Many of us doubt that Iran is on the way to build a nuclear bomb. Trying to find the truth is not easy. It was a bit of a one sided conversation since I don’t know the inner workings of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN body that monitors nuclear developments. But Robert Kelly, a nuclear energy engineer and ex-department director at the IAEA, has brought me up to speed.

 

Those, like some highly placed people in the US government and Congress, who say it is inevitable that Taiwan with its population of 23 million will one day return as part of mainland China rather as Hong King did, have really missed a beat. There is simply no likelihood that an overwhelming majority of Taiwanese will ever agree to that. The leader of the independence-minded Democratic Progressive party, Ms Tsai Ing-wen, may have gone down to defeat in Saturday’s election but she did gave the victor, Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang party, who is pro reunification- although at some distant date- a close run.

 

The panic button on Iran is being pressed again. A report by the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), suggests that Iran has taken more significant steps towards developing a nuclear weapon. At the same time the warnings from Israel are coming thick and fast, reminding us that if necessary Israel will bomb Iran’s nuclear research facilities. All this is grist for the mill for the doomsayers who say it won’t be long before countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt decide to develop their own bomb. 

Winston Churchill said that "Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”. But even if that is true is that a reason for the way the West has treated Russia since the end of the Cold War?