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Submitted by YOUR NEW REALITY

Nuclear energy negotiations between the United States, the EU and Iran officially begin in Geneva.

Two months ago, President George W. Bush declared that negotiating with Iran over its nuclear energy program was like having a friendly chit-chat with Nazis at the start of World War 2 :

While delivering an address before the Israeli parliament commemorating the 60th anniversary of Israel, President Bush said that Sen. Barack Obama and Democrats favor a policy of appeasement toward terrorists. CNN reports that Bush was comparing Obama to “other U.S. leaders back in the run-up to World War II who appeased the Nazis.” In his speech, Bush said, “As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.’ We have an obligation to call this what it is – the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”

Hmm, tough words. That’s why he left it up to Condi Rice to deliver the new platform of appeasement :

In a surprising development in the tense American-Iranian relationship, the US announced this week that it would send a high-level State Department official to attend talks with Iranian nuclear negotiators in Switzerland over the weekend. This unexpected policy turn comes after a tense, saber rattling summer during which the US, Israel, and Iran have traded threats, staged war games, and tested weapons.

It’s only like appeasing Nazis and hi-fiving terrorists when everybody else wants to do it, and it makes sense.

Russia is doing big oil and gas business with Iran now, and has been clear that an attack on Iran is an attack on a Russian ally. After Chechnya, Russia is not going to allow Iran’s more extreme Islamists to load up on nuclear weapons. The US and Israel already know this fact. Russia is on the rise and it should be no surprise they want to protect their multi-billion dollar investments in Iran.

Bush appears to have been suddenly told, since May anyway, that Iran is a no go. He still has to deal with Afghanistan, let alone Iraq, and Russia knows just how much harder the war in Afghanistan is certain to become.

UPDATE : First the long overdue diplomacy, then the re-opening of the US embassy in
Tehran:

The US plans to establish a diplomatic presence in Tehran for the first time in 30 years as part of a remarkable turnaround in policy by President George Bush.

The Guardian has learned that an announcement will be made in the next month to establish a US interests section - a halfway house to setting up a full embassy. The move will see US diplomats stationed in the country.

The news of the shift by Bush who has pursued a hawkish approach to Iran throughout his tenure comes at a critical time in US-Iranian relations. After weeks that have seen tensions rise with Israel conducting war games and Tehran carrying out long-range missile tests, a thaw appears to be under way.

The likely next prime minister of Israel is still in favour of hitting Iranian civilian nuclear energy workers, and their families, with missiles :

Israel cannot let Iran get to the point of nuclearization,” Mofaz said. “All options are on the table. If there won’t be a choice other than a nuclear Iran or a military option, it’s clear what our decision has to be.”

As the minister in charge of Israel’s strategic dialogue with the United States on Iran, he will head to Washington later this month for a meeting with key officials…

“The strategy against Iran has not changed and it will continue to be led by the United States,” Mofaz said.

Mo obviously didn’t get the Condi Rice memo.

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