Bush Flip-Flops on Iran (love the headline) [View All]

[rodeodance]

http://www.slate.com/id/2114704/

Bush Flip-Flops on Iran
If we're lucky, he'll flip-flop on North Korea next.
By Fred Kaplan
Posted Friday, March 11, 2005, at 1:06 PM PT

Committing diplomacy?

Committing diplomacy?
Don't look now, but it seems that George W. Bush is committing diplomacy. The New York Times reports today that Bush has agreed to join France, Britain, and Germany in their nuclear-arms talks with Iran. This marks a major reversal for Bush, who until now has refused to negotiate with any Iranian officials, arguing that to do so would reward them for bad behavior.

Not only is Bush climbing on board the negotiations, he's doing so in a smart way. Bush will go along with the European plan to offer Iranians economic inducements—selling them commercial airplane parts, supporting the country's entry into the World Trade Organization. But in order to get these benefits, the Iranians must agree not merely to suspend but permanently to halt the enrichment of uranium. And the Europeans have agreed that if Iran turns down the offer after a certain amount of time, they will join Bush in calling for sanctions at the U.N. Security Council.

This arrangement amounts to a mutual recognition of two key facts that both parties have tried until now to ignore. Bush apparently recognizes that the talks cannot succeed unless the United States is a party; only Washington can offer the range of benefits and the guarantees of security that might lure Iran into forgoing its nuclear ambitions. At the same time, the Europeans recognize that no accord can be reached unless they appear serious about invoking sanctions in the event the talks do break down; until now, no one has believed the Europeans, especially the French, would forgo revenue from Iranian trade.......