Oh. No. Immadinnerjacket wants talks with Trump

[$tevie]

Personally, I think people have figured out that a meeting with Trump is a great photo op. And since you don't have to carry out a single one of your promises because he refuses to admit when he's been screwed, it's a risk-free way to get on TV all over the world.

[rjmacs]

$tevie wrote:
Personally, I think people have figured out that a meeting with Trump is a great photo op. And since you don't have to carry out a single one of your promises because he refuses to admit when he's been screwed, it's a risk-free way to get on TV all over the world.

A great photo op for whom? I ask because this thought occurred to me, too, but I'm not sure I see the benefit. Kim wants photo ops with Sweet Potato Saddam for domestic consumption, to burnish his legitimacy among his own population. I don't think Ahmadinejad or any other Iranian negotiator is going to win brownie points from the Supreme Leader or Council or even from the people by having his picture taken with SPS. I haven't heard a decent argument yet about how these images carry much weight internationally.

[hal]

Any nation that controls the press and gets a photo op with the president of the USA can then write anything they want for the caption.

[rjmacs]

hal wrote:
Any nation that controls the press and gets a photo op with the president of the USA can then write anything they want for the caption.

And every person in the country can evaluate the worth of that "story."

Iran is not North Korea. We're talking about an industrialized nation of 82 million people. Does the government throttle dissent? Yes, and they control the state media and quash independent reporting that is critical of the regime. That's very different from saying that Iranians can't get news from outside the country, or that it's a totalitarian state where heterogeneity is punished.

[Lemon Drop]

Iran announced that they captured a bunch of CIA spies in their country and already sentenced some to death. Trump immediately says the story is false. Of course the President makes public announcements about spies. Yeah that's normal. I'd be inclined to believe its true; surely the CIA has assets all over that country.

The unfortunate thing for us all now is that there is no reason to believe their government, nor ours. Remember when we used to mock Ahmadinejad's unhinged speeches? We've gone so far backward in getting Iran to come to the table and negotiate with us to our mutual benefit.

“The Report of Iran capturing CIA spies is totally false,” Trump tweeted. “Zero truth. Just more lies and propaganda (like their shot down drone) put out by a Religious Regime that is Badly Failing and has no idea what to do. Their Economy is dead, and will get much worse. Iran is a total mess!”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/j...-cia-spies