21.   But the next morning, the Indian government characterized the talks as useful, if disappointing.

22.   But Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, dismissed such talk as wishful thinking.

23.   Exploit peace talks as a cover for ethnic cleansing and to ward off any Western military response.

24.   Even the United States was largely left out, viewing the talks as a fairly meaningless back channel.

25.   For his part, Foley dismisses this kind of talk as nothing new.

26.   Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. tonight offered the Canadian Auto Workers union the industry pattern contract, spurring intense talks as a Wednesday strike deadline looms.

27.   For his part, Kemp dismisses such talk as nonsense.

28.   He branded the calls for peace talks as hopelessly naive.

29.   He never bad-mouths political opponents in public, eschewing campaign-trail trash talk as feeding the kind of domestic divisiveness that only war can overcome.

30.   He has emerged as the main advocate of participating in the talks as the beginning of a political process toward independence.