Steven P. BarrettSTOP THE PRESSES! BUSH BORROWS THE BIG O'S NEGOTIATIONS IDEA -- TALKS WITH IRAN SCHEDULED (LINK)
July 17th 2008 00:42
Steven Barrett
I wasn’t sure if I could afford to get my wife something nice to put under the tree this year. A gift certificate for use at our local gas station didn’t exactly sound very romantic, especially for our 25th Christmas together as a couple. Hmmm, the prospects didn’t look promising, not when I kept hearing about an attack on Iran this year by either Israel or the United States.
Two things worked against that “war scenario,” one being that Bush doesn’t want to leave a huge mess for his successor to untangle. A smoldering Teheran doesn’t help your legacy, especially if it could be avoided. The other -- and this baby could hit all of us: the prospect of a $300-a-barrel just as winter hits will really hurt Bush’s repackaged image and our wallets.
Sometimes miracles do happen. In this case people just used their heads and decided to sit down and talk things out. No guarantees, but at least they’re talking.
What’s this miracle? Why it’s none other than the Bush Administration’s sudden willingness to do some serious talking with Iran. For the first time some of our diplomats are going to sit down and talk to the Mullahs. Well, let’s say they’re going to have a middleman. The intricacies of diplomatic ballet still hold sway. Hell, they always do and that’s why it seems like the State Department the slowest moving governmental body on the face of the earth, save for a Congress dominated by this, that, and everyone else’s lobbyist.
According to the AP’s Matthew Lee:
I love that phrase; “broad similarities,” which could mean any thing they want it to mean and still find a thousand and one ways to invent new “wiggle room” to roam around in. Diplomats need that so they can have something besides totally unambiguous discombobulating ambiguities to hide behind in case Iran’s goofy, yet wiley, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad does something completely unexpected.
Hasn’t he done and said enough “unexpected” things for a large nation’s president? Yes and no. I won’t get into all the things he’s said and done already, besides looking like MAD Magazine’s Alfred E. Newman in a London Fog golf jacket. What would our fearless leaders on the Potomac do if this guy showed some real independence and followed through on some of his pet schemes; one of them being the annihilation of Israel? The Mullahs he works for don’t have a lot of love for Israel, either. On the other hand they also love their fellow countrymen and women’s necks, not to mention keeping theirs with out a noose wrapped around them like they’ve inflicted on some of their wayward Islamic subjects.
All the recent saber rattling and missile shooting made Washington nervous enough to beat the Big O to the punch when it came to sitting down without laying down any prior conditions. No doubt our saber rattling and the presence of both American and Israel power in that area to blow Teheran clear off the face of the earth had some effect on the Mullahs’ thinking. As to President Mahmoud-“What-Me-Worry-the-Ma hdi’s-Returning-Any-Day“-Ahma dinejad. So long as the power rests under the turbans and not inside the golf jacket, we can confident these talks might just get things moving in the right direction.
Who knows, it might just help burst the speculators’ bubble. Fear has a very nasty and predictable way of jacking prices up. Power, principle and showing no fear in the face of bullies has a way of letting out the steam before things reach the point the lance has to be called for. Rest assured, if the lance is called for, it’ll be used so rapidly that the goofball in the golf jacket won’t have time to call out his pizza-joint suicide bombers seeking martyrdom on behalf of Allah or the Allah’s Madhi.
Let's hope we NEVER have to call these "pizza deliverers" out.
I wasn’t sure if I could afford to get my wife something nice to put under the tree this year. A gift certificate for use at our local gas station didn’t exactly sound very romantic, especially for our 25th Christmas together as a couple. Hmmm, the prospects didn’t look promising, not when I kept hearing about an attack on Iran this year by either Israel or the United States.
Two things worked against that “war scenario,” one being that Bush doesn’t want to leave a huge mess for his successor to untangle. A smoldering Teheran doesn’t help your legacy, especially if it could be avoided. The other -- and this baby could hit all of us: the prospect of a $300-a-barrel just as winter hits will really hurt Bush’s repackaged image and our wallets.
Sometimes miracles do happen. In this case people just used their heads and decided to sit down and talk things out. No guarantees, but at least they’re talking.
What’s this miracle? Why it’s none other than the Bush Administration’s sudden willingness to do some serious talking with Iran. For the first time some of our diplomats are going to sit down and talk to the Mullahs. Well, let’s say they’re going to have a middleman. The intricacies of diplomatic ballet still hold sway. Hell, they always do and that’s why it seems like the State Department the slowest moving governmental body on the face of the earth, save for a Congress dominated by this, that, and everyone else’s lobbyist.
According to the AP’s Matthew Lee:
For now, the Bush administration has chosen compromise over confrontation in dealing with Iran's disputed nuclear program with a dramatic gesture intended to demonstrate commitment to a negotiated solution.
In breaking with past policy to send a top diplomat to weekend talks with Iran's chief nuclear envoy, the administration has in its waning months refined its position on contact with the hardline Iranian regime, much as it did in the ongoing effort to rid North Korea of its atomic weapons, which has shown recent promise
U.S. officials on Wednesday dismissed comparisons between the administration's approach to the two remaining members of Bush's "axis of evil," but they acknowledged broad similarities in the end game.
In breaking with past policy to send a top diplomat to weekend talks with Iran's chief nuclear envoy, the administration has in its waning months refined its position on contact with the hardline Iranian regime, much as it did in the ongoing effort to rid North Korea of its atomic weapons, which has shown recent promise
U.S. officials on Wednesday dismissed comparisons between the administration's approach to the two remaining members of Bush's "axis of evil," but they acknowledged broad similarities in the end game.
I love that phrase; “broad similarities,” which could mean any thing they want it to mean and still find a thousand and one ways to invent new “wiggle room” to roam around in. Diplomats need that so they can have something besides totally unambiguous discombobulating ambiguities to hide behind in case Iran’s goofy, yet wiley, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad does something completely unexpected.
C'mon: Let's Talk!
Hasn’t he done and said enough “unexpected” things for a large nation’s president? Yes and no. I won’t get into all the things he’s said and done already, besides looking like MAD Magazine’s Alfred E. Newman in a London Fog golf jacket. What would our fearless leaders on the Potomac do if this guy showed some real independence and followed through on some of his pet schemes; one of them being the annihilation of Israel? The Mullahs he works for don’t have a lot of love for Israel, either. On the other hand they also love their fellow countrymen and women’s necks, not to mention keeping theirs with out a noose wrapped around them like they’ve inflicted on some of their wayward Islamic subjects.
Pres. Suck-Up
All the recent saber rattling and missile shooting made Washington nervous enough to beat the Big O to the punch when it came to sitting down without laying down any prior conditions. No doubt our saber rattling and the presence of both American and Israel power in that area to blow Teheran clear off the face of the earth had some effect on the Mullahs’ thinking. As to President Mahmoud-“What-Me-Worry-the-Ma hdi’s-Returning-Any-Day“-Ahma dinejad. So long as the power rests under the turbans and not inside the golf jacket, we can confident these talks might just get things moving in the right direction.
Who knows, it might just help burst the speculators’ bubble. Fear has a very nasty and predictable way of jacking prices up. Power, principle and showing no fear in the face of bullies has a way of letting out the steam before things reach the point the lance has to be called for. Rest assured, if the lance is called for, it’ll be used so rapidly that the goofball in the golf jacket won’t have time to call out his pizza-joint suicide bombers seeking martyrdom on behalf of Allah or the Allah’s Madhi.
Allied Pizza Deliverers
Let's hope we NEVER have to call these "pizza deliverers" out.
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