Would Direct U.S.-Iran Talks Be Bad For Israel? -- Max Fisher, Washington Post
The full story behind The New York Times report, that the United States and Iran have agreed in principle to direct nuclear talks after the elections, may not come to light for some time. We covered the responses, the speculation, and the reasons for and against believing that talks are actually happening.
Conversation over the story is today coalescing around the question of what it all means for Israel. That discussion hits on some of the same issues that have surrounded American response to Iranian nuclear efforts, and reveals some of the foundational ideological differences that may inform how President Obama and Mitt Romney diverge on Iran, Israel and American foreign policy.
Read more ....
Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials
Iran’s Poker Game: What Can Direct Talks Achieve? -- Karl Vick, Time
Record Support for Strikes Against Iran Ahead of Debate -- Nate Cohn, The New Republic
The Election’s Real Foreign Policy Issue: War with Iran -- Massimo Calabresi, Time
Western policy on Syria is failing on a monumental scale -- Peter Hain, The Guardian
The Syrian vortex -- The Telegraph editorial
A whodunit tearing Lebanon apart -- Linda S. Heard, Special to Gulf News
Libyagate: When scandals metastasize, the stakes are high indeed. -- John O’Sullivan, NRO
How the administration got in trouble on Libya -- Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post
Too little too late in Libya. Obama repeated Bush's mistake, and the power vacuum has been filled by jihadists. -- L.A. Times editorial
Tunisia: Ghannouchi reveals all -- Michael Weiss, NOW Lebanon
A lesson in restraint: What China tells us about Iran -- Michael Lumbers, Washington Post
Obama's China Policy Is a Massive Failure -- Aaron Friedberg, Real Clear World
A Point Of View: What kind of superpower could China be? -- BBC
Not losing in Afghanistan -- John A. Nagl, Washington Post
A ticking time bomb: What's behind the instability in Mali? -- Faith Karimi and Erin Burnett, CNN
Putin's Pride Has No Price Tag -- Michael Bohm, The Moscow Times
How a viral death rumor pushed Fidel Castro out of retirement -- Mary Murray, NBC News
'Crime' of failing to predict an earthquake that sets a dangerous precedent for science -- Steve Connor, The Independent
Presidential debate: Do new reports on Libya change the story? -- Peter Grier, Christian Science Monitor