nice – and was intrigued by his confidence that Obama is serious viz military option, something I’ve never believed and quite frankly still don’t, although less stridently so after reading this – ideologically I think Obama comes from a place where the appeal of the illusion of containment would be hard to resist – I see little in his actions to counter impression that he’s ideologically predisposed to prefer the idea of containment over the threat of war. I mean, Obama signalled his willingness to Tehran to make a deal before Rouhani came to power, so that’s a pretty big red flag far as I’m concerned.

I would like to have heard more about Iran cheating though – not just on any deal that might be signed, but right now – because that’s the key unanswered question here, isn’t it? Whether or not Iran’s participation in these negotiations is just a ruse, a set up, a smokescreen that keeps Israel on the sidelines and allows them to pick apart the sanctions regime without ever really giving up their nuke ambitions?