This crew makes it a little hard to believe in good news, but this appears to be it. North Korea-style, an outbreak of administration rationality, only years too late, and accompanied by steaming piles of BS.
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Good News, I Guess
28 Feb 2007 08:13 am
Comments (9)
Ok, they are meeting. So what will it accomplish? So long as Iran is developing nuclear weapons, training terrorists, and exporting anti-western radicalism, diplomacy seems of little import. Does anyone think these meetings will cause Iran to budge?
Nick Kasoff
The Thug Report
What Matt doesn't get is that diplomacy requires carrots and sticks - neither Iran nor Syria are going to deal with us in a useful way unless there's some level of threat that they care about. With more rational states, sticks can be things like tariffs (i.e., trade dealings with Canada, the EU, etc). With less rational states, tariffs and sanctions just don't cut it - the governments of those nations are more than willing to let their people suffer if they have to.
Before you bring up North Korea, I'll point out that China was involved in this round - and China has a very strong incentive to not want war on the Korean peninsula - they don't want radioactivity floating their way, nor do they want a stream of starving North Korean refugees. Any sticks applied to N.K. probably came from China, not the US.
I notice the talks would include Rice and her Syrian counterpart.
It would be interesting to see how this squared with the recent reports (in Haaretz, if I recall) about Rice putting her foot down on the possibility of Israel reaching out to Syria.
One also shouldn't underestimate the capacity of Bush and Cheney to shut Rice out of the major decision-making. If she's being played to provide some usefully energetic diplomatic cover, this could be an Iraq-style "softening" as a prelude to war.
The alternative -- that the whole 'Iran supplying explosives to elements in Iraq' thing was drummed up to provide an excuse for diplomacy -- just doesn't square with the current whitehouse crowd. One, it leads to peace, and that will make Cheney screw up his face. Two, it's just too ... subtle.
Sorry, I don't buy it. Give it a week before someone leaks some info exposing this for the shell game it is.
"So long as Iran is developing nuclear weapons, training terrorists, and exporting anti-western radicalism, diplomacy seems of little import. Does anyone think these meetings will cause Iran to budge"
Absolutely right--and as long as the US jeeps developing nuclear weapons, training terrorists, and exporting anti-Islamic radicalism, why should anyone talk to us?
Hell, I'm not so sure we ought to be talking to ourselves . . .
Don't get your hopes up
The administration only agreed to participate in these talks so that our Spec Ops guys can kidnap the Iranian and Syrian delegations.
The meeting that Powell attended was in 2004. A bit odd to find a reference to it here.
[i]With less rational states...[/i]
The implication being that Iran is less than rational? Irrational like a fox maybe.
Comments closed March 14, 2007.
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Heads in the Sand
this quote from the linked article is great:
Mr. Powell and Mr. Kharrazi did not hold a formal session. But the Egyptian hosts of the meeting made the two talk to each other, by seating them side-by-side at dinner. Afterward, an annoyed Mr. Powell said that he and Mr. Kharrazi stuck to polite diplomatic chitchat, discussing subjects like reconstruction after the earthquake in Bam, Iran, and avoiding sensitive topics like the disagreement over Iran’s nuclear program.
can you say awkward?
Posted by right | February 28, 2007 8:26 AM