There are 34 years of reasons to be skeptical about any negotiations that may emerge from Friday's historic phone call between President Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. There are scores of broken promises and outright lies about Iran's nuclear program itself. There is Iran's state sponsorship of terror and its efforts to extend its influence across the Middle East at the expense of peace, human dignity and America's allies. But there are no reasons not to be appreciative of the significance of the call, the courage it took for President Obama to seek it, or the good common sense that is to be associated with the United States talking to its enemies.
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David Rothkopf: Call with Iran's Rouhani historic, significant, and courageous for Obama
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He says fears that Iran has pursued nuclear weapons have led to crippling sanctions
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He says in 2009 Obama said he wanted engagement with Iran, then appeared to lean away
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Rothkopf: Churchill said "jaw-jaw" better than "war-war." Obama seems ready to risk it
Hassan Rouhani
Rouhani
Iran, according to @placeholder, seeks to have the ability to pursue the peaceful use of nuclear power and nothing more.
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President @placeholder has said he would use whatever means necessary to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
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President @placeholder came into office citing this as a top national security concern.
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Even as other @placeholder policy initiatives in the region have met with mixed success, he and his team stepped up a sanctions program that squeezed the Iranian economy hard, contributing to a national economic crisis in that country.
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Whether there was a benefit to be had from direct contact between Iran's president and @placeholder's  was raised as early as the 2008 presidential campaign.
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Strong voices in both @placeholder political parties counseled against such exchanges.
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But as @placeholder said, "To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war."
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And they may just demonstrate that the best adviser of the new Obama is the old @placeholder.