Emanuele Ottolenghi - Dr. Emanuele Ottolenghi is Executive Director at the Transatlantic Institute in Brussels. He previously taught Israel Studies at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies and at the Middle East Centre of St. Antony's College, Oxford University.
He holds a degree in Political Science from University of Bologna, Italy, and a Ph.D. in political theory from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Since 1998 he is at Oxford.
His research focuses on Israeli domestic politics, specifically coalition and party politics, and elections, post-Zionism, the Arab-Israeli conflict (mainly the Oslo era), Europe's new anti-Semitism and European attitudes to the Middle East. He is currently finishing a book on Israel's electoral reforms in the 1990s.
Since Iran's illicit nuclear program was exposed to a stunned world in 2002, Tehran has defied the international community and continued to pursue its nuclear goals. What drives this seemingly apocalyptic quest? Are Iran's aims rational or not?
Under a Mushroom Cloud analyzes this catastrophic and murky situation, and examines Iran's dual-track approach of accelerating its nuclear activities while weaving itself ever more tightly into the fabric of the European economy.
Thriving trade between Europe and Iran, and heavy European involvement in Iran's energy industry, have weakened Europe's will to impose robust sanctions - but imposing them is the only practical way of protecting Europe's strategic interests and ensuring the stability of the region.
Under a Mushroom Cloud offers an answer to this dilemma. Drawing on extensive research, including interviews with senior officials and security and intelligence personnel from many countries involved in the effort to stop Iran developing a nuclear bomb, it provides a comprehensive account of a serious strategic threat to Europe, and offers an original list of practical recommendations for European policymakers who must confront it.