As Congress, Republican presidential candidates, and much of the U.S., South American, and European media are sounding the alarm on suspicious activities by Iran and Hezbollah in Latin America, the State Department is hitting the snooze button.

Baghdad is all atwitter over the P-5+1 talks with Iran beginning today. A sandstorm kept many European and Western diplomats from landing, but the Iranians were out in full force, with Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili leading the way.

A WikiLeaks cable shows the U.S. embassy knew of an alleged plot to kidnap or kill Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli and did little to investigate.

The Chen Guangcheng saga gets stranger and stranger, but also is becoming a major diplomatic embarrassment for the Obama administration.

It is quite telling that if President Obama had to construct a strategy for defeat, it would not differ from what he and his aides describe as America’s way forward.

With each passing day the military option becomes less viable.

Talks begin tomorrow between the P5 + 1 (the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany) and Iran. Today, the P5+1 group is having a prep meeting. Talks with Iran are destined to fail, not because I want them to, but because every piece is in place for failure: