of power that favors freedom," coupled with hyper-powerful means, prevents the United States from acting like a traditional, status-quo power.