Iran's leader proposes talks with Bush (AP)

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Iran's leader proposes talks with Bush

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer
Mon Apr 23, 7:49 PM ET

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's hard-line president proposed Monday
to hold public talks with President Bush on a wide range of
issues, without saying whether that included international
suspicions of the Iranian nuclear program or allegations
of Iranian meddling in Iraq.

"Last year, I announced readiness for a televised debate
over global issues with his excellency Mr. Bush. And now
we announce that I am ready to negotiate with him about
bilateral issues as well as regional and international
issues," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying on
the Web site of Al-Alam, Iran's state-run Arabic satellite
television channel.

The Iranian leader did not elaborate on what specifically
he was willing to discuss with the U.S. president, but he
said the talks "should be held with media present."

It was not immediately clear if Iran's supreme leader,
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all
state matters, supported Ahmadinejad's proposal.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070423/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_us

[MADem]

1. Well, that's a pretty safe proposal there. "Public talks?"

Even though Bush is a moron, that's a non-starter if our president were JFK or FDR for that matter. The Midget Mayor should know--and of course he does--that's not how nations conduct diplomacy.

He's not really looking for talks, he's looking to be ignored so he can turn to the citizenry and say "See? See how he treats us?"

How profoundly unhelpful. What a charade. Of course, we aren't doing much either. It's just a stupid game right now. Here's hoping no one fucks up while playing it.

[Hippo_Tron]

2. Bush probably wouldn't mind public talks either

That way he can say "See? See how that guy is a threat to America with his nuclear weapons?"

There would be a world of difference in US-Iranian relations if we would just throw both of these spoiled children out of office.

[MADem]

3. No WAY. It's not how it's done. Public talks is another way of saying debates.

You don't do your diplomatic sit downs in public, besides, the principals aren't the ones who work out most of the dirty details. That's for the assistants to do. The principals go in already agreeing on major issues, and if they like each other, they may spring a nice surprise on the world.

But don't expect that to happen with those two, who are, as you noted, spoiled children. The biggest stumbling block is that the Midget Mayor is NOT the equivalent to Bush, in any event. He's got the title, but he has no real power. It's a puppet job.

If Bush were to meet with anyone in Iran, it would be with the Supreme Leader, not the midget mayor--he's about equal to Condi in the pecking order. That clown doesn't even control the Iranian military.

The Supreme Leader, OTOH, he's like EF Hutton (if you remember the old commercial--When EF Hutton talks, people listen). They don't screw with him either over that way--he's the real "decider" in Iran. That's the guy Bush needs to talk to. Wonder if he'll send him an autographed Bible and a cake shaped like a key, like old Ronnie did???

[Hippo_Tron]

4. Oh I agree that's not how it's done

And unfortunately the Supreme Leader holds a lot of the real power in Iran. That being said, I don't remember a serious threat of Iranian nuclear weapons when Khatami was President. It seems to me that the President of Iran can have at least a good amount of persuasive power, even if the Supreme Leader vetoes most of the real reforms.

If anything, the price of oil will drop once there's less of a possibility that we will go to war with Iran.

[MADem]

5. They're eons away from coming up with anything except maybe a dirty bomb

And they'd have to empty the hospitals of radiological equipment to do that!

The Supreme Leader is actually the reasonable guy on the Persian side of this equation. That's kinda sad, when ya think about it! The President is his personal pit bull--he picked him and lined out a bunch of reformers on the ballot because he wanted a hardliner in the job. But the Prez pretty much does what the Supreme Leader tells him to do...

I think we'll see a lot more of this back and forth bullshit. But the possibility of war is further away than most people think, mainly because we don't have the personnel assets, and we wouldn't do any invading, at any rate. In order to attack Iran, we'd need another Army. And even if we started the draft now, it would take months before we started getting a steady supply of new, green recruits to fill out the ranks. Bush's time has pretty well passed for that sort of adventure.