I really need to get going on my Mandarin lessons. Anyhoo- here's a tip from the estimable Ms. Rozen:

In any event, the net is that Administration officials are reduced to threatening the Security Council by saying if it does not allow an Article 7 debate (implying the possibility of sanctions as an outcome) the UNSC will “lose credibility”.

The real target of this tepid US response is China, which continues to say it wants diplomacy, but rejects all talk of sanctions...as President Hu Jintao made very clear last week, in what is increasingly being seen as a seriously flawed US-China Summit. (More on that in tomorrow’s Report...)

The whole of the article is a sober and informed way to think about what's going to happen, and not, with Iran. I disagree with one part of it however:

On balance, our sources think the “real” White House thinking on its Iran options is a good deal more sophisticated (or sensible...take your pick) than some of the media coverage, and some of the Op Ed pieces by war hawks, would indicate. At least in part, this analysis rests on continued confidence in the basic scientific opinion that Iran will not be ready to produce weapons grade plutonium for many more years.

And Bush is given credit for understanding, however imperfectly, how his Iraq adventure has limited his military options in the Middle East, if not also in Asia. ...

The Handlers and the Military still have elements who understand "reality," as does State and various agencies which supply our military machine and thus the effective arm of our diplomatic efforts. But Bush and the inner circle have no understanding of the Middle East, no desire to learn or change their uninformed, rhetorically driven conceptions of what "we" are doing there and how well that's going. They do understand hookers, parties and bank balances. For them, it's been six years of "I can do that for you, hoss" while Nero and his clowns hand over actual "governance" to corporate pals and fraternity brothers. To wit: Brownie.

The Chinese are pretty good on the lobbying circuit, I hear.

Anyway, let's not give Bush and the MasterAssClowns at the DIA and the mob-related goodfellas at DHS too much credit. They are doing this for the High Life, and the consequences to the nation, and the world, be damned.