I found this quote below from todays edition of the Boston Globe in an Article entitled "Clinton, Obama step up their sparring along the trail" By Scott Helman and James W. Pindell, Globe Correspondent.
"This new phase of spirited engagement between Clinton and Obama, which is also sucking oxygen away from the other six Democratic presidential contenders, began during the debate Monday night. The candidates were asked whether they would commit to sitting down, unconditionally, with leaders of nations such as Iran, Syria, and North Korea; Obama said he would, but Clinton argued it could "make a situation even worse" to promise such high-level summits without many assurances and preconditions."
I believe that Clinton is dead on here. In Dr. Dennis Ross's book The Missing Peace he describes how just giving one side in the Middle East a summit or a peace meeting, was giving them favor or more legitmacy in the eyes of AMerica and the world, and we must be careful and get as many consessions and give and take from both sides, and make them earn their place at the negotiating table. Letting a side go right into talks with the United States gives a complete recognition to their wrong doings, rather we must handle all situations with caution and enter into the ring with complete awareness. We must use the example of Oslo in 1993 as one of the great success in diplomacy history at just getting the sides to agree(although implementation was not as succesful). But as we all agree we must bring nations such as Syria, Iran, and North Korea to the negotiating table and not just ignore them as this administration has done for the last 7 years.