David Ignatius, "Obama’s Diplomatic Opportunity": Ignoble, Ignorant, Ignominious

In a Washington Post opinion piece entitled "Obama’s diplomatic opportunity" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/david-ignatius-obamas-diplomatic-opportunity/2013/10/04/787a6240-2d17-11e3-8ade-a1f23cda135e_story.html?hpid=z3), David Ignatius proclaims:

"What was unthinkable only a few months ago with Iran and Syria now appears to be in motion. On Iran, Obama has talked directly with President Hassan Rouhani about quickly negotiating a deal to limit the Iranian nuclear program. On Syria, the United States and Russia have agreed on a U.N. plan to destroy President Bashar al-Assad’s stockpile of chemical weapons.

. . . .

It’s a truly big deal, but it will require constant, skillful diplomatic guidance."

Hmm, let's think a moment about this. Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, who is subordinate to Iran's hardline Supreme Leader, Ali Hosseini Khamenei, refused to shake Obama's hand at the UN, but was finally persuaded to accept a 15-minute call from Obama on his way to the airport.

This is the big breakthough?

As reported by the Tehran Times (http://www.tehrantimes.com/politics/111233-irans-right-to-enrichment-non-negotiable-rouhani-) this past week:

"'The people should be assured that the right to nuclear technology and the right to enrichment in Iran are not negotiable,' Rouhani told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday when asked about U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent remarks in which he said the sanctions could be eased if Iran took certain measures, including signing the additional protocol to the NPT and reducing the level of its uranium enrichment.

'We hold negotiations on details, but we never regard our principles as negotiable,' Rouhani stated."

Sounds like a non-starter to me.

Or does the big breakthough consist of the deal to purportedly destroy Assad's chemical weapons stockpile, although there are no sanctions if this mass murderer of civilians reneges?

As reported by The Jerusalem Post (http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Defected-Syrian-general-Assad-will-never-cede-chemical-arsenal-327626):

"President Bashar Assad will never cede his chemical arsenal, a defected Syrian general said on Tuesday.

'The locations of most of the scientific research centers in Syria and the storage facilities are known and under surveillance.

Thus, he will give up those centers and facilities for sure without lying,' Syrian Brig.-Gen. Zaher al-Sakat told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. 'That said, however, Bashar Assad will not give up the chemical stockpile.'

. . . .

According to Sakat, the regime has four secret storage locations in the country for its chemical weapons and has also been transferring chemical arms to Iraq and Hezbollah in Lebanon."

"What was unthinkable only a few months ago with Iran and Syria now appears to be in motion"? "A truly big deal" to be managed by America's astute secretary of state, John Kerry, who once called Assad his "dear friend"? Keep dreaming . . .