Stephen M. Walt wants to know, since he is confused by the mixed signals sent by the Obama administration, first saying that they want to talk and then putting forward proposals that were blatantly unacceptable to the Iranians, who predictably rejected them.

Justin Raimondo poses similar concerns, saying “For all this administration’s alleged attempts to “engage” the Iranians, there were never any serious efforts to come to any kind of agreement: unconditional demands, exemplified by this latest ultimatum, were always at the core of various Western “peace” proposals. Now that the Iranian drama is coming down to the wire, virtually all pretenses at real negotiations have been rapidly discarded.”

Is there anything that symbolizes the absurdity of US attitudes towards Cuba more than the fact that Ozzie Guillen, the manager of the Miami Marlins baseball team, was suspended by team owners for remarks he made about Fidel Castro? What did he say that was so outrageous? “I respect Fidel Castro. You know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years, but (he) is still there.” How horrifying! This is despite the fact that even pope Ratzo just had a friendly meeting with Castro and called for an end to the embargo. There goes the pope’s chance of ever being made manager for the Marlins. [Read more…]

The pattern has become drearily familiar: An outspoken opponent of equal rights for gays and lesbians is revealed to be a gay or lesbian. While such events provide opportunities for ruminations on hypocrisy, the more interesting question is why such people act in such self-denying ways. A recent study suggests that incongruence “between implicit and explicit measures of sexual orientation predicted a variety of homophobic behaviors, including self-reported anti-gay attitudes, implicit hostility towards gays, endorsement of anti-gay policies, and discriminatory bias such as the assignment of harsher punishments for homosexuals”. [Read more…]

The issue of the effect of third party candidacies is interesting, particularly this year. Former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson is seeking the nomination of the Libertarian Party while former Louisiana governor Buddy Roemer is seeking to capture the nomination of the Reform Party. [Read more…]

It is a crime in the US to give ‘material support’ to any organization that the US government deems to be a ‘terrorist’ group, where that phrase is defined loosely and can even encompass legal advice. This statute was deemed constitutional by a 6-3 vote in the US Supreme Court in 2010 because these days judges seem willing to allow practically anything as long as you persuade them that it is against terrorism. [Read more…]