While the New York session last month saw the foreign ministers presiding in person, the UK and US in particular do not want to turn up and create an expectation of breakthrough when, as Mr Kerry pointed out, they have not yet seen evidence of change in Iran's substantive position.
Merkel and her team had spent all day lowering expectations of breakthroughs, big bangs, full-range bazookas; as dinner for the eurozone 17 loomed it looked pretty clear they were right.
Richards later said that the band had no great expectations of breakthrough through in the US, and that if their second attempt was not successful, they would not try again.
One of the main goals of SAM is to identify organic molecules, but it would be a big surprise for organics to show up in a first look at a sand sample selected more as a test exercise than with the expectation of a breakthrough discovery.
WASHINGTON — Global talks on climate change opened in Cancún, Mexico, on Monday with the toughest issues unresolved and little expectation of a breakthrough on shaping an international treaty to curb emissions of the heat-trapping gases linked to global warming.
The White House called on the 12 members of the special committee to finish their work, but with no expectation of a breakthrough, the leaders of the committee planned to issue a statement on Monday acknowledging that they had failed to reach an agreement.
It's the expectation of the breakthrough that has to sustain you through arguments, failures and deafening silence.
U.S., Russian, EU and Ukrainian diplomats plan to meet Thursday in Geneva, but there is little expectation of a breakthrough.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also attempted to suppress any expectations of major breakthroughs from the encounter.
But Mr. Bush will travel 2,300 miles to the Azores without much expectation of a diplomatic breakthrough.
