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.

The amount of 20 percent enriched uranium Iran has and is continuing to produce far exceeds any civilian requirement it needs for the Tehran research reactor (the ostensible reason for which the regime says it needs to produce such material).

Joe Biden lashed out at the Bush administration for its failure to stop Iran’s drive toward nuclear arms. “When we took office, let me remind, there was virtually no international pressure on Iran ... We were the problem. We were diplomatically isolated in the world, in the region, in Europe. ... Today it is starkly, starkly different.” It's different  — but not in the way Biden suggests.

In a complaint filed yesterday in U.S. District Court, Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri, aka Turkcell, the Turkish mobile media giant, alleges that MTN Group Ltd, Africa’s largest mobile operator, bribed Iranians, sold South African votes at the IAEA and UN, and otherwise prostituted South African foreign policy to oust Turkcell from its contract in Iran and gain the lucrative market for itself.

The dispute over Iran’s controversial nuclear program has reached crisis point. Despite increasing foreign sanctions in recent months, Tehran is continuing its nuclear work, refusing to cooperate, and has indeed tripled its monthly production of higher-grade enriched uranium.

Ah, the power of engagement. New North Korean leader Kim Jong Eun has reportedly agreed to a wide-ranging deal with the Obama administration.

 I have long wondered whether Obama, desperate to distract the electorate from his feckless economic policies, would consider the military option to strike Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The answer to that appears to be, no, if not hell no.

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: