Other than at lunch, there's not much chance for talking.
Yet, not only is this year's address his last big chance for talking, but also the last big chance to show he can live up to the rhetoric.
It is not yet clear whether Mr. Sadr's refusal to meet the delegates will scuttle the chance for talks between him and the interim Iraqi government.
Mr. Ushakov said that chances for peace talks on Syria would be hurt by large-scale assistance to the rebels.
What seems clear is that Hamas has undercut Mr. Arafat and the chances for peace talks while providing Mr. Sharon with a new reason to pursue military action.
During the post-election unrest, Obama awkwardly refrained from embracing the Green Movement protests, apparently on the assumption that any statements of support might undermine the chances for nuclear talks.
(In this year's Nowruz message, Obama lamented that, "faced with an extended hand, Iran's leaders have shown only a clenched fist"). During the post-election unrest, Obama awkwardly refrained from embracing the Green Movement protests, apparently on the assumption that any statements of support might undermine the chances for nuclear talks.
The keen fear among Israeli and American intelligence officials is that both the prisoner exchange and the critique of Israel's Gaza conduct will increase the power of Hamas, thereby reducing the standing of the Palestinian Authority, run by President Mahmoud Abbas, and decreasing the chances for peace talks.
No matter what reasons America gave for the veto (it insisted bringing the matter to the Security Council complicated chances for peace talks) or how fulsomely it criticised settlement building (as a folly and threat to peace) it appeared out of sync with the international consensus, and as Israel's only defender.
Asked about chances for more talks, Gates instead criticized officials for bringing the case.
