I always need to read between the lines of any David Ignatius column to see whose agenda he’s pushing. He usually operates as a tool of our intelligence community, and what he says is less important than the interests he’s advancing. I have to say that I am quite relieved to see that the story line Ignatius is pushing this morning is that the nuclear talks with Iran are well-designed, working well, and likely to succeed in a peaceful and mutually acceptable settlement.
I don’t really care what Ignatius thinks about the talks, but it’s a good sign that his “masters” want to send the message that our government is pleased with the progress so far. It’s not a familiar message. Normally, what we hear is bellicose, alarmist, and apocalyptic.
It hasn’t been quite clear whether our government is pursuing a policy of regime change in Iran or a policy that would prevent a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. If the talks are designed to fail, providing a rationale for more aggressive anti-regime efforts, we’d expect to see Ignatius talking about the bad faith negotiating of the Iranians. But he’s doing the opposite. That gives me more confidence that we’re serious about avoiding war and that we really want the talks to succeed.
