The relationship between the United States and Syria took a turn for the better at the recent Sharm el-Sheikh conference on Iraq. To be sure we are a long way from any type of strategic change in the U.S. approach to the region but the fact that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice actually had a first face-to-face talk with Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem is a positive step in the right direction.

The BBC noted that the tone was not hostile, with Rice telling reporters that "I didn't lecture him and he didn't lecture me..."

Sharm el-Sheikh was the site of two parallel but independent meetings - one being the United Nations-sponsored International Compact for Iraq (a five-year national plan to help Iraq consolidate peace, sound governance and economic reconstruction) and the other a ministerial meeting of states neighboring Iraq.

# posted by Raj @ 5/07/2007 08:58:00 AM