Good news and bad news on North Korea (Steve Clemons)

[swag]

Steve Clemons will be on Franken at 2 Eastern today discussing this. Until then:

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com

Here are some points that need to be kept in mind.

First, the Chinese and South Koreans did the heavy-lifting here, but if it takes a little bit of applause of the Russian, American and Japanese roles -- fine. Interestingly, the language that China floated to North Korea in the deal-making process and which North Korea has used to base its statements seems to have originated with South Korean proposals.

But bottom line -- North Korea's statement is a significant positive step. They expect a light-water nuclear reactor and a phased-in approach in this process, and America has not signed off on those pieces yet, but still -- while the devil is in the details -- these are elements that are rooted back (in part) in the 1994 Framework Talks.

The other good news is that positive momentum has been created. The bad news is that we lost five and a half years getting to this point, when we could have been there in 2000. Since then, North Korea has assembled up to 8-10 nuclear warheads. That has been the cost of dithering, inaction, and John Bolton's subversion of Powell's efforts to get North Korea negotiations on track early in the Bush administration.

. . . more

[orwell]

1. And of Course

...instead of being blamed for the delay, the media will crown the Bushies for their "statesmanship."

[FreedomAngel82]

3. Oh of course

:mad:

[KharmaTrain]

2. Lots Of Screws Are Being Applied Here

Several weeks ago, one of the networks reported that Pyongyang was starting to open up many sectors to some form of "free enterprise" (I would assume the Chinese model), and this was spun as a major philosophical change with Kim Jong Il.

How ironic we're back to 1994 with all this...and imagine what progress could have been made had the inroads Madelline Albrecht had made with the North Koreans. This would have never been the messy issue it became.

Seems China's incentive here is to control North Korea...it's taken a lot of "illegals" across their border and the Chinese want to be the major military power/nuclear kid in that part of the world. Obviously the South has tons of emotional and financial reasons to pacify the North. The interesting relationship is between Beijing and Seoul. They've worked closely for a long time and this is really what made this deal happen, and if it works, it's cause these nations will make it work.

Again, the boooosh regime is caught flat-footed in how to react. The first bites I heard was disappointment with the typical "suspect" lines being thrown around...as though this regime needs these boogie men as a way to keep their sheeple in fear and in line.