US and Iran in face-to-face Talks

The New York Times has a story on talks between the U.S., as represented by Amb. Khalilzad, and Iran's chief of national security.

As my blog yesterday pointed out, Khalilizad speaks Dari, the Afghan dialect of Farsi, the Iranian language, as well as fluent Arabic. The U.S. Ambassador is a Sunni, but coming from Afghanistan where Sunni and Shi'a dwell in [uneasy] proximity, he has outstanding fingerspitzgefuehle concerning vexing intersectarian [and intrasectarian] complexities.

McClellan, Rice, and Hadley all are in sync diminishing expectations and narrowing the scope of the talks between Khalilzad and the Iranian rep, to Iraqi security issues. But, barring unforeseen developments, both sides are probably willing to accept spillover into other issues after a suitable mating dance around the conference table. Each is already accusing the other of conceding, however, its previous position, which is for local consumption on both sides.

A senior European diplomat had local consumption important in Iran:

One diplomat said Iranian feelers about direct talks with the United States were a local political calculation. Despite public invective against America, many Iranians are eager to see an improvement in relations.

Indeed, visitors to Iran are almost unanimous in agreeing that US "popular culture" is indeed more popular than the almost universally disliked and often despised Islamic clericalism and other forms of theocracy which control the high ground of Iranian political life.

But at least the European diplomats have finally seen the light:

"The leadership here has managed to sell us the same carpet four times, and each time, it's a bit more expensive," said the diplomat, who also spoke anonymously to preserve his ability to work in Tehran.

Iran has an historically complex way of approaching problems that may be resurfacing after decades of clerical misrule. One wag once quoted Yogi Berra: "Whenever Iran comes to a fork in the road, it takes it."
Now that there appears to be the beginnings of a dialogue, the only thing the US has to worry about concerning Iran's nuclear development is Russia and China in the UN Security Council!