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Good morning, and welcome to The Rundown. Whatever else you may have heard about Iran negotiations, this is what "heroic flexibility" looks like in practice. Hat tip: Volvo. Best, Your AEI Foreign and Defense Policy Studies team

Tweet of the Week

Sadanand Dhume @dhume Whats the point of the Commonwealth? | A quarter of Jamaicans think its headed by Barack Obama. http://econ.st/1gRqmyh

In the News
Iran
On Wednesday, diplomats from Iran and other world powers will reconvene in Geneva for another round of negotiations over Irans nuclear program. After having come tantalizingly close to a deal to curb Iran's nuclear program last weekend, the White House is dispatching senior administration officials to Capitol Hill to head off a new round of stiff sanctions. Amid accelerating negotiations with Tehran, AEI's Danielle Pletka and Maseh Zarif hosted a video conversation with the Brookings Institution's Robert Einhorn to analyze the agreement under consideration. Watch the full video. Missed Pletkas testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week? Read it here, and follow @DPletka on Twitter for reactions to the next round of P5+1 talks, in 140 characters or less. Keep an eye on the AEIdeas blog this week for a follow up to Matthew McInnis's latest blog post previewing the Nov. 78 P5+1 talks. What's Ayatollah Khamenei thinking? Stay tuned.

American Internationalism
In the national imagination, foreign policy is a zero-sum game between two dueling and incompatible camps: doves who seek to isolate us from the world and hawks who aim to resolve practically every crisis with our nations mighty military. By this neat taxonomy, an

active US foreign policy is synonymous with warmongering, and isolationism is equivalent to peace. Is America being presented with a false choice? From the infancy of the republic, Americas engagement abroad has promoted the universal values embodied in the American dream: liberty, representative government, and economic opportunity. Join us Wednesday to hear Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Select Committee on Intelligence, articulate a vision for Americas role in the world that reflects our nations deepest aspirations. If you are unable to attend, we welcome you to watch the event and live blog and join the conversation on Twitter with #RubioAEI. Full video will be posted within 24 hours. Under Barack Obama, American influence in the Middle East has sunk to levels not seen since before World War II. From Israel to Saudi Arabia, from Egypt to the United Arab Emirates, our friends are shaking their heads, wondering why we have seemingly taken leave of our senses. John Bolton looks at the state of foreign policy under President Obama, concluding, The indisputable evidence demonstrates that Obama's guiding ideology is as radical in international affairs as in domestic policy. Just as he wants to spread the wealth around domestically, so too he is at ease in spreading U.S. power around internationally. We will pay for Obama's radicalism for years to come.

Gettysburg
November 19 will mark the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincolns Gettysburg Address. Innumerable books and articles have been written about the content, language, and rhetorical sophistication of the famous speech, but far less has been written about why Lincoln chose the dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery at Gettysburg, some four and a half months after the battle itself, to deliver it. In an article for The Weekly Standard, Gary Schmitt looks back at Lincolns speech rightly judged to be the greatest speech in Americas history. He writes, Americas history had demonstrated that the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were not so self-evident that they could not be grossly violated in practice. What a government of the people, by the people, for the people would require as it moved forward was a renewed but active commitment to the proposition that all men were created equal.

National Security
The perception of American military assistance in the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan may pave the way for an increase in US forces stationed at Philippine posts. With a politically turbulent Middle East, a financially teetering European Union, and an increasingly technologically competitive Asia-Pacific region, Obama and his administration will face critical foreign policy decisions in the second half of his final term. Join AEI, the New America Foundation, and the Center for a New American Security on Tuesday, November 26, for an in-depth discussion of these challenges. This event continues a unique collaboration among these institutions that began during the 2012 presidential campaign season. Past conversations covered the US role in the world, US policy in East Asia, and the US national security budget. Registration is now closed, but livestream the event on November 26 at 12:15 p.m.

Asia
Enthusiasm swept through Chinese markets as investors reacted to the release of the Communist Partys reform measures designed to sustain the countrys economic growth. More specifics on proposed Chinese reforms were released Friday evening, Beijing time. This is certainly an improvement over the initial, borderline-farcical plenum communique. However, it still falls well short of fundamental economic reform. In his Friday AEIdeas blog post, Derek Scissors brings you up to speed on the proposed Chinese reforms. To sum up, they are better, but not good. What directions should China be taking with their reforms? Scissors writes, If benefits are equalized and, more to the point, integrated, the labor market will be much more efficient, with jobs and workers matching each other much better. Land reform could raise the quantity of workers and labor reform the quality of workers. Meanwhile, US aid and emergency supplies flowed into the typhoon-ravaged Philippines over the weekend, reaching families who had to fend for themselves for days. Michael Mazza writes, Beijing here had and missed an opportunity to enhance its soft power while also demonstrating a capacity to project military power across the South China Sea. . . . Beijings leaders wont say it, but some must be thinking that a hobbled Philippines is a Philippines that will find it harder to stand in the way of Chinese ascendency. Meanwhile, although there are of course geopolitical benefits to US action, Washington has launched its massive relief effort primarily because that is simply what America does. Countries in Asia know the difference.

BONUS: AEI Event

In 2011, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walkers chances of staying in office looked bleak. Protesters swarmed Madison, attempting to block the passage of his collective-bargaining reform legislation. His approval numbers fell, and he faced an unprecedented recall election. But in June 2012, Walker became the first governor in American history to survive a recall, winning with a higher share of the vote than he had in 2010. At a time of confusion and infighting among Republicans, Walker argues that conservatives need not move to the center to win, but must offer bold, positive solutions to the nations challenges and have the courage to implement them. On Thursday, join Marc Thiessen as he sits down with Governor Walker to discuss their new book, Unintimidated: A Governor's Story and a Nation's Challenge (Sentinel, November 2013). Following the discussion, political experts will explore the lessons to be drawn from Walkers success in Wisconsin. RSVP here.

Best of Blogs
Here is the best of what AEI's foreign and defense policy scholars are reading this week:

Victor Davis Hanson in National Review: Jumping off the global tiger's back John Vinocur in The Wall Street Journal: Europe loses trust in Obama Rick Richman in Commentary magazine: Obama is flunking the global test Jackson Diehl in The Washington Post: John Kerry's Middle East dream world Thomas Joscelyn in The Weekly Standard: A well-deserved terrorist designation Shadi Hamid in The Atlantic: Why did we suspend aid to Egypt, again? Laura Bush in The Washington Post: Afghan women's gains are at risk
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