A Smiling Catherine Ashton Poses with Iran's Nuclear Negotiator Jalili

Yet another instance where I find myself urgently in need of a Bathurst-Norman Bag for Internet sickness (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2010/07/bathurst-norman-bag-for-internet.html):

As reported yesterday from Istanbul by Yahoo News in an article entitled "Iran nuclear talks avoid collapse" (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110121/wl_nm/us_iran_nuclear):

"Talks between Iran and world powers seeking to persuade the Islamic Republic to curb its nuclear program came close to collapse on Friday, but would resume on Saturday, a western official said.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton convinced the Iranian delegation to remain at the talks, which will go into a second day on Saturday with little prospect of concrete progress beyond entrenched positions in the eight-year-old dispute."

Observe the pictures of a grinning Catherine Ashton with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in the Yahoo News article and in other related news items to be found throughout the Internet. How does Ashton ignore Iran's latest series of murders of political opponents? As described in a superb Jerusalem Post article entitled "Muslim World: Iran’s execution binge" (http://www.jpost.com/Features/FrontLines/Article.aspx?id=204593), written by Jonathan Spyer:

"In the early morning hours of Saturday, January 15 in the isolated and overcrowded Urumiya prison in western Iran, the authorities hanged one of their opponents.

Hossein Khazri, an alleged activist with the Party for Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), was 29. He had been in custody since early 2009. His crime, of which he was convicted on July 11, 2009, was that of being an 'enemy of God' in the eyes of the Islamic Republic.

Khazri’s specific activities against the deity worshiped by the rulers of Iran appear to have consisted of political agitation for democracy and federalism in the country of his birth.

In the course of his incarceration, in prisons administered by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and the Intelligence Ministry, Khazri had been severely tortured, according to human rights organizations. His hanging was the latest in a wave of executions of Kurdish activists and other opponents of the regime carried out in recent weeks. Fourteen other Kurdish activists are currently on death row, condemned for their political activities.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran this week described the authorities as on an 'execution binge,' orchestrated by the intelligence and security agencies."

Does her Hideousness, the smiling Catherine Ashton, even care about these murders? At least Ashton did us the courtesy of smiling with her mouth closed and sparing us having to look at her crooked teeth.