Monologue by a demagogue met with obeisance and ineffectual commentary -- if not silence by his interlocutors. A genocidal dictator does not respond well to talk therapy.

IN A FOURTH encounter over two years, American church officials shared an Iftar meal with the visiting Iranian president on September 28 in New York City. [....]

The MCC [Mennonite Central Committee] reported that Ahmadinejad did not respond to the concern about human rights in Iran, instead speaking "at length about theological issues, such as monotheism, justice and commonalities among religions." His remarks about opposing Zionism did not make it into the MCC account. [....]

United Methodist Women's chief Harriett Jane Olson told Reuters afterwards that she wished Ahmadinejad had talked about "practical issues" such as the treatment of women and children in Iran instead of abstract theology.