■"Rice Denies U.S. Is Leading Nuclear Talks With Tehran: Supporting a demand on Iran, but not the origin of the demand," by Steven R. Weisman, New York Times, 2005, p. A3.

I don't get this stance any more than the queer logic of separate "traffic lanes" in our relationship with China. Is Iran supporting the insurgency or not? Is Iran becoming a player in Iraq because of the emergence of the Shiia majority or not? Does Iran support Hamas and Hezbollah or not?

Does Iran matter to our attempts to change things in the Middle East or not?

If the answer is yes to these questions, then why are we not talking directly to them? Especially now given the obvious fissures within their political system?

Rice is treading water.