Politico

Obama can either pursue an incremental, conditional approach that will satisfy his desire to put maximum pressure on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and minimize America’s return to Iraq—but will likely fail to address the severity of the crisis. Or Obama can set aside his understandable caution and provide more robust military assistance before he can be confident of getting the political changes that are needed to turn any Iraqi government military gains into strategic successes.

With an eye toward Iraq, Congress is moving far beyond the White House in providing refugee assistance as part of new spending bills this week covering the State Department and foreign aid budget.

While in Guatemala, officials said, Biden will speak out publicly to discourage parents from sending children north to the U.S.

The U.S. is reassembling key members of the diplomatic team that held secret negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, leading to a breakthrough agreement, and sending them to Geneva for direct talks with representatives from Tehran in hopes of making progress toward a comprehensive final deal.