Talking about talking

Anyone who has followed the endless, sometimes painfully monotonous, US presidential marathon has most likely heard the three major candidates' positions vis-à-vis Iran - all of whom have unfortunately taken incoherent stances regarding their characterization of diplomatic engagement.

The Republican nominee, John McCain, seems to have forfeited his once "maverick" persona in exchange for a carbon copy of George Bush's foreign policy (i.e. not negotiating with "rogue nations" or conversely engaging terrorist organizations). A few weeks ago he pledged that he would be Hamas' "worst nightmare" [1]. In the United States, and in many Israeli policy circles, this popular Palestinian militant group has been incorrectly labeled as an "Iranian proxy". Yet, even if we assume that this oversimplification of complex and endemic Palestinian politics is true, the same John McCain, in 2006, stated that the United States should now "deal" with Hamas, since they had become the elected Palestinian government [2].

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The future of US-Iran relations

Realizing that for the first time in American history, the US president had been reduced to the role of Oliver Twist when he recently begged his Saudi counterpart to increase the output of oil is only indicative of the impotent state of the world's sole superpower. And as the American president, resembling a poor orphan boy, grudgingly lifted his proverbial bowl in hopes of an infrequent show of mercy from the jolly, oil-soaked Arab parish beadle, it has become all but appropriate to understand what seven years of a foreign policy based upon a comic-strip view of the world actually accomplishes.

Hopping from one Arab despot's lair to another in a farewell tour d'horizon of the Middle East, Bush's promise to "confront" Iran failed miserably- at one point in the UAE., the Sheikh of Dubai seemed so annoyed by Bush's calls to isolate his biggest trading partner, that he hurried one of his minions to fetch a prized desert hawk for his artless Western guest to play with until he boarded his plane. Yet for all extens and purposes, it is time now to understand that the destructive hurricane which was the presidency of George W. Bush is happily coming to an end and more importantly, what the future implications of the US-Iran relationship will look like for his successor.

The new realities of the Middle East make it incumbent upon the next American president to talk directly to his or her Iranian counterpart, which most likely will NOT be Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. This will mean that the two of them would embark into uncharted territory- having to meet, at some place and time, sit down, and discuss EVERY issue that these nations disagree over. This is a reality that many in the West will have to come to terms with.

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