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The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? - Psalm 27:1

Because if we don't recognize them, they don't exist. It's called Head In The Sand Diplomacy.

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[I][FONT=Helvetica][SIZE=-1][COLOR=#000000]"Some people, well, if they don't like Scientology, well, then, f**k you. Really. F**k you. Period."

-Tom Cruise
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He already has status. The US is the only remaining participant in the embargo against Cuba. Every other nation has ties with them. Hell, it's the #1 sunny destination for Canadian's to vacation.

As far as talking to Iran and Syria...yeah, we do, through back channels. We have no official diplomatic ties with either, meaning any talks that take place are nothing more than that, talk. Without official relations, there can never be any kind of official, legal agreements with them.

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that. -George Carlin

I guess the problem lies in the liberal worldview that there is no harm in talking and that there is some mystical power in talking to each other. That's not necessarily the case. And a blanket "I'll talk to whomever position" is unwise. Especially if there is no particular agenda.

Talking can be used as a technique for stalling, for instance. Let's just talk and talk and talk and never do anything.

On the global Left there is a "stop before I say stop again" mentality to diplomacy.

But as for Obama. I know he is the secular Messiah to many. And by his sheer Obama-ness will cause rogue nations to bend to his will, but the reality is more nuanced and complex than that.

The world is governed by the aggressive use of force. And there is a difference between being nice and being good.

Geoff, you write as if talking is antithetical to the use of force. It's not, and no one except strawmen argue that it is. You can talk and also use force when neccessary. Some people are more reluctant to use force in general, but that's a separate issue.

The world isn't governed by the aggressive use of force, it's governed by the prudent use of force. Basing diplomacy on the aggressive use of force just makes opponents defensive and makes force the only option. If a nation uses cowboy diplomacy, "do what we tell you to do, or else we'll attack you", those become the only options: publicly capitulating to the public demands of a hostile power, or the certain use of force. There's no way for a country to make compromises, or to capitulate while still saving face.

Of course, there's no guarantee that such options will actually work, but better to have an option that might not work than to have no options at all.

I would agree with your "prudent use of force" comment. But at the end of the day, it comes down to force and who has the stronger will.

I'm not opposed to talking. But there seems to be an underlying impulse prevalent today that is into talking for talking sake.

If the U.S. government is willing to talk to anyone, then having had a conversation with U.S. officials can confer no status. It seems to me that the real issue is that talks might slow down and complicate things for those who just ache to use force.

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"The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected." G.K. Chesterton

So would you be willing to talk to the PKK even though it would severely upset Turkey? Would you talk to Taiwan even though it would mess things up with China? Would you talk to North Korea unilaterally when they are trying to avoid regional, multilateral talks?

These platitudes fall apart when they meet the realities and nuances of the real world.

[quote]So would you be willing to talk to the PKK even though it would severely upset Turkey? Would you talk to Taiwan even though it would mess things up with China? Would you talk to North Korea unilaterally when they are trying to avoid regional, multilateral talks? [quote]

If it is standard operating procedure to talk to everyone, then mere talks will not be seen as some sort of diplomatic coup.

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"The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected." G.K. Chesterton

LIBERAL!!!

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"Those who cast the votes decide nothing.
Those who count the votes decide everything." - Josef Stalin