Book of the Month

Shuts and Failures

by Michael Maiello

Unraveling the secret U.S.-Iran nuclear talks

by artappraiser 10/22/2012 - 12:55 pm

By Max Fisher, Washington Post, October 22, 2012

The United States and Iran have agreed in principle to direct negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program, the New York Times reported on Saturday, citing unnamed Iranian and U.S. officials. The talks would take place after the election, apparently at the Iranians’ request. The story fueled wide speculation in Washington over the weekend, driven by three questions: First, is it true? Second, who leaked it? And, third, if it’s true, why are the talks happening now? [....]

Read the full article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/10/22/unraveling-the-secret-u-s-iran-nuclear-talks/

Uskowi on Iran:

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told a news conference in Tehran on Sunday that Iran has no one-on-one negotiations or discussions with the U.S.
 
[....]
 
Salehi did not say, however, that Iran will not have one-on-one talks with the U.S. Just saying that Iran and the U.S. have no such discussions now.
 
A U.S. national security council spokesman was forced to say after the report by the Times was published that the one-on-one talks with Iran have not been finalized, but he left the door open for such discussions in future by saying that the U.S. has always been open to bilateral talks with Iran.
by artappraiser 10/22/2012 - 12:59 pm

A fourth question was who leaked the prospect of talks and for what purpose? It may be charged tonight that the leak was at the behest of Obama to somehow improve his position but the most sensible sounding speculation I have heard is that it was a hostile leak by someone who wants the talks to not happen.

by A Guy Called LULU 10/22/2012 - 1:21 pm (re: artappraiser)

I wanna see more on this from the Times itself. I figure that they should still have sufficient shame from some of the stuff they fell for on Iraq, and what that did to their reputation, to not just double check but triple and quadruple check such sources and their possible motives.

by artappraiser 10/22/2012 - 1:34 pm (re: A Guy Called LULU)

Here is some more on the subject which may interest you.

The perception is that Israel is going through the stages of sanctions, etc. not with the idea or conviction that at the end, the other side will yield,” he said. “If the purpose was to exert pressure to bring the other side to the table, the rhetoric should be different.

“Obama does think there is still room for negotiations,” Halevy said. “It’s a very courageous thing to say in this atmosphere. In the end, this is what I think: Making foreign policy on Iran a serious issue in the US elections — what Romney has done, in itself — is a heavy blow to the ultimate interests of the United States and Israel.”

by A Guy Called LULU 10/22/2012 - 1:41 pm (re: artappraiser)

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