Robert Anzick

Every now and then...just a bit technology-challenged...but smart enough to stay in the game...

[Joe Biden @JoeBiden]

Generation after generation, men and women put on the uniform knowing the risk — and went anyway knowing they might not come home. Knowing their families would carry that for the rest of their lives.

To the families still carrying that weight — I see you. The pain doesn’t go away, but neither does the pride.

Freedom has never been guaranteed. It has to be earned, defended, and sometimes paid for in the hardest way imaginable. Today on Memorial Day, we stop, we slow down, and we remember those who did.

We honor them.

We thank them.

And we work hard to live up to what they died for. Keep the democracy they believed in worth believing in. That is the ultimate tribute for their sacrifice.

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

On Memorial Day, we pay tribute to the brave men and women in uniform who gave their lives for this country that we love. It is a debt we can never fully repay, but we must never stop trying. I’ll always be grateful to our fallen heroes and their families, whose sacrifice reminds us of what it means to live for something greater than ourselves.

[Robert Anzick @anzick_robert]

@SenRonJohnson Hopes and prayers are all you have in you? Why don’t you meet with him? Or better yet, do something constructive. Start doing something.

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

Sen. Ron Johnson: "I am hoping and praying that President Trump is, that this really is bluster. I do not want to see us start blowing up civilian infrastructure. I do not want to see that. We are not at war with the Iranian people. We are trying to liberate them."

[Peter Girnus 🦅 @gothburz]

I am a diplomatic aide in the Sultanate of Oman's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

My job is logistics. When two countries that cannot speak to each other need to speak to each other, I book the rooms. I prepare the briefing materials. I make sure the water glasses are the right distance apart. You would be surprised how much of diplomacy is water glasses. Too close and it feels informal. Too far and it feels like a tribunal. I have a chart.

We had a very good month.

Since January, Oman has been mediating indirect talks between the United States and Iran on Iran's nuclear program. The talks were held in Muscat and in Geneva. The Americans would sit in one room. The Iranians would sit in another room. I would walk between them. My Fitbit says I averaged fourteen thousand steps on negotiation days. The hallway between the two rooms at the Royal Opera House conference center is forty-seven meters. I walked it two hundred and twelve times in February. This is good for my cardiovascular health. It was less good for my knees. Both are in the service of peace.

By mid-February, we had something.

Iran agreed to zero stockpiling of enriched uranium. Not reduced stockpiling. Zero. They agreed to down-blend existing stockpiles to the lowest possible level. They agreed to convert them into irreversible fuel. They agreed to full IAEA verification with potential US inspector access. They agreed, in the Foreign Minister's phrase, to "never, ever" possess nuclear material for a bomb. I have worked in diplomacy for seven years. I have never seen a country agree to this many things this quickly. I made a spreadsheet of the concessions. It had fourteen rows. I color-coded it. Green for confirmed. Yellow for pending. By February 21 the spreadsheet was entirely green. I printed it. It is on my desk in Muscat. It is still green.

That phrase took eleven days. "Never, ever." The Iranians initially offered "not seek to." The Americans wanted "will not under any circumstances." We landed on "never, ever" at 2:14 AM on a Tuesday in Muscat. I typed the final version myself. I used Times New Roman because Geneva prefers it. The document was fourteen pages. I was proud of every comma.

Here is what they said, in the order they said it.

February 24: "We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity." — The Foreign Minister, private briefing to Gulf Cooperation Council ambassadors. I prepared the slide deck. Slide 14 was the implementation timeline. Slide 15 was the signing ceremony logistics. I had reserved the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Room XX. It seats four hundred. We discussed pen brands for the signing. The Iranians preferred Montblanc. The Americans had no preference. I ordered twelve Montblanc Meisterstucks at six hundred and thirty dollars each. They arrive on Tuesday.

February 27, 8:30 AM EST: "The deal is within our reach." — The Foreign Minister, CBS Face the Nation. He sat across from Margaret Brennan. He said broad political terms could be agreed "tomorrow" with ninety days for technical implementation in Vienna. He said, and I wrote this line for the briefing card he carried in his breast pocket: "If we just allow diplomacy the space it needs." He praised the American envoys by name. Steve Witkoff. Jared Kushner. He said both had been constructive.

I watched from the Four Seasons Georgetown. The minibar had cashews. I ate the cashews. They were nineteen dollars. The most expensive cashew I have ever eaten. But it was a good morning and we were within our reach.

February 27, 2:00 PM EST: Meeting with Vice President Vance, Washington. The Foreign Minister presented our progress. Zero stockpiling. Full verification. Irreversible conversion. "Never, ever." The Vice President used the word "encouraging." His aide took notes on an iPad. The aide did not make eye contact for the last nine minutes of the meeting. I noticed this. Noticing things is the only part of my job that is not water glasses.

February 27, 4:00 PM EST: "Not happy with the pace." — President Trump, to reporters.

Not happy with the pace.

We had achieved zero stockpiling. Full IAEA verification. Irreversible fuel conversion. Inspector access. And the phrase "never, ever," which took eleven days and cost me two hundred and twelve trips down a forty-seven-meter hallway.

Every American president since Carter has failed to get Iran to agree to this. Forty-five years.

Not happy with the pace.

February 27, 9:47 PM EST: The Foreign Minister's flight departs Dulles for Muscat. I am in the seat behind him. He is reviewing Slide 14 on his laptop. The implementation timeline. Vienna technical sessions. The signing ceremony. The pens.

I fall asleep over the Atlantic. I dream about water glasses.

February 28, 6:00 AM GST: I wake up to push notifications.

February 28: "The United States has begun major combat operations in Iran." — President Trump.

Operation Epic Fury. Coordinated airstrikes. The United States and Israel. Tehran. Isfahan. Qom. Karaj. Kermanshah. Nuclear facilities. IRGC bases. Sites near the Supreme Leader's office. Israel called their half Operation Roaring Lion. Someone in both governments spent time choosing these names. Epic Fury. Roaring Lion. I spent eleven days on "never, ever." They spent it on branding. The President said Iran had "rejected American calls to halt its nuclear weapons production."

Rejected.

Iran had agreed to zero stockpiling. Iran had agreed to full verification. Iran had agreed to "never, ever." Iran had agreed to everything in a fourteen-page document that I typed in Times New Roman.

The President said they rejected it.

I do not know which document the President was reading. I know which one I typed.

February 28, 18:45 UTC: Iran internet connectivity: four percent. — NetBlocks, confirmed by Cloudflare. Ninety-six percent of a country went dark. You cannot negotiate with a country at four percent connectivity. You cannot negotiate with a country that is being struck. You cannot negotiate. This is not a political opinion. This is a logistics assessment.

February 28: The governor of Minab reported forty girls killed at an elementary school.

I do not have logistics for that. There is no slide for that. The water glass chart does not cover that.

February 28: Lockheed Martin: up. Northrop Grumman: up. RTX: up. Dow futures: down six hundred and twenty-two points. Gold: five thousand two hundred and ninety-six dollars. An analyst at AInvest published a note titled "Iran Strikes: Tactical Plays." The note recommended positions in oil, defense stocks, and gold.

The most expensive cashew I have ever eaten was nineteen dollars. The most expensive pen I have ever ordered was six hundred and thirty dollars. The math suggests I have been working in the wrong industry. Defense stocks do not require water glasses. Defense stocks do not require eleven days. Defense stocks require one morning.

February 28: Israel closed its airspace and its schools. Iran launched retaliatory missiles toward US bases in the Gulf. The Supreme Leader promised a "crushing response." Israel's defense minister declared a permanent state of emergency. Everyone is using words I recognize in an order I do not. I recognize "permanent." I recognize "emergency." I do not recognize them next to each other. In diplomacy, nothing is permanent and everything is an emergency. In war it is the reverse.

February 28: The Foreign Minister has not made a public statement.

The briefing card is still in his breast pocket. It still says "within our reach."

[Chris Gloninger, CCM, CBM @ChrisGloninger]

Atmospheric scientist here. Let me tell you what was actually "slashed" today.

Slashed: The Endangerment Finding — a 200-page scientific review upheld by the Supreme Court, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, and reaffirmed by the National Academies of Sciences in 2025.

Slashed: The legal authority to regulate carbon from cars, power plants, and factories. All of it. Gone in one afternoon.

Now here's what you're "saving":

Yesterday Trump ordered the Pentagon — the largest energy consumer on Earth — to buy coal electricity.

Coal costs $69–$169/MWh.
Wind costs $27–$53/MWh.
Solar costs $38–$78/MWh.

99% of U.S. coal plants cost more to run than replacing them with brand-new solar or wind.

That's your tax dollars buying the most expensive electricity on the market. By executive order. While the Peabody Energy CEO stood in the room.

And the human cost of what you're "saving"?

460,000 American deaths linked to coal pollution in 20 years. Coal PM2.5 is 2.1x deadlier than other air pollution. (Henneman et al., Science, 2023)

All to protect an industry that employs 44,000 people total. Clean energy employs 3.5 million.

[Robert Anzick @anzick_robert]

@RepThomasMassie And no date.

[Robert Anzick @anzick_robert]

@AGPamBondi Where is the date?

[Robert Anzick @anzick_robert]

@Amy_Siskind I’m sure our friend Jake is on it…or maybe not.

[MAGA Cult Slayer🦅🇺🇸 @MAGACult2]

Mr. President, please lead by example

[Robert Anzick @anzick_robert]

@LindseyGrahamSC Respectfully, this is ludicrous and most disrespectful of the prior presidents. You no longer have an ounce of ethics in you. I clearly remember someone saying “Count me out!” on the senate floor. What happened?

[Acyn @Acyn]

Graham: Obama and Biden have a lot to do with this…. Dumbass Biden—the biggest dumbass on the planet—withdrew from Afghanistan

[History Defined @historydefined]

David Letterman introduces the world to "Velcro Jumping" by proving that with enough Velcro a man could stick to a wall (1984)

[Robert Anzick @anzick_robert]

@kaitlancollins I think some basic questions need to also be asked. How much fuel is required to make supposed trip? Would the boat be able to haul that much fuel? Range to get to the US is questionable?

[Robert Anzick @anzick_robert]

@NancyMace I suggest rewatching the video.

[Robert Anzick @anzick_robert]

@Matt_Pinner 44

[Robert Anzick @anzick_robert]

@Matt_Pinner 1

[Robert Anzick @anzick_robert]

@elonmusk Please refrain from using the word retard.

[Melissa & Chris Bruntlett @modacitylife]

Goedeavond from Utrecht, who today @EITUrbanMob named the most bike-friendly city in the world:

“What sets Utrecht apart is it has understood something paramount long before most others: the goal is no longer to make space for cycling, but to construct the city around cycling.”

[Robert Anzick @anzick_robert]

@RepNancyMace Not really what I would expect from a government official. Disappointed.

[Robert Anzick @anzick_robert]

@Matt_Pinner It’s a face.

[Robert Anzick @anzick_robert]

@PressSec 0.0007% of
FL population.