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Originally Posted by joshbaumgartner
This sentiment boggles my mind. Never mind that not everyone in Teheran has such feelings, but of course you can conduct diplomacy with those who hate your guts. Heck, that's where diplomacy is needed. Friends don't need it because they already agree, but it is those who are at each other's throats that need diplomacy to avert tearing into each other.
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Disagreed. Or at least partly...
Hate on principal is different than hate via "pathology" as describe above, or rather complete ideal. That would've been like trying to find a diplomatic friendship between 1940's United States and Nazi Germany. Not only is it unlikely, it really would not have been beneficial to either party. Maybe that's the core... diplomacy must be mutually beneficial. Relations between Western countries and Middle Eastern countries are hardly ever mutually beneficial, at least in the grand scheme of things. There may be short-term benefits like cheap oil for arms (Iran Contra anybody?) but those benefits are not lasting, and often create larger problems in the end. Yes, the US is a war nation, as are most middle eastern countries. The difference is that we don't just go to war for shits and giggles like they do. It's really a lot like impoversihed African countries with warlords and such. Replace poor people with people bred into hatred, and replace warlords with sheik, kings and other royalty, and you'll see it's not much different.
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Originally Posted by Charlatan
So you bomb them into submission instead?
1) they have reasons for not liking the US
2) recognize these problems and apologize (for what it's worth)
3) open diplomatic ties and start talking
It may not work but at least it was an avenue explored.
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No, we don't just bomb them. But we can sanction the bejeebus out of them. I guess technically that's part of diplomacy, but not in the common sense of things. And yes, if need be we bomb the shit out of them. Why? Because they already hate us (mostly) and it does a helluva lot of good sometimes. Look at Afghanistan. Iraq is a poor example. If we'd left right afterwards it'd have been a GREAT example, though.