“Diplomacy with adversaries rarely begins with moral clarity. It begins when the costs of illusion exceed the discomfort of reality.” Ali Vaez, from his article, “America and Iran’s Strange Moment of Opportunity” published in Foreign Affairs. The idea proposed by Vaez is that since the conflict is seemingly at a stalemate, opportunities for peace may be possible since every attempt at coercion by both sides has failed. He also points out that this conflict is following a similar pattern in US diplomacy with rival countries, specifically China and Vietnam. In this patter, the US attempted to isolate these communist countries, only to later partner with them on some level to better serve US interests. But honestly, who knows when or how this conflict will end?
