WASHINGTON (AP)-[off the wire, no link]-Two prominent Democratic senators are calling on President George W. Bush to send an envoy to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
Sens. Carl Levin and Hillary Rodham Clinton also want the United States to work with other nations to set a timetable for diplomatic efforts, with the prospect of seeking U.N. sanctions if diplomacy fails.
"The North Koreans have said they regard a U.N. sanctions resolution as tantamount to war, and Security Council members such as China are not likely to support sanctions unless there is a failure of diplomacy that the international community views as entirely North Korea's fault," the senators said in a column in Monday's Washington Post. |
What is it with Democrats and timetables? Everything has to be measured and precise to be a valid option. So what is it they want here? We need to act more unilaterally. Damn, talk about a 180 in philosophy. While it's not necessarily a hypocritical position, it does illustrate how their approach is still the wrong approach for any given situation. Having nukes makes them a big player they need to be approached like the rest of the big boys and diplomacy is a big part of that. We can't force them to take whatever actions we want (see Cold War). And if Kim Jong Il thinks UN sanctions are that bad maybe we should have him meet with Saddam who was able to turn a nice profit after a decade or so of UN sanctions.
[...]Bush has opposed direct negotiations with North Korea, favoring negotiations that also include China, Russia, South Korea and Japan. North Korea has boycotted those talks for a year. U.S. officials believe North Korea has produced at least two nuclear bombs.
The two senators said the Bush's administration's diplomatic efforts to stop North Korea's nuclear program "is carried on in an almost lackadaisical fashion, captive to pride and preconditions." |
Not only are those other four countries key to the negotiations, this is good for our political relations with them as well. If we can form a united front against N. Korea that result in some successful concessions on their part, we can hopefully translate that into their increased involvement in the GWOT (at least from Russia, Japan, and South Korea). I fail to see how a "unilateral" meeting at this point would be preferred over continued "multilateral" diplomatic attempts.
They called on Bush to offer a serious economic assistance package to the North Koreans and to refrain from name-calling.
"Seriousness means sending a senior U.S. official to meet with Kim Jong Il," they said. "And the way to know whether we have been trying hard enough is to determine whether our Asian negotiating partners also think diplomacy has been exhausted." |
Unless we get some major concessions (like the give us all their nukes and we get to detonate their production facilities) there is no way we should give them any money. And we certainly shouldn't hurt their feelings anymore, so everyone, please, stop calling North Koreans "poo-poo heads" and refrain from using an exaggerated stereotypical Asian accent to mock them ("I'm ron-ry... so ron-ry..." or "Why you busteeng my bawrs Hans Brix?"). It's bad for the megalomaniac's self-esteem. |
