Sorry about being a bit late about it. To be fair, I didn’t even know we were in yet another time loop until Sunday, when The Washington Times broke the story that former Obama secretary of state and current climate czar John Kerry was involved in backchannel talks with Iran’s foreign minister in 2019, potentially undercutting the Trump administration’s efforts to curb the world’s most notorious state sponsor of terrorism.
The Washington Times’ report details meetings between Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and various Obama-era officials in New York during the summer of 2019 — including Kerry, Obama Middle East adviser Robert Malley and Obama-era Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz — aimed at establishing a parallel track of diplomacy behind the Trump administration’s back.
“The attempt at counterdiplomacy offers a window into the deep relationships Mr. Zarif forged with influential U.S. liberals over the past decade,” the Washington Times noted.
“These relationships blossomed into what-- excerpt, rest at link above --
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."