However, even the current rapprochement is not without disagreement.
Can he fix the economy without a rapid rapprochement with the West?
A serious Democratic candidate, I hope, will force the Bush team to accept the fact that it has failed to create a stable political transition in Iraq and must urgently change course in two ways: (1) It can't succeed in Iraq without forging a rapprochement with Iran, Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Moreover, without Israeli-Syrian rapprochement, the task of dealing with Iran will be simply insurmountable.
Should Greece force the EU's hand on the future of the island without some sort of rapprochement between the two groups living on the island, it is just conceivable that a Turkish government might be stung into some sort of hasty military action.
Considering their country a potentially important player in the Cold War as a "bastion against communism" in southern Africa, the RF posited that some Western countries might recognise UDI even without a prior Anglo-Rhodesian rapprochement.
It was a rapprochement so long in coming that younger generations, without much memory of invasions, embargoes, and the threat of nuclear obliteration, barely knew why the bad feeling was so ingrained in the politics of both countries.
Sadeq Zibakalam, a Tehran University professor and one of the signatories of the letter, said different factions within the Iranian establishment, including fundamentalists, had come to the conclusion that Iran needed a rapprochement with the US: "They have realised that without this, they can't bring changes to Iran's current dire situation, especially its economy".
Yet the world premiere of Iranian director Majid Majidi's biopic of the prophet Muhammad not only passed mostly without incident, but even amicably – with a surprise call for rapprochement between the religion's Sunni and Shia sects.
