Here was my response to Roger Cohen’s column in this morning’s New York Times:
Rouhani came to New York to address the UN but really to send a limited signal to the US that the sanctions have worked and Iran is suffering. It’s a limited signal because the hard liners are willing to be Slim Pickens and ride the economic bomb all the way down. Bibi is speaking directly to Barack Obama. Bibi wants to help the Tehran hard liners, knowing that Iran will implode. He wants Obama to delay any substantive discussion about lifting sanctions to ensure that Iran implodes. If Iran implodes, ironically, it opens the way for three possible outcomes: a desperate Iran buying a bomb from North Korea, internal revolution and then external attack from Al Qaeda. Iran is the last bastion of Shiadom that the Sunnis would like to take over to build the putative new Caliphate. Syria is the template for this approach. The challenge for Al Qaeda would be to find enough fighters to carry it off. That’s where Saudi Arabia comes into the equation. That’s the game that’s afoot here. Journalists like Dexter Filkins and Charlie Rose are being used by all sides to bolster their position. I predict the US will drag its feet, and the hard liners will have their way with potentially significant consequences for everyone, but in particular for Israel. Whether Iran gets a bomb or is taken over by Al Qaeda, it still leaves Israel as the last remaining real ‘infidel’ in the Middle East. Bibi, be careful what you ask for: you just might get it.
I know this is fundamentally a rehash of my previous post about Iran, but Roger’s superficial take on the situation was annoying. He should dig deeper and think more broadly.
Now let’s talk a bit more about the shutdown. Representative 
Marlin Stutzman truly expressed the situation. Here it is:
We’re not going to be disrespected,” Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) told The Washington Examiner. “We have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is.”
“We’re not going to be disrespected.” By whom? For what? “We have to get something out of this.” To save face? And finally, “And I don’t know what that even is”. We started this revolution, knowing in our hearts that we were right and the American people were on our side, but now it turns out it’s all gone bad, everybody’s mad and we’re stuck, not sure whether to blast our way out or give up. Sounds like a hostage situation to me. Remember this one? 
Similar situation.
Finally, baseball: and what happened yesterday afternoon and early evening to the Pittsburgh Pirates playing the St. Louis Cardinals?
Here’s the headline:
Wainwright, Cards blank Pirates, take over first place
Brains over brawn, just like I said…