AS talks begin in Geneva on Iran’s nuclear program, the US laid out preconditions essentially equal to the Administration’s goals: if Iran stops all uranium enrichment and closes their nuclear facility buried into the mountain near Qom, then talks can progress. The Iranian Foreign Minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, did not agree to the preconditions today, but Iran did float a counter-offer for the negotiations, allowing them to retain enrichment capabilities.

Sometimes the back channel will tell you more than what happens in public.

A variety of links to articles/interviews/speeches on current issues that may be of interest.

A variety of links to articles/interviews/speeches on current issues that may be of interest.

Allow me to agree with Rand Paul. We already have significant sanctions on Iran, which mainly hurt the population rather than the regime. The Senate wanted to take another dip with an even more stringent set of sanctions. And Paul said no.

Finally, we’re getting that export of American-style freedoms going in a very specific manner.

Here’s a novel – and tasty! – approach to spreading cultural awareness of all the countries on America’s enemies list:

Conflict Kitchen is a take-out restaurant that only serves cuisine from countries with which the United States is in conflict. The food is served out of a take-out-style storefront that rotates identities every six months to highlight another country.

The military has already tested the consequences of an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, and it found troublesome results for not only Israel and Iran, but the US as well. And the upshot of all of this, the important part, is that this wider regional war, which could last several years and cost hundreds of billions – would only slow the development of a (for now theoretical) Iranian nuclear program by three years

A variety of links to articles/interviews/speeches on current topics that may be of interest.

An important story from James Risen shows why anyone with a passion for more war who talks about the “intelligence” on Iran’s nuclear program should not be listened to. In fact, we know precious little about that program, and even what we do know gets shifted by new information all the time.