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.

Even those who have never negotiated with North Korea could have told the Obama administration, “I told you so.”

In this age of ballooning U.S. debt, it’s hardly surprising that many Democrats and Republicans are pushing to reduce American military spending. But a closer examination of what’s at stake reveals just how troubling the embrace of defense austerity will prove to be.

Heads of state and foreign ministers from 50-plus countries will gather next week in Seoul, South Korea, to discuss the threat of nuclear terrorism, a follow-up to the first “nuclear-security summit” convened two years ago in Washington by President Obama.

Washington is already in mini-crisis mode over North Korea’s planned launch of a “satellite” (actually, an intercontinental ballistic missile)...Now comes word from South Korea that Pyongyang may also be planning another nuclear test.

Philip Ewing, of DOD Buzz, points out another possibility that I didn’t contemplate: that we could “swing and miss,” as he puts it. In other words, try to shoot down the missile and fail to do so.

North Korea is testing how much the Obama administration will give to maintain the fiction of diplomatic progress.