(New York Post) Amir Taheri - Last week, Catherine Ashton - the EU's foreign policy representative - announced she'd received a letter from Tehran accepting another round of talks. The process suits Iran fine. It gives "hostile powers" something to chew on while Iran does what it wants. It also enables U.S. and European leaders to tell their respective publics that they are "doing something" about the threat that Iran poses. And it helps Russia and China to claim that, because diplomacy is working, there is no need for tougher action. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared last week, "Our nuclear program is not a subject for negotiations." So what is Ashton to talk about when she meets Tehran's chief negotiator, Saeed Jalili? In a letter to Ashton, Jalili suggests an agenda to discuss eradicating world poverty, ending "domination by the American Great Satan" and, generally, improving the future of mankind. To Tehran, talks with the 5+1 are nothing but a maneuver to buy time.
2012-02-22 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive