Ping: 2nd period

Great short lecture about asteroid impacts: http://www.ted.com/talks/phil_plait_how_to_defend_earth_from_asteroids.html

Supplemental: Iran's nuclear program

Iran not pursuing nuclear weapons:
http://www.wideasleepinamerica.com/2013/03/us-intel-chief-says-iran-isnt-building-nukes.html
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb/23/world/la-fg-iran-intel-20120224
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/25/world/middleeast/us-agencies-see-no-move-by-iran-to-build-a-bomb.html?_r=2&
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/23/us-iran-usa-nuclear-idUSBRE82M0G020120323

The technical details of enriching uranium, and how Iran is using it for fuel, not weapons:
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2013/02/22/how-close-is-iran-to-nuclear-weapons/
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-06/iran-s-nuclear-fuel-rod-isn-t-military-threat-u-s-analysts-say.html
http://news.antiwar.com/2013/02/12/iran-confirms-conversion-of-uranium-into-reactor-fuel/
http://backchannel.al-monitor.com/index.php/2012/12/3674/us-sees-hopeful-sign-in-iran-pausing-20-stockpile-growth/
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/20/us-nuclear-iran-iaea-idUSBRE91J13620130220
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/9643148/Iran-steps-back.html

Iran is not a threat to the US:
http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/04/20/more_hype_about_iran

...but the US and Israel are beating the drums of war anyway:
http://www.wideasleepinamerica.com/2013/03/biden-time-on-iran-at-aipac.html

PROJECT: Help with MLA formatting

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

PROJECT: Remaining deadlines

Deadline #3: Thursday, March 21 - Conclusion paragraph

Deadline #4: Monday, April 1 - Rough draft

Deadline #5: Monday, April 8 - Final draft

PROJECT: Deadline #2 - 3 body paragraphs

Have 3 body paragraphs finished by the beginning of class on Monday, March 18.

Homework: 1953 Iran coup d'etat

Date assigned
Monday, March 11


Assignment
Read the "Despotism and Godless Terrorism" chapter from Stephen Kinzer's Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq.  If you want an A, read the whole thing.  If you're satisfied with a B, start reading after the section break near the bottom of page 117.

If you want an A, answer all of the following questions.  If you're satisfied with a B, skip question #1.

1) John Foster Dulles was "shaped by three powerful influences: a uniquely privileged upbringing, a long career advising the world's richest corporations, and a profound religious faith."  How did those three factors shape Dulles's actions regarding Iran?

2) Describe the economic relationship between Britain and Iran prior to 1951.

3) What kind of man was Mohammad Mossadegh?  What made up his system of beliefs?

4) What happened in 1951 that changed the economic relationship between Britain and Iran?

5) How did Britain respond to this change in their economic relationship with Iran?

6) Describe the state of communism in Iran in the early 1950s under Mossadegh.

7) Why did John Foster Dulles thing that he would be able to work so easily with the CIA?

8) Why was the CIA needed to set the coup in motion?  Why couldn't America have just invaded Iran and overthrown Mossadegh using military force?

9) How popular was Mossadegh in Iran prior to CIA intervention? 

10) How did the CIA go about turning Iranian public opinion against Mossadegh?


Due date
Finish the reading by the beginning of class on Tuesday, March 12
Finish the questions by the beginning of class on Thursday, March 14

PROJECT: Deadline #1 - Intro paragraph

Have your intro paragraph finished by the beginning of class on Monday, March 11.