Contributors

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

"We're Not Going To Have Talks Forever"

So said President Obama yesterday to newly elected Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu during their meeting yesterday at the White House. He went onto basically say that he would not put the kibosh on harsher steps, including military action, should Iran not cooperate. “We’re not going to create a situation in which talks become an excuse for inaction while Iran proceeds," he said.

I couldn't agree more. The United States has made several overtures of late to sit down and engage in high level talks with Iran. Thus far, the Iranian government (as I expected) has refused. In offering to talk, President Obama has now put the US in a more positive and conciliatory light. Proceeding with tougher sanctions and perhaps even military action will now be much easier. We look the good guys again and they look like the stubborn, borderline psychotics that they actually are.

Iranian national elections are in June and all roads point to a more moderate president than Ahmadinejad. Even then, most everyone knows that it is the religious leaders that run the country so it doesn't really matter who is the "head" of state. I'm pretty certain that after the elections they will play around some more and give us a bunch of lip service. If there isn't any action or movement on their part, keep your eyes open for another meeting between Netanyahu and President Obama. If that meeting does happen, get ready for something big.

“The logic of Netanyahu’s argument is, ‘What do you do if your power of diplomacy and toughened sanctions doesn’t work?’ ” said Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator in both Democratic and Republican administrations. “Anyone who was expecting a major rift in the U.S.-Israeli relationship is going to be disappointed.”

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