by George Ivanov

Created on: August 04, 2008

Certainly. The heavily politicized show of America's obstinacy to meet the Iranians directly is, in this day and age, quite sad and pathetic to watch.
Some may disagree. Why? Well, because Iran made a joke of America's superpower status in 1979, when in the eve of the Islamic revolution in the country, a number of American diplomats were taken hostage, and held captive for a very long time, before being released.

However, the regime has held, despite all boycotts to its on part of the US and calls for change. In fact, even with its entirety of deficiencies and questionable punishments, Iran is a stable, working democracy. It does have its own brand, being derived on the basis of Islamic rules and beliefs.

In days past, political dialogue was an art, and it continues to be even in today's times. Interests, both private and national, are what drive politicians to make decisions. They also influence the way talks between heads of state proceed. America's next president does have an interest in engaging President Ahamadinejad in dialogue.

For one, the Middle East is a hotbed of conflict. The ultimate goal, for one day in the future, is to make the entire region peaceful and prosperous, where there is respect for individuality, human rights and other cultures. That day is, unfortunately, very far off. However, the process of stabilization can be started via engaging Iran to cooperate in working with the West in making the region safer.

However, there is one hurdle, artificially made to be a much bigger issue than is necessary: Iran's nuclear program. America one-sidedly emphasizes Iran's hidden nuclear weapons program, while the latter has repeatedly assured that it's aimed at entirely peaceful purposes.

That standoff between the two countries has reached a stalemate. All inspections, conducted by the IAEA in the last several years, have discovered no evidence of such hostile aims. For a while, Iran even shut down its nuclear facilities on the demand of the nuclear watchdog agency, in an effort to cooperate with the West's demands. As a side note, at the signing of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it was acknowledged that despite all efforts of containing nuclear technology, it would eventually find its way into countries, other than the United States or Russia. That prediction has come true.

The job for America's next president is simple. It is to talk to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the issues that need to be addressed. Firstly, acceptance of Iran's nuclear status,

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