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The Persian Gulf's Nuclear Question
In the early 1950s the Eisenhower Administration launched its “Atoms for Peace” program. The idea was that if the U.S. helped its allies in the developing world build nuclear reactors for civilian use, we’d be able to keep a tight rein on these nascent nuclear programs and prevent them from weaponizing. This turned out to be a miscalculation—the first two “Atoms for Peace” reactors were built in Pakistan and Iran.
Today, the U.S. is again helping one of its allies build a top-shelf nuclear program. This time, it’s the United Arab Emirates, the tiny oil-rich sheikdom just 80 miles across the Persian Gulf from Iran. The U.A.E. project began with the blessing of the last Bush Administration, and President Obama has called it “a model for the world.” But as Pulitzer Center grantee Yochi Dreazen reports in this week’s National Journal, some U.S. officials have real concerns about the U.A.E.’s nuclear program and the growing possibility of a nuclear arms race in the Persian Gulf.
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Return to Haiti
With our unique model, we often find ourselves taking the lead in pushing the boundaries of conventional journalism. A good example of this is about to take center stage in Port-au-Prince and Miami.
This weekend, “Voices of Haiti,” a multimedia performance based on the poetry of Kwame Dawes, the photography of Andre Lambertson and set to music by Kevin Simmonds, will make its debut in the Haitian capital. The production grew out of a year-long Pulitzer Center commission to report on Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. It was first performed to critical acclaim last August at the National Black Theater Festival in Winston-Salem, N.C. After Saturday’s performance in Port-au-Prince, the company, which includes Dawes, Simmonds and soprano Valetta Brinson, will present “Voices of Haiti” once more, this time at the University of Miami’s Victor E. Clarke Recital Hall on Monday, Feb. 6 at 6:30 p.m.
Until next week,
Tom Hundley
Senior Editor