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| Efforts continue to be made on the Iran nuclear talks, with Iran reportedly ready to put forward some new ideas on the process, and the EU trying to speed up finalization.
Underlying all of this, President Biden's aide Brett McGurk continued to be pessimistic, saying it is "highly unlikely" that there will be a deal any time soon.
McGurk said he thinks Iran wants to put in some new ideas to improve the deal, but the US is "not going to do that." The US has consistently resisted any advancements in the process for months.
At this point, the US keeps saying the talks are about to run out of time or fall apart. The EU is trying to salvage things, and Iran is willing to play ball. Without the US, however, there's really no way to get across the finish line on the deal. Iran's new ideas are winning praise, but not from the US. Iran wants more regional support, but here again it seems that's just more people for the US to oppose. |
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| In an unusual escalation of words depicting Russia's broadened aims in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov today declared that Russia's military "tasks" in Ukraine territorial objectives are no longer limited to the Donbass. Lavrov told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti things had "substantially changed" since the Russian-Ukrainian peace talks in Istanbul failed four months ago. Then, the focus was on Donetsk and Luhansk in the Donbass. Lavrov: "Now the geography is different, it's far from being only the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, it's also Kherson and Zaporizhia oblasts and a number of other territories. And this process continues consistently and persistently." |
| The Washington Post reported Saturday that Biden administration officials increasingly fear that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's planned trip to Taiwan next month risks sparking a major crisis across the Taiwan Strait. Media reports said last week that Pelosi plans to make the trip in August, prompting strong warnings from China. Beijing would view the visit as a major provocation since Pelosi is a high-level official in the US government and it would signal that Washington was moving away from the one-China policy. Administration officials told the Post that China would view the visit as a purposeful provocation. One administration official said that military and intelligence officials have "tried to explain the risks associated with the timing of her proposed trip." But the official said that it's ultimately her decision. |
| | I have been asked to join my fellow panelists in speaking about U.S. interests in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. For some reason, our government has never been able to articulate these interests, but, judging by the fiscal priority Americans have assigned to these three countries in this century, they must be immense -- almost transcendent. Since we invaded Afghanistan in 2001, we have spent more than $5 trillion and incurred liabilities for veterans' disabilities and medical expenses of at least another trillion dollars, for a total of something over $6 trillion for military efforts alone. This is money we didn't spend on sustaining, still less improving, our own human and physical infrastructure or current and future well-being. We borrowed almost all of it. |
| The two sides in the war in Ukraine have negotiated a deal to at least reduce the starvation in Africa and elsewhere that may result from the war, by agreeing to a means of exporting some grain. The same two sides had previously reached agreements on prisoners of war. The odd thing about this -- although it happens in every war -- is that each of the two sides has negotiated with what it characterizes as irrational monsters on the other side with whom no negotiations are possible. |
| The Senate on Wednesday voted to pass a massive $280 billion spending bill meant to help the US out-compete China, which includes about $52 billion to subsidize the domestic production of semiconductor microchips. The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 passed in a vote of 63-33, with 17 Republicans voting in favor. The over 1,000-page legislation includes $52.7 billion for direct funding for the construction and expansion of semiconductor manufacturing and $24 billion for tax incentives and other purposes. The bill will authorize roughly $200 billion in science and technology research funding that will be spread across several government agencies over the next five years. The largest recipient of the research funds will be the National Science Foundation, which will receive $81 billion. |
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