The Pointless Talks

Colin Powell is insisting that his meeting with North Korea’s foreign minister was a mere rehash of the two sides’ positions, and that those positions remain far apart. Yet we see how far we have come from our firm insistence that we would not negotiate with North Korea to keep the obligations is already made.

If Powell is indeed the leader of the Administration’s wobbly faction, this is still pretty disturbing. Powell understands that people like yours truly will have seizures if he admits to making too many concessions.

Meanwhile, Russia is doing its typically helpful bit by offering the North Koreans (and their South Korean allies–they are ONE!) a nice fat extension cord to all that cheap Siberian hydropower. That pretty well kicks the blocks out from under our main negotiating leverage, and China’s as well, if we were ever to get them on board with our plan. The upshot would be Kim Jong-Il having his finger on the switch that lights up Myongdong and night, and Putin with the power to darken the whole peninsula. Kudos to James Brooke for his usual insight.

Finally, the Korea Herald reports on the suppression of inter-Korean “propaganda” activities, or more accurately, the portion of those activities of which Pyongyang disapproves. This means that South Koreans will be able to see North Korean “news” broadcasts, but Radio Free North Korea gets shut down. And of course, MBC, OhMyNews, the Hankyoreh, and every damn university in the country aren’t part of the deal.