echi wrote:Quote:your proposal presupposes one's opponent might engage in open and honest dialogue
timber-
I don't trust my enemy. I recognize the value in getting as close as we can. We want as much information as possible, to be absolutely certain that we always make the best, possible decision.
To expect "
... the best, possible decision ... " always will be made is unrealistic; actual cirumstances all too frequently render that an unachievable ideal. The best that may be hoped is that poor decisions be made infrequently and that their consequences be not catastrophic.
Quote:You say the Bush guys are perfectly willing to sit down and talk, any time. They don't even say that. They say they're just not interested in having relations with countries that are different. Why?
Straw man. I say no such thing as you allege, nor does the Bush Administration say any such thing as you allege. I say, as does The Bush Administration, that fruitful dialogue is possible only with reasonable people; there is no point attempting to engage the unreasonable through reason. The Bush Administration does not reject dialogue with states on the basis of those states being "different", it rejects dialogue - reasoned discourse with legitimate exchange of ideas - with parties self-declared and self-demonstrated to be not merely unamenable but incontravertably opposed to same.
Quote:Why would someone want to disregard real diplomatic efforts?
Straw man again; no evidence of willingness to engage in legitimate, real diplomatic effort has been presented; there is no one with whom to negotiate.
Quote:The United States has the most/best weapons, so no need to bluff, there. What do we have to hide?? Why not sit down at the table and let the American people hear what evil sounds like?
Straw man yet again - the US neither has anything to hide in such regard nor does it attempt to hide anything in such regard. No gathering at any "table" is necessary to "
... let the American people hear what evil sounds like ... ", all the people need to do is listen to what it sounds like, as, for instance, in the guise of the chief spokespersons for Iran and Venezuela, it spoke for itself at the UN these past two days, and as it expressed itself in Cuba last week.
