Italy seeks to involve Iran in G-8 talks
financial times
19-Feb-2009 (5 comments)

The Italian foreign minister on Wednesday said he wanted to invite Iran to a major G8 conference on the future of Afghanistan, in a potentially dramatic step to reopen relations between the west and the Tehran regime. As the current president of the G8 group of rich countries, Italy will organise the meeting in June, probably in Trieste, which will aim to devise a regional strategy to end the violence in Afghanistan.

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capt_ayhab

Fact is

by capt_ayhab on Fri Feb 20, 2009 09:03 AM PST

Fact is that west needs Iran to get out of the problems they are dealing with, namely Iraq and Afghanistan.

I do believe Iran does have a place in G8, however, there must be preconditions to this, namely Human Rights Violations of the regime.

I am not going to go on a rant here about crimes of IR, for there are enough freedom fighters to do that. But if west is genuinely interested in well being of Iranians, pressure must be exerted on the IR regime to stop all the atrocities against women, religious minorities, Baha'is in particular, and all the people of Iran.

I wonder if we all could send an email to Italian Government regarding these issues? I certainly am going to do so.

Good post, thanks for sharing it.

 

Respectfully

capt_ayhab [-YT]


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rosie is roxy is roshan

The downside of it is.

by rosie is roxy is roshan on Thu Feb 19, 2009 10:03 PM PST

that Obama has all but abandoned the peaceful democracy-building strategies in Afghanistan in favor of the military solutions which would involve killing many civilians. He has put a lot of pressure already on Karzai to either go with the flow or get ousted, and Karzai has complained bitterly about the civilian deaths. Another thing is that as I'm sure you know Afghanistan has histoircally beee a quagmire that has resisted many empires and toppled one (USSR).You can read about it from the leftist peace movement perspective in my new feed on Afghanistan by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now. 

My hope is that with so many nations involved in the G-8 talks maybe a middle ground could be found between a military and a democracy-building solution, w/o ousting Karzai, and also that Vali Nasr will be a helping hand.

In any case yes you are right, whatever happens it is good that Iran will be a part of the process(es) and also that a more equitable balance of power looks like it is being achieved in the world thanks in no small part to the two things you mention, Obama's brains (relative to Bush's) and Iran's brawn.


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default

Good!

by fouzoul (not verified) on Thu Feb 19, 2009 09:01 PM PST

For whatever reason, it's good that the west is finally willing to talk to Iran. Now, is it because Iran has shown some muscle (military and technology) or is it because of Obama's intelligence? I know, the answer is a little of both.

Long Live Obama!


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rosie is roxy is roshan

It is both.

by rosie is roxy is roshan on Thu Feb 19, 2009 08:37 PM PST

Afghanistan is a central problem for so many countries for so many reasons: terrorism, Taliban, destabilzation of Pakistan, drug trade, Obama's commitment to his base to get in there and out of there as soon as possible and more. Iran ahd the US both have a HUGE interest in routing the Taliban and somehow stabilizing Afghanistan. The nukes and the Afghan problem will be the center of the bargaining and trade-offs, along with other bargaining chips. As for the other powers, France and Italy have oil deals with Iran yet Nato must goosestep with the US on the nuk eissue (yet how much and for how long), Russia has huge economic ties w/Iran, and so forth. Lots of chips w/focal points being the nukes and Afghanistan. They go hand in hand at this point IMHO and can't be separated.


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default

Hmmm!

by fouzoul (not verified) on Thu Feb 19, 2009 07:47 PM PST

Is it really for Afghanistan or luring Mahmoud away from the nuke?


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