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U.S. Tackles Diplomacy 101 with Iran
After eight years of President Bush's "You're either with us or you're against us" foreign policy, I'd almost forgotten the United States did diplomacy.
Diplomacy was so United Nations, so Neville Chamberlain, but now the United States is flexing its diplomatic muscles (or are we putting on our diplomatic beret?) Some members of Congress are urging the United States to improve its relations with Cuba, with which it has had a trade embargo for nearly 50 years.
The United States is even trying to talk to (gasp!) Iran, a country Bush labeled in 2002 as a member of the axis of evil. The State Department announced Wednesday that the United States will join the talks between the United Nations and European countries with Iran over Tehran's nuclear program.
In a statement Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States would be a full participant along with Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China in future negotiations with Iran. This is a departure from Bush policy, save for the one exception last July, when the former president allowed a senior U.S. diplomat to attend a meeting at which an Iranian representative was present. But The Washington Post reported that the Bush administration believed Iran was not serious in that meeting and said the effort would not be repeated.
The Post quoted a senior administration official who said "it was kind of silly that we had to walk out of the room" when the Iranians were present.
That does sound a bit silly. Talking to countries with whom you have a disagreement seems like a crazy idea, but it's so crazy it just might work...
However, diplomacy is not going that well for the United States so far. Iran has not yet accepted the offer, but the State Department has its fingers crossed.
"If Iran accepts, we hope this will be an occasion to seriously engage Iran of how to break the logjam of recent years and work in a cooperative manner to resolve the outstanding international concerns about its nuclear program," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said, according to CNN.
The United States is currently trying to get Iran to cooperate in resolving the case of Roxana Saberi, an American freelance journalist detained in Iran since January and charged with spying, as well as two other Americans believed to be missing or detained in Iran.
The United States cut off its diplomatic relations with Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and hostage situation involving Americans at the U.S. embassy in Tehran. After going so long without speaking diplomatically, things are bound to be awkward at first.
Will Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president, say yes to President Obama's requests that the two countries begin dialogue? He said in a televised speech in Iran that his country "welcomes a hand extended to it should it really and truly be based on honesty, justice and respect," the AP reported.
The stakes are pretty high in Diplomacy 101. Let's hope the United States doesn't flunk this one.
Diplomacy was so United Nations, so Neville Chamberlain, but now the United States is flexing its diplomatic muscles (or are we putting on our diplomatic beret?) Some members of Congress are urging the United States to improve its relations with Cuba, with which it has had a trade embargo for nearly 50 years.
The United States is even trying to talk to (gasp!) Iran, a country Bush labeled in 2002 as a member of the axis of evil. The State Department announced Wednesday that the United States will join the talks between the United Nations and European countries with Iran over Tehran's nuclear program.
In a statement Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States would be a full participant along with Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China in future negotiations with Iran. This is a departure from Bush policy, save for the one exception last July, when the former president allowed a senior U.S. diplomat to attend a meeting at which an Iranian representative was present. But The Washington Post reported that the Bush administration believed Iran was not serious in that meeting and said the effort would not be repeated.
The Post quoted a senior administration official who said "it was kind of silly that we had to walk out of the room" when the Iranians were present.
That does sound a bit silly. Talking to countries with whom you have a disagreement seems like a crazy idea, but it's so crazy it just might work...
However, diplomacy is not going that well for the United States so far. Iran has not yet accepted the offer, but the State Department has its fingers crossed.
"If Iran accepts, we hope this will be an occasion to seriously engage Iran of how to break the logjam of recent years and work in a cooperative manner to resolve the outstanding international concerns about its nuclear program," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said, according to CNN.
The United States is currently trying to get Iran to cooperate in resolving the case of Roxana Saberi, an American freelance journalist detained in Iran since January and charged with spying, as well as two other Americans believed to be missing or detained in Iran.
The United States cut off its diplomatic relations with Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and hostage situation involving Americans at the U.S. embassy in Tehran. After going so long without speaking diplomatically, things are bound to be awkward at first.
Will Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president, say yes to President Obama's requests that the two countries begin dialogue? He said in a televised speech in Iran that his country "welcomes a hand extended to it should it really and truly be based on honesty, justice and respect," the AP reported.
The stakes are pretty high in Diplomacy 101. Let's hope the United States doesn't flunk this one.
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Angiebaby
9:05AM 9:05AM Apr 9th 2009
Maybe there is a point to this turn aound. I mean, just because Mahmoud Ahmadinejad mocks us, hates us, calls for our destruction and lives for the day Iran can blow Israel off the map doesn't necessarily mean he is bad people!
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mahalapril
11:41AM 11:41AM Apr 9th 2009
Obama is falling into a trap of useless,endless talking by Iran for another stalling tactic. Obama is so naive.Obama never read and learn from history. We wasted a 5 year European-Iranian negotiations to stop uranium enrichment. Iran will never stop it's nuclear weapons program. But it is not our problem now. Israeli strong no-nonsense leader Netanyahu will inevitably target the Iranian nuclear sites for the weak Obama.A nuclear Iran is an existential threat to Israel and the western world of nfidels. The islamic fanatics have been slaughtering and beheading infidels for a thousand years and this is not because of the Iraq war. The weak Jimmy Carter was humiliated by the Iranians in 1979 during the US embassy in Iran hostage taking of a hundred Americans inside for 444 days and Obama is even ignorant about this. We have been talking with Iran and North Korea forever without progress because they are determined to develop nuclear weapons to destroy the infidels and their enemies and make the whole world Islamic and in North Korea's case to have attention and money by selling military nuclear weapons,rockets and missiles and help for their poor people from starvation.
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thinksoutsidebox
1:17PM 1:17PM Apr 9th 2009
Wasn't it little Barry Obama along with his sidekick at the time Lugar that wrote a nuclear bill concerning Russia's nuclear program and material... The bill was so POORLY WRITTEN it allowed Russia to provide Iran with it's nuclear material at a cost to the US tax payer..Oh yes it was little Barry who wrote the bill.. We paid Russia to get rid of it's nuclar material..They did just that.. They sold it to Iran..Some real genius with have in office here..No wonder Russia calls him the clueless puppet in international affairs and they were laughing together at the G=20 meeting..They know Obama is nothing but a pushover clueless puppet..
Feel free to research the GOA and follow the money trail..You met be surprised on what you'll find out..
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thinksoutsidebox
1:18PM 1:18PM Apr 9th 2009
Obama is a puppet
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Ed
2:23PM 2:23PM Apr 9th 2009
Trying to talk to Iran is like trying to talk to a drunk.
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E.A.U.M.
3:11PM 3:11PM Apr 9th 2009
The war on terrorism completely confounds the liberal mind. In the liberal (secular) view, no one will act irrationally based on a religious belief. Liberals cannot rationalize why Islamic extremists would kill for no other reason than because their religious beliefs compel them to do so.
Liberals hold that terrorists kill because they want something or because we did something that makes them kill and if we only gave them something or stopped doing whatever it is that they don’t like, they would be happy and stop killing.
In reality, Islamic terrorists would kill millions if they simply had the means to do so. Negotiating or appeasing those whose position is non-negotiable and are willing to die for their cause is no different than trying to negotiate with a starving lion that has you cornered in the jungle.
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galletta61
4:43AM 4:43AM Apr 19th 2009
The war on terrorism completely confounds the liberal mind. In the liberal (secular) view, no one will act irrationally based on a religious belief. Liberals cannot rationalize why Islamic extremists would kill for no other reason than because their religious beliefs compel them to do so.
Liberals hold that terrorists kill because they want something or because we did something that makes them kill and if we only gave them something or stopped doing whatever it is that they don’t like, they would be happy and stop killing.
In reality, Islamic terrorists would kill millions if they simply had the means to do so. Negotiating or appeasing those whose position is non-negotiable and are willing to die for their cause is no different than trying to negotiate with a starving lion that has you cornered in the jungle.
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galletta61
3:19PM 3:19PM Apr 9th 2009
The war on terrorism completely confounds the liberal mind. In the liberal (secular) view, no one will act irrationally based on a religious belief. Liberals cannot rationalize why Islamic extremists would kill for no other reason than because their religious beliefs compel them to do so.
Liberals hold that terrorists kill because they want something or because we did something that makes them kill and if we only gave them something or stopped doing whatever it is that they don’t like, they would be happy and stop killing.
In reality, Islamic terrorists would kill millions if they simply had the means to do so. Negotiating or appeasing those whose position is non-negotiable and are willing to die for their cause is no different than trying to negotiate with a starving lion that has you cornered in the jungle.
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jan
9:52PM 9:52PM Apr 9th 2009
I'd say the 'liberal mind' - if we must be divisive - fully understands the terrorist threat and further, is proactive about it in a way that neocons can't begin to fathom.
Obama has studied international relations and history in depth. He has studied different cultures, religions, writers and thinkers, and assimilated the knowledge into his approach and thinking. He listens, questions, evaluates. How pathetic to assume that because he's skilled in the art of diplomacy - and understands its integral part in our history - that he underestimates threats.
I wonder what some of you think about the upcoming Iranian elections,the fact that Ahmadinejad is unpopular, and the fact that Iranian people in general - the young especially - are educated, sophisticated, and pro-Western? Do you think Obama realizes this? Don't you think it's factored into his actions, as well as the actions of all those other countries? Don't you think it's time to catch up on your own education?
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John
7:54PM 7:54PM Apr 10th 2009
It seems that you have also been reading.
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ray 1
11:31AM 11:31AM Apr 11th 2009
Lets go to war with the whole frigin world. Bush and dick chenyney get out of going to war, now they want to send our kids to war. Obamas going after terrorist where we should have in the first place, afghanistan,they were not in iraq until we invaded. Why did we not go to all the african countrys where terrorist are all over the place, oh I forgot there is no oil there. All you rebulicans and democrats make me sick. This Obama guy cares about everyone, so did Ronny Reagan. We need a new party one for the rest of us who want to get things done instead of bitching at each other and trying to undermine each other all the time, get rid of all the hate and do somthing. Do something postive. Lets get get off this crazy over use of oil and the dam middle east would not have us by the balls. United We Stand
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Duke
11:25PM 11:25PM Apr 10th 2009
Iran would love to nuke Israel off the planet. They want to be the most powerful Islamic nation on the planet. Ahmadinejad wants to keep power and by making the USA the great satan, he keeps his power or he looses his head by the real power figure Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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flapatriot
12:07AM 12:07AM Apr 17th 2009
This is just a pure waste of BILLIONS of DOLLARS that we DON'T HAVE to spend and never did! This DESERT SCAM II is just that A LIE concocted by that coward and coporate whore George Bush Jr aka Ol' Gutless and his corporate masters to bilk US morons out of BILLIONS by using the same old "PATRIOTIC PROPAGANDA " that they used to get us into Vietnam, another s@#%hole they said we had to take on or we'd ALL end up under Commie Rule remember?? So let's save the BS that ANYBODY fighting, sleeping, taking a crap, or even dying in Desert SCAM II is a "hero" who has been "protecting our Rights" or ANY American over here. The US was NEVER, I REPEAT NEVER in ANY DANGER of being conquered or even THREATENED by some Third World Strawman aka Sadaam, the toothless tiger with NO WMD's. I wish we could say the same about a country with REAL WMD's and which is a REAL THREAT and HAS BEEN the CENTER OF WORLD TERRORISM since 1979...IRAN. The COWARDLY repubes have ALWAYS been too AFRAID to take on a REAL US ENEMY with REAL WMD's and a REAL ARMY and that would actually fight back instead of running the other way as the Iraqis have ALWAYS done. But it is much EASIER and less DANGEROUS to attack a country where any soldiers that exist ALWAYS RUN AWAY LIKE SCARED SCHOOLGIRLS...that's the "We're Tough, We Protect the US" repubes favorite type of adversary.
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flapatriot
10:48PM 10:48PM Apr 10th 2009
This is just a pure waste of BILLIONS of DOLLARS that we DON'T HAVE to spend and never did! This DESERT SCAM II is just that A LIE concocted by that coward and coporate whore George Bush Jr aka Ol' Gutless and his corporate masters to bilk US morons out of BILLIONS by using the same old "PATRIOTIC PROPAGANDA " that they used to get us into Vietnam, another s@#%hole they said we had to take on or we'd ALL end up under Commie Rule remember?? So let's save the BS that ANYBODY fighting, sleeping, taking a crap, or even dying in Desert SCAM II is a "hero" who has been "protecting our Rights" or ANY American over here. The US was NEVER, I REPEAT NEVER in ANY DANGER of being conquered or even THREATENED by some Third World Strawman aka Sadaam, the toothless tiger with NO WMD's. I wish we could say the same about a country with REAL WMD's and which is a REAL THREAT and HAS BEEN the CENTER OF WORLD TERRORISM since 1979...IRAN. The COWARDLY repubes have ALWAYS been too AFRAID to take on a REAL US ENEMY with REAL WMD's and a REAL ARMY and that would actually fight back instead of running the other way as the Iraqis have ALWAYS done. But it is much EASIER and less DANGEROUS to attack a country where any soldiers that exist ALWAYS RUN AWAY LIKE SCARED SCHOOLGIRLS...that's the "We're Tough, We Protect the US" repubes favorite type of adversary.
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mayabelle1107
11:00PM 11:00PM Apr 10th 2009
"Lovin' you is easy cause it's beautiful... doo n doo n doo doo, ayh... gadoooooosh!!!!!!!!" For the love of all Holy, someone take this douche bag out. Sheesh... What happened to this dump?!...
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patchy
10:36PM 10:36PM Apr 11th 2009
FOR CHRISTIANS THAT READ THE BIBLE AND KNOW REVELATIONS
THIS WHOLE THING WITH IRAN IS VERY SERIOUS. IRAN'S
PRESIDENT HAS MADE A PACT WITH THE DEVIL AND WILL
HELP THE ANTI CHRIST WIPE OUT THE WORLD. THE ANTI
CHRIST IS ALIVE NOW AND LIVES IN RUSSIA. OBAMA IS
NOT A CHRISTIAN OR HE WOULD BE VERY CONCERNED ABOUT
THIS. HE TOO LIVES IN DANGER AND DOES NOT HAVE
KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE BIBLE THE ONLY KNOWLEDGE HE HAS
IS GOD DM AMERICA, SO FOR ALL THAT BELIEVE OBAMA
WILL SAVE YOU YOU NEED TO PRAY HARDER THIS WAS NOT
THE ANSWER TO YOUR PRAYERS. EVERY DAY TEA PARTIES
ARE GOING ON AND FOR THOSE THAT ARE BLINDED BY THIS
IMPOSTER YOU NEED TO PRAY AND LISTEN TO THE ANSWERS
TO YOUR PRAYER. GOD BLESS ALL.
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borderline
7:00PM 7:00PM Apr 11th 2009
you ask for it you got it OBAMAAAAAAAA
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borderline
6:58PM 6:58PM Apr 11th 2009
YOU ASK FOR IT YOU GOT IT obamaaaaaaa
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dennis higgins
10:07AM 10:07AM Apr 12th 2009
Are we getting ready to attack ANOTHER country??? Reading these posts, one would think. I would hope after the previous administration tried fighting 2 wars "On the Cheap" we would learn and go back to "Overwhelming Force". "Shock and Awe" was a joke! Let's pick and choose what fights we need to engage in and Overwhelm instantly. No more dragged out crap that pisses lives and money away.
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flapatriot
11:58PM 11:58PM Apr 12th 2009
HOW COME that COWARD Ol' Gutless NEVER took on IRAN or NORTH KOREA?? Because repubes are COWARDS who will ONLY take on a Third World country with NO ARMY, NO AIR FORCE, and NO NAVY, while the WHOLE TIME telling IMBICILES who actually believe the LIES that repubes are PROTECTING them by taking on said HARMLESS, Third World country which CAN'T DEFEND itself. Oh Yeah, they're THE TOUGH PARTY....right lol!!!
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