[quote=Allan from Fallbrook]To me, it sounds very much like the situation with Iran and President I-Am-a-Dinner-Jacket. Continued European dissembling, combined with any sort of serious response or willingness to confront him has resulted in the present situation. Does engaging in further dialogue here help? Does having a strong grasp of history help? Does understanding the nature of the regime, the people and the motivations? And, I am not saying the McCain is possessed of a modicum more understanding than Obama is. Let me be very clear about that. I find his singing “bomb Iran” to the strains of the Beach Boys “Barbara Ann” chilling as hell.[/quote]

I find it to be a good quality to want to “start fresh” and come out from under the dark cloud of the current state of our foreign affairs with these countries. While I agree that dealing with these two leaders is probably hopeless, perhaps a new start (I hope a brief one) is more useful to get the US back on the moral highground in the world’s view so that we can start to re-assemble our credibility with our allies. And give those two nut jobs a chance to show their colors to the world–get them to bite the hand that is reaching out to you, then assemble a true multinational force to deal with each problem from a unified and morally superior view point? Just a thought…