The Obama administration now says it is upset by Iran's forthcoming ascension to the Chair of the UN Conference on Disarmament. The U.S. is a
member of the Disarmament Conference. It knows that chairmanship rotates alphabetically through the 65 members. Assuming the State Department can spell, therefore, Iran's chairmanship after Indonesia comes as no surprise. But here's today's announcement: "Iran's upcoming rotation as President of the Conference on Disarmament (CD) is unfortunate and highly inappropriate...As a result, the United States will not be represented at the ambassadorial level during any meeting presided over by Iran." No departure. No boycott. A blip and the U.S. $$ keep on flowing.