Hoping on the Iran offer
That the Iranians haven't dismissed Bush's package offer yet is indeed a hopeful sign, as Bush himself noted. So the undisclosed package of economic and diplomatic connectivity, in combination with the offer to start direct talks for the first time since 79, must be substantial. If Tehran says yes by suspending (but not terminating) its uranium enrichment program, then the potential for direct talks to spill over to other security issues (something the stay-in-our-lanes crowd with this administration usually loathes to do in a weird definition of non-linkaging) is at least raised--and that alone would be cause for real optimism that the soft-kill option can work itself out over time (and administrations).
Comments
Let's hopes so - wouldn't that be nice.
M
Posted by: Mac Nayeri | June 8, 2006 8:25 AM
Awesome news. It would seem that the gravitational pull of connectivity trumps even Ahmadinejad's crazy-man shtick and Bush's knee-jerk hardline stance. Not to sound like a kiss-ass, but it looks like Tom was right again.
Posted by: Brandon Winters![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.thomaspmbarnett.com/weblog/nav-commenters.gif)
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June 8, 2006 12:36 PM
well, news is the iranian cont'd the enrichment, so don't hold your breath
Posted by: ionut popescu | June 8, 2006 3:19 PM
Maybe it was Bush's hard line stance that ultimately got them to the table.
Maybe the 'demise of the Bush presidency' is a bit premature.
Posted by: Michael Ornato | June 8, 2006 5:09 PM
Or maybe the hard-kill threats were (or are still being) blown off by Tehran and only when Bush got Russia and China on board, juiced up the incentives, and gave Iran enough of what it wanted (direct talks), we finally got Iran exactly where they wanted us.
Posted by: Tom Barnett | June 8, 2006 8:17 PM