The Russians want to stay in very good graces, because there's a big pay day for them.

They know they're sitting on a ton of gas and they're dying to develop it. They can't do it by themselves, and sanctions that prevent them from doing it would hurt Iran.

I'm not convinced that talks would lead anywhere. (But) in the short to medium term, they would take the pressure out of the system that's driving oil prices.

You'd be picking a … fight, though. Iran is a sophisticated country, with a very sophisticated leadership. It has a range of retaliatory options that are extremely unpleasant.

The second lesson is that we can't rely on the Europeans. We can only hope on a 50 per cent recovery of that rift. So that leaves us with constructing issue-based coalitions of the willing as the key component of future US foreign policy.

It has everything to do with the atmosphere of what's going on in Harrisburg. The late-night pay raise, the failure to deal with property tax reform.