Diplomacy Is Complicated
AMERICA AND NORTH KOREA SORT OF HUG IT OUT
FITSNews – June 26, 2008 – We have no idea if this news means anything or not, but apparently the United States and North Korea don’t hate each other as much today as they did yesterday.
How come? Well, apparently there’s been some progress on the whole nuclear standoff between the two rival superpowers, which the LA Times encapsulates for us as follows:
North Korea turned over a long-awaited inventory of its nuclear program today as part of a deal that will allow the lifting of some U.S. sanctions … President Bush said the declaration puts North Korea “a step closer” to denuclearization, and announced he would reciprocate by removing North Korea from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, a designation that has represented Washington’s longstanding condemnation of Pyongyang …
In turn, North Korea is supposed to blow up the cooling tower of its main nuclear reactor, an event to be broadcast live by television crews from the United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia, all parties to six-nation talks on nuclear dismantlement.
Wait … they’re gonna blow something up on live TV and only journalists are there to vouch for it? That’s not very comforting. Seriously, who the hell over at “Foggy Bottoms Up” came up with this agreement? We’re about to let North Korea off the hook for being a very, very naughty country and all they have to do is supposedly blow something up on television that they can rebuild any time they want to?
Jeez. This reminds us of that time we made spitball launchers out of specially-modified paper clips and all our fourth-grade teacher did was take away the paper clip. We had a desk drawer full of those things, people, as well as a whole stack of notebook paper. And like North Korea, our naked aggression truly knew no bounds …
Comments
By enemy_at_the_gates on June 26th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Any ‘public’ progress on the North Korean Nuclear situation will have traveled through China for approval. China has been the historic ‘elder brother’ to any foreign adventures, for any reason, on the Korean peninsula.
If this works, it is because China has said to NK and Kim Jung Ill, ‘make it work.’ In 1970s, Nixon’s trip to China put the brakes on the fighting along the DMZ which involved the US 2d & 7th Divisions, which allowed us to ‘back out’ of Viet Nam without two fronts to worry about.
No ‘big brother’ exhist in the Middle East. A bit harder nut to crack.
By Pol 101 Student on June 26th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
I must say, Willie, though I’m not versed in Diplomatic Relations — your taste in Korean Man-Doll art is superb. Where’d he get those cheeks & glasses?!
By piepton on June 27th, 2008 at 8:34 am
Was it one of his spokespeople or Dubya who said denuclearization? Because I’m surprised he can think a word that long.
By west_rhino on June 27th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Let me see, Israel took care of the cooling towers Hussein of the Assyria was building… perhaps Achmeddhimmijihad has welcomed NK assets to further their efforts to blow up the Dome of the Rock and blame it on Bib Netanyahu.