When reporters needled her for details of delicate Israeli-Syrian talks 15 years ago, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright replied: "Sometimes talks, like mushrooms, do better in the dark."
That homespun axiom proved true again Wednesday with the revelation that a year and a half of secret White House negotiations had produced a historic agreement to normalize relations with Cuba, a spy swap and prisoner release and plans to start removing trade barriers in place for 50 years.
Even in this age of smartphone photos and tweets, almost any breakthrough between longtime adversaries is possible only if it's negotiated quietly, say diplomats who have been involved in some of the most delicate negotiations of the past four decades.