tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13433228.post115900955337807663..comments2023-12-29T15:17:14.941+01:00Comments on the human province: Talking to Iranseanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01692290924543236943noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13433228.post-1159064550431821732006-09-24T04:22:00.000+02:002006-09-24T04:22:00.000+02:00haha.. yep, I'll NEVER forget Chavez's theatricity...haha.. yep, I'll NEVER forget Chavez's theatricity at the UN General Assembly Meeting. What a performance! I loved how he first smelled the podium and then announced that he "could still smell the sulfur" from the entrails of the devil (George Bush). I also found it amazing that he advertised to the world Noam Chomsky's "Hegemony or Survival" book in the Spanish translation. <BR/><BR/>As far as Ahmindjead, I'm not exactly sure if negotiation is the right route here. A key to negotiation, in my opinion, requires the convergence of interests. Ahmindjead clearly wants to develop Iran as the new nuclear power in the Middle East. It is in a sense an all-or-nothing proposition. If there's any way to moderate such a proposition, then I'm all ears. <BR/><BR/>In the other side of the coin, history has shown that *any* isolated country within the international system *always* behave unilaterally, for better or worse. In such situations, it's been nigh-impossible to engage in negotiations. (Take the US, for example). <BR/><BR/>Still, I sympathize with your understanding that all this ideological gibberish of designating him as the "devil" or a "Hitler" does not allow for negotiation or diplomacy in the first place. <BR/><BR/>Yet, if there's room for convergence, I guess I'm up for it. As for me, I can never forget the time when I saw ex-president Khatami speak at Harvard the other month. When asked "Do you find it wrong that Iran executes homosexuals?" Khatami, in response: "No matter. Such an issue is still openly *debated* in our *democracy*"<BR/><BR/>-KMAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com