Militant groups meet to find ways to remove fatigues and lower weapons, for fancy suits and poltics?

Irish republicans to hold peace summit with Kurdish and Basque separatists

Irish republicans will meet Kurdish and Basque separatists at a summit designed to encourage armed movements to adopt political dialogue and put an end to two conflicts that have cost thousands of lives.

Now, this rather ground breaking. One of the most notable examples would be who is holding the meeting which will take place in Venice, Italy on February 18th, 2011. Irish Republicans will be heading this meeting to discuss peaceful alternatives to armed conflict and struggle to their revolutionary counterparts around the globe? A group that had a brutal war of attrition with the UK for decades with assassinations, bombings of public places, and other serious departures from civil conduct. So far the peace agreement in Northern Ireland looks to be a success with Sinn Fein and the Provisional IRA surrendering weapons and have joined the political fray. Many thought that day would never come.

Apparently, the crust of the summit will be about the development of dialogue between the groups and the governments in which they have consistently used violence and bedlam as a tool redress grievances. Moreover, could the success of what took place in Egypt and Tunisia and the idea of people power be the reason for why such a monumental meeting was hatched to begin with? We have seen the success of the idea of "People Power," and how it could be a force for change when it is organized and persistent. On another note, and as the article points out, this meeting is being held in an EU member state with Italy as the location where some of the groups in attendance have been on terrorist watch lists.

Why an exception to the standard norm of old and opening up the gates to known militant groups? Perhaps, governments are seeing what took place in the Middle East as a serious matter and can't afford for these groups to take a similar approach. For instance, like get them to the bargaining table before they can organize a movement akin to Egyptian protests. If the movement gathers enough steam, the ruling parties will have no choice but to give up power. If the groups are resorting to violence and mayhem it is easy to marginalize and demonize them, and thus, earning political capital among the public. Some very strange things have been taking place this year, and this meeting has got to be one of them. Will dialogue and negotiations work, or is it on a case by case scenario where such an approach would work or be useless?