In an interview with GRITtv, Iranian born author Roya Hakakian says that on Iran, the Democratic nominee-elect isn't saying or doing anything that hasn't been done for years. So much for change.

I'm sure we're all holding our breath for the day when Israel is subject to such threats for having nukes and being willing to use them. Oh, but it's not in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, you say? Excellent, I'm sure if Iran drops out the West will just forget the whole thing!

Condoleezza Rice was speaking about the meeting this weekend with the Iranians: "I think we have done enough to demonstrate that the United States is serious and to assure our partners that we are serious and to show the Iranians that we are serious. I think we have done enough," Rice said.

On the rare occasions when Team Bush or their fellow Republican office-holders do something almost sensible, it's often something that they and their media buddies have attacked Democrats for doing or proposing. The planned meeting in Switzerland between US and Iranian envoys is just the latest example.

Ah, John McCain, steps on the rake once again. Having mocked Obama for wanting to have a "heart-to-heart" with Ahmadinejad, it appears that McCain is going to have to get in line and do the same.

Margolis, see, has this problem. He's been everywhere, he knows everyone and he gets most things right. When he doesn't, you can understand his reasoning, because he lays it out, including the facts he's operating from. He certainly called Iraq right, he called the outlines of the Afghan war right and he's just generally been kicking ass and taking names for years now. So, of course, since he gets things right, you barely every get to read him.

Reports and denials that Israeli fighter jets are using US bases in Iraq to practice for an attack on Iran are worrying - add in the report in the Sunday Times of London that Bush has “amber lighted” an Israeli attack and hints that an attack while Obama is visiting Israel might be of use to both Israel and the Republicans ... jitters galore.

With all the headlines about the Iranians testing short/medium range missiles, you have to read deep into the stories to discover that the "experts" suspect this is less a provocation by Iran than a defensive reaction to more provocative threats from the US and its allies. Yet we've had two days of cable news pundits discussing how provocatively the Iranians are behaving.

Here's the metric. The Israeli military, which has roughly par equipment with the US military, could not shut down even 5% of Hezbollah's strategic missile capability after a month of air war, plus a partial ground incursion. Why should Iran be different?

Ladies and Gentlemen, a self-described foreign policy and national security expert.McCain, known for acerbic comments and for sometimes firing verbally from the hip, was responding to a report that U.S. exports to Iran rose tenfold during President George W. Bush's term in office despite hostility between the two states.A rise in cigarette sales was a big part of that, according to an Associated Press analysis of seven years of U.S. trade figures.