Dialogue with Iran? Syria?
I know. You're just out of your league Dana Milbank fantasizes in The Washington Post that The White House Gets Neighborly in the Middle East and Steve Clemons is dreaming that Chess Pieces Move: Bush Admin Officials Plan to Meet with Iranian and Syrian Reps in Neighborhood "Block Party," and I just think that the administration is continuing to muddle through and buy time. As I pointed a few months ago: Indeed, when it comes to the Bush administration's policy towards Iran (and other global problems), much of what the pundits describe as "diplomacy" is actually nothing more than an attempt to "muddle through" one crisis after another; to come up with ad-hoc responses that reflect the existing political pressures at home and the balance of power abroad without advancing a consistent policy that articulates US interests by utilizing available power and selecting the necessary means to advance realistic goals. (read the rest) I think that part of a...