TALK AFTER THE BA'ATH DRAINS:

Blair's Syrian peace initiative fails to impress (Ewen MacAskill, November 2, 2006, Guardian)

The governments of Israel and the US responded coolly yesterday to Tony Blair's secret diplomatic initiative to urge Syria to restart Middle East peace talks. Mr Blair, who has pledged to devote the remainder of his premiership to tackling the region's conflict, sent his senior envoy, Sir Nigel Sheinwald, to meet the Syrian president in Damascus on Monday.

Shimon Peres, Israel's deputy prime minister, said in London: "I wouldn't like to make any remarks about British movements [but] I'm sceptical, not because of Britain but because of the Syrians."

What would be the point of negotiating with a regime that can't win an election?

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 2, 2006 10:36 AM