Netanyahu clueless about Iran while you understand all? Man, you are truly deranged.

From the surface it seems as if Obama's desire to engage Iran diplomatically is rooted in a misguided and unsubstantiated belief that the Iranian Government shares a reciprocal desire to come together.

It has been well documented over the years that the regime in Tehran is overwhelmingly unpopular in the eyes of Iranians themselves. Yet, is there any doubt that the rule of Ali Khamenei has been galvanized by Western antagonism? Essentially, Tehran has benefited from years of United Nations sanctions and other fiery rhetoric from places like Washington and London. Khamenei has allowed his underlings like Ahmadinejad to play the underdog "woe is us" card. In Khamenei's eyes, his government not only saves face by playing off of international pressure, but actually JUSTIFIES the breaking of international law.

What motivation would Khameini have to engage the United States in substantive talks? Just as Republicans accuse Obama of undermining American diplomacy by expressing a desire to engage in talks without preconditions with Tehran, Khameini would suffer a credibility crisis inside of Iran given the lengths Ahmadinejad has gone to distance Tehran from the west.

With cracks finally emerging within the ranks of Iran's ruling clerics, now is the time to take an unflinchingly hard stand against Tehran. For years the Bush administration never hesitated when speaking of its desire to see an internal uprising emerge within Iran by younger, better educated, and more liberal Iranians. Finally, with the outcry over the recent election, that has started to happen. If Obama continues on with his cautious, politically correct mantra, those potentially pro-Western dissidents inside of Iran will no doubt feel betrayed and unsupported.

For once I actually applaud Netanyahu for having the courage to speak the truth.

Negotiations only work when each side has something to offer the other. In this particular case, the United States has nothing to offer Iran.

In spite of the ulterior motives of the Bush administration (i.e. regime change), the situation for Tehran isn't terribly different today than it was when GW was in the White House. Despite Obama's fig leaf aspirations, Khamenei can do nothing to weaken the U.S./Israeli alliance, therefore has nothing to gain by sitting down with the Obama administration.

Even if Obama isn't as gung ho about regime change as Bush was, Khamenei and Ahmadinejad will continue to represent a foreign policy road block because their stance will not have changed. It cannot change. Thus, it would seem as if the appropriate American response would be to embrace the pro-Mousavi activists and drive a wedge into the cracks which have begun to appear amongst the ruling clerics.

MJ,
I'm sure you'll agree with the following quote:

Why interfere? Why turn a widening confrontation between the Ayatollah Khamenei and the people into a spat between the president of the United States and the president of Iran?

It is impossible to believe a denunciation of the regime by Obama will cause it to stay its hand if it believes its power is imperiled. But it is certain that if Obama denounces Tehran, those demonstrators will be portrayed as dupes and agents of America before and after they meet their fate.

If standing up and denouncing the Ayatollah and Ahmadinejad from 7,000 miles away is moral heroism, it is moral heroism at other people's expense.

What sort of a situation is it where Pat Buchanan makes more sense than the prime minister of Israel?

Why don't we just leave the Iranians alone?

For the same reason we preserve our alliance with Israel despite the fact that it creates far more foreign policy headache than any kind of benefit or solvency. So long as Tehran funds and arms radical groups like Hezbollah (thereby instigating Israel) or continues on with a nuclear program that the international community says it cannot have, the western world will see the opposition as being incumbent on the U.S.

It's debatable whether or not Obama fancies this responsibility. Given his desire to engage Tehran, you could very easily argue that he would rather do as you say and end the long standing war of words. But what is the alternative? Obama cannot and will not harness Netanyahu and American intervention in the matter is no doubt preferable to the fiery rhetoric that would spew out of Israel.