@julianborger: Ashton in Moscow. Technical experts meeting in Istanbul at July 3, poss. followed by deputy negotiators, maybe followed by main negotiators
@JacksonDiehl: The #Iran talks are beginning to look like the #Annan plan: lots of process, no content
@julianborger: Ashton: “The choice is Iran’s. We expect Iran to decide whether it is willing to make diplomacy work” #Iran #nuclear
@peterson__scott: Ashton after #Iran nuclear talks: “Remains clear that there are significant gaps between the substance of the two positions.”
@blakehounshell: Bomb Iran talk will soon be dialed back up to 11.
as these two pieces do, there is room for an agreement to develop.
Good signs: The Iranians actually addressed the P5+1 proposal. Of course they disagreed with it. This is why negotiations are necessary.
An interim meeting before the next full meeting in a month. The interim meetings (technical meetings, whatever you may want to call them) allow for discussions of differences between the proposals in a less-charged atmosphere than the three circuses we’ve had so far.
And I don’t expect much saber-rattling by Israel. A few mumbles, perhaps. But look at what Shaul Mofaz, Binyamin Netanyahu’s new deputy prime minister had to say:
And there’s more at the link.
The top-level talks are being suspended in favor of lower-level talks. This is probably a good thing, or neutral. The lower-level officials can do a bit of horse-trading and call home without reporters tweeting their every step.
maybe the next top talks will be in Istanbul July 3.
This is why I don’t like to try to follow events this closely.
You can’t eat just one. Usually I decompress from stuff like this by reading a nice thick monograph. No articles, no authored chapters – just a big chunk o’ text, ideally by one person.
I’m wanting to read the new book by Mousavian, but they (Carnegie) don’t seem to want to release it in any other electronic form than pdf and I have a hard time rewarding that type of behaviour…
“Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.” ~ Steve Jobs
Here.
Looks like JPD was spot on about the West sticking to calling for Fordow’s closure and Iran saying not on your nelly.
He needs to whip up the anti-Iran fervor before the election, to appear like a tough guy and make people think they shouldn’t change leaders during a time of crisis. But, he can’t start the bombing until after November, because that will cause large parts of his base to desert him. There will be war with Iran because America cannot exist without being at war. Of course, this may be the end of America, but that’s another comment thread….
that’s the nature of negotiations. Borger’s latest few articles have contained a lot of hedging, for only one example from your quote,
This sort of thing annoys me, because he’s putting forth one idea first that gets one’s attention, the hedge, which negates the first idea, not so much. In fact, I can think of two recent articles by him in which this was the overall structure: “Oh woe is us, all is lost, no agreement” up front, and then more thoughtful discussion. Well, every journalist knows that nobody reads to the end.
I’m also not a fan of picking over the chicken bones. Toss them out and see how they lie, maybe, but to pick one up and say, well, there’s a pinhead of skin on this one, so we can go ahead and conclude… That’s the paragraph before this quote.
And I do like Borger. He’s doing better than most reporters, although I’m waiting to see what Laura Rozen and Barbara Slavin have to say.
On the more substantive issue: it’s early times in the negotiations and not surprising that neither side said, Oh yes, I guess you were right all along.
(pdf) from Catherine Ashton.
Apparently, the Istanbul meeting will be a technical, lower-level meeting.
And the Israeli tail wags the dog again.
NYT
While Iran’s leaders initially showed optimism over renewed talks on their nuclear program in April, they became disappointed after what they say was the United States withdrawal of a promise to affirm their right to enrich uranium.
Iran is in violation of a series of United Nations Security Council resolutions demanding that it halt all forms of uranium enrichment. Iran regards the resolutions as illegitimate.
Western powers and Israel have accused Iran of stockpiling enriched uranium as part of an effort to achieve the capability to make nuclear weapons. The Iranians have denied those accusations and say a fatwa, or religious decree, by Ayatollah Khamenei forbids such weapons as against Islam.
Iranian leaders, including President Ahmadinejad, have hinted that if the world powers officially accepted Iran’s nuclear energy program, Iran would halt its enrichment of uranium to 20 percent purity, which is considered a technical step away from weapons grade purity of 90 percent.
here
“Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.” ~ Steve Jobs