No preconditions

Obama declared that he is willing and will seek to talk to Iranians without preconditions. He has been repeatedly warned that this tactic will only increase Iranian intransigence and up the ante. He has since somewhat modified his proposed no-conditions policies and is now talking about "preparation" preceding any talks.

Well, the Iranians are nor buying any of it. they have their own preconditions:

Mehdi Kalhor, Vice President for Media Affairs, said the U.S. must do two things before summit talks can take place. First, American military forces must leave the Middle East -- presumably including such countries as Iraq, Qatar, Turkey and anywhere else American soldiers are deployed in the region. Second, the U.S. must cease its support of Israel. Until Washington does both, talks are "off the agenda," the Islamic Republic News Agency reports. It quotes Mr. Kalhor as saying, "If they [the U.S.] take our advice, grounds for such talks would be well prepared.

But of course. All this media attention to Ahmadinejad and Obama's repeated insistence that he will negotiate with the Iranians does not yield the kind of results reasonable people expect, of good faith and reciprocity. What it yield is an Iranian regime cashing in on the illusion that the great Satan is crawling to it, in desperation, and there is no better time to try and wrest some real assets from such a rare occurrence.

Good luck to Obama, when he goes a-courting...

But then Obama and key advisers are desperately seeking engagement with the black turbaned Mullahs, instead of those 20 something Iranians who desperately want to get rid of them. Looks like a tough response to a weak one from an inexperienced former Illinois state Senator and junior US Senator with his near rock star groupies who would sell out America to its enemies for 'hope' and 'change'. This is isolationist capitulation and not simply appeasement. A frightening prospect.