posted
Kim Jong II: "The override!...WHERE's THE OVERRIDE!?!"
Though the thought of Bush in control of North Korea as well is pretty sobering.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
Consistency..... Bush lacks Consistency.....
-------------------- "And slowly, you come to realize, it's all as it should be, you can only do so much. If you're game enough, you could place your trust in me. For the love of life, there's a tradeoff, we could lose it all but we'll go down fighting...." - David Sylvian FreeSpace 2, the greatest space sim of all time, now remastered!
Registered: Mar 1999
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He's consistantly gone after easier targets than those that pose a real treat to the US.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Grokca: Why Bushco decided to stop the direct talks and go to this strange arrangement where they will only talk to NK through the other countries, I'll never know.
Let's see... Perhaps it's becaues the US was in direct negotiations with the DPRK for the past ten years, and they consistently lied through their teeth to us about their nuclear program? The whole point of the negotiations back in 1994 was to stop the North Koreans from building their nuclear reactor, and subsequently, nuclear weapons.
And what did they do? They took the foreign aid package, got help in building a second nuclear reactor, and continued working on their nukes.
For once, I think that the multilateral talks with North Korea are one of the few things that the Bush administration has done even remotely right in the area of international diplomacy. They certainly should've been a lot more discreet and tactful (*cough*AXISOFEVIL*cough*) but IMO it's much more important to get the other nations of the region directly involved in the talks to get them all to come down on the North Koreans the next time they start acting up after this.
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
Also consider the anxiety of all the neighboring countries if they're shut out of disarmament talks with a country with nuclear weapons and a nutty leader.
Japan is not pulling any punches: today they gave NK an untimatum- North Korea resumes talks or Japan passes a law banning all North Korean ships from Japan's harbors.
No trade with japan would cost NK a heck of a lot, I'd imagine.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Right, about one quarter of North Korea's exports go to Japan, so they'll definatly notice even though NK doesn't have much trade total.
It's nice to finally see some economic pressure being put on North Korea. This should have been done over a year ago, and even now a more unified stance from China, South Korea, and the U.S. would be helpful. This would be much more decisive then Japan acting alone.
posted
The US adding economic pressure would only strengthen Kim's idea that the US is out to get him.
Japan acting without US involvment sets a leadership example to the other countries in the region. Mabye the NK's local trading partners will economicaly strangle Kim into real negotiations.
It'd be nice to see UN economic sanctions though. (not real likely- everyone treats NK like someone holding a live grenade- with good reason.) North Korea wants a biiig foreign aid package from the US to stop it's nuclear programs. That's why they ant "direct" talks that exclude the six member nations. Can you see any NATO country sending millions (or moore) of dollars to a dictatorship on their word not to continue making bombs?
That would certainly send the wrong message to Iran....and NK is watching how we handle Iran for clues how to deal with the US. Quite the circle, eh?
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Quite simply, the reason Bush will never go into unilateral talks with North Korea is because, during the campaign, Kerry said we should.
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: Japan acting without US involvment sets a leadership example to the other countries in the region. Mabye the NK's local trading partners will economicaly strangle Kim into real negotiations.
Heh, I wish. Probably those wacky North Koreans will just start screaming that Japan is just a puppet of the United States. Remember, logic is something that is nearly completely absent from North Korean diplomacy...
quote:North Korea wants a biiig foreign aid package from the US to stop it's nuclear programs. That's why they ant "direct" talks that exclude the six member nations. Can you see any NATO country sending millions (or moore) of dollars to a dictatorship on their word not to continue making bombs?
Especially since that's exactly what happened the last time. The US signed a deal with the DPRK, in which they agreed to halt their nuclear weapons programs and shut down their heavy water nuclear reactor. In exchange, the US agreed to help them build a light-water reactor (in which the reactor's byproducts can't be used to help make nuclear weapons), and give them a great big aid package (food, mostly). And instead, the North Koreans took the aid package, got help building the new reactor, and kept working on their nukes.
Would you try to make a deal with someone like that again? I believe the proper saying is, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."
Registered: Nov 2000
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quote:Originally posted by MinutiaeMan: Would you try to make a deal with someone like that again? I believe the proper saying is, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."
quote:For once, I think that the multilateral talks with North Korea are one of the few things that the Bush administration has done even remotely right in the area of international diplomacy.
Yes, it sure seems to have worked really well. Can't argue with results.
-------------------- "and none of your usual boobery." M. Burns
Registered: Oct 2001
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