If this Reuters report is accurate, the two sides are a lot farther apart on the issue of centrifuges than anybody seems to have been thinking: "We need at least 100,000 IR-1 (first generation) centrifuges to produce enough fuel for each of our (civilian) nuclear (power) plants. We have informed the International Atomic Energy Agency … Continue reading Speaking of obstacles to a nuclear deal…

So one of the big stories today was that the Managing Director of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, withdrew from her planned commencement speaker gig at Smith College because students and faculty had protested her selection. She is but the latest in a recent string of would-be commencement honorees who have chosen to, or been forced … Continue reading The looming commencement address apocalypse

I feel like we've been graced with a minor celebrity, maybe. Somebody claiming to be "David Soroko" commented on this piece about the "non-profit" charity IRD and all the great work it did to enrich its owners while also (allegedly) funding the Iraqi insurgency with USAID money. Mr. Soroko, you may remember, was the USAID … Continue reading Comments from the land of the golden parachutes

My newest at Lobe Log recaps a new report from the International Crisis Group and a panel discussion held yesterday by the US Institute of Peace, both looking at what remains to be done before a comprehensive deal with Iran is reached. Both used the analogy of a Rubik's cube to describe the talks, since … Continue reading Solving the Iranian Rubik’s Cube, up now at Lobe Log

We need some music: Here is a video of a head of state who is totally not a dictator. He is playing hockey, and of all the guys he's playing hockey with, including former Soviet superstars, he is the best at playing hockey. I don't want to say he's the best at playing hockey ever, … Continue reading Neon lights, Nobel Prize, When a mirror speaks, The reflection lies

The Pew Charitable Trusts regularly does public opinion polling all over the world, but you really have to hand it to them for getting a survey done in Ukraine last month. Bravo to the interviewers who gathered this data for them, which had to be done via face-to-face interviews and especially in the tense eastern … Continue reading Public opinion in Ukraine and Russia, my latest at Lobe Log

Despite the fact that in most of the country is a thousand degrees every day and I hate excessively hot weather, I love Egypt. For people who like to look at old stuff while they're on vacation, like me, there are only a handful of countries that can rival the amazing sights that Egypt offers. … Continue reading BREAKING: Beloved TV series eerily predicted Hank Scorpio’s takeover of the eastern United States

On the one hand, we have the Rialto Unified School District, located just east of Los Angeles. For some reason, some of their eighth grade teachers thought it would be a good idea to give their students a "critical thinking exercise" that asked them to "write an argumentative essay, utilizing cited textual evidence, in which … Continue reading Today in “don’t do that”

The next time you hear or read somebody bemoan the "silence" of moderate Muslim leaders or their supposed reluctance to criticize Islamic extremists, bear in mind that they're cynically pushing a political agenda, and selectively ignoring reality in order to do it. If you're not finding any moderate Muslims who are condemning the actions of … Continue reading You’re not looking hard enough

My latest looks at Russia's turn east (and south), expanding its economic ties to China and India (as well as its presence in Africa, which I argue is related in the same way that President Obama's promised "pivot to Asia" includes competing with China for access to emerging African markets and natural resources): In the … Continue reading Russia’s Asian Pivot, now up at Lobe Log