John Bolton Unplugged On North Korea
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Foreign Policy, The World
The best thing you can say about this deal is that it’s so incomplete, and that the North Koreans may yet save us from ourselves by overreaching. They violated the 1994 agreed framework because they want to have it both ways. They want to keep the nuclear program and get these economic benefits. So I’m hoping the North Koreans will come to our rescue and show they’re not really serious here about denuclearizaion, because I don’t think they are.
Ha! Yeah John, because nuclear war is a much better option. Wow…
I know, I know…he didn’t say that specifically, but this new deal demands that Nortk Korea shuts down all their reactors in exchange for fuel. Here are the details…
North Korea has committed to shut down and seal all operations at the primary nuclear facilities it has used to produce weapons-grade plutonium within the next 60 days and has agreed to allow international inspectors to verify and monitor this process. In addition to those immediate actions, North Korea has also committed to disclose all its nuclear programs and disable its existing nuclear facilities as an initial step toward abandoning all of those programmes and facilities under international supervision.
And, as Reason.com so eloquently points out…
Well, at least a man who appears to think that a desire for negotiation over war is one of America’s regrettable weaknesses that it needs to be saved from is no longer a leading diplomat.
Mr. Bolton…we hardly knew ye…
This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 14th, 2007 and is filed under Foreign Policy, The World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 14th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
Y’know, there was a time when I thought that the US was actually going to follow a diplomatic line, a path that at least paralleled what little I know of international law, a road on which many others would be the US’s company.
Then I watched Powell address the UNSC and the ideal died along with Powell’s long term political future.
Then came Iraq2.
Even without Bolton I would doubt the sincerity of at least one of the other major players as much as I would doubt the intentions of the North Koreans.
February 15th, 2007 at 12:25 am
What Bolton said was that givingup financial leverage on North Korea by agreeing to lift banking sanctions is a huge mistake, and that “that leverage is what brought them to the table . . . The Chinese were paying them to come to the talks. Now we’re paying them.” This rather different than saying that “a desire for negotiation over war is one of America’s regrettable weaknesses”.
If North Korea keeps their end of the bargain, Bolton’s critics couldn’t be blamed for some crowing. But given the Dear Leader’s track record, Bolton could very well be exactly right – that we are being used in a manner comparable to the way in which Chamberlain was used in Munich. Will Bolton’s sneering critics admit he was right all along if this is what eventually happens? On that point, I’m not optimistic.
February 15th, 2007 at 1:07 am
Bolton is a miserable human being. His death is reason to celebrate.
February 15th, 2007 at 1:30 am
[...] Former UN Ambassador John Bolton is one of those hardliners who has ridiculed the deal. Bolton risks sounding like he’s offering parental advice about not underestimating one’s enemies. The Reason.com quote Justin Gardner supplies is priceless: [...]
February 20th, 2007 at 10:04 am
According to the new South Korean guy at the U.N.,who I agree with,North Korea has been playing everybody for a long time.I have come to believe that because South Korea won’t play nice on Ocean bottom trawling,America should unilaterally withdraw all our military,starting at the DMZ.Then,when all are out and safe,we should tactically neutron bomb the North.Things are only going to get alot worse if we don’t.