US Embassies may invite Iranians for July 4; only small talk allowed

This piece of news is everywhere now. This particular one (see below) is from the Boston Globe. 

A few years ago, while working in Beijing, an unfortunate colleague who didn't know much about my political persuasions, included me among the recipients of a group email invitation to the July 4 celebrations held at the American embassy in Beijing. 

In the unkind reply I send back, it was stated that on July 4, 1776, a nation was born that was ruled by a minority of rich white male slave-owners dedicated to the complete annihilation, meaning genocide, of the entire population of the Original Peoples and Nations on the sub-continent. In the reply, I also used this line from the very opening of a song by Public Enemy, titled, Louder Than a Bomb: 

Picture us going out on a forth of July,

And if you heard we were celebrating, that's a worldwide lie!

Now, let's see how many invitations go out, and also see how many Iranian diplomats are ready to shake the hands of fellow spooks employed by the Big Satan embassies around the world. I also wonder if my former colleague will end up shaking any Iranian diplomatic hands. 

The really funny part, though, is that the Iranian diplomats can be invited, but no US diplomat can talk to them beyond small talk! 

Embassies may invite Iranians July 4
(Reuters / June 3, 2009)

WASHINGTON - US embassies are allowed to invite Iranian officials to their July Fourth celebrations for the first time in 30 years in a sign of Washington's effort to reach out to Tehran, the State Department said yesterday.

However, the United States has not removed its blanket ban on its diplomats having substantive conversations with Iranian officials without prior authorization, it added, suggesting any such contacts will be limited to small talk for now.

Read the complete report here ...