Sadly, the people of the West fell asleep and our leaders were secretly replaced by Folger’s Crystals… Let’s see if anyone else notices… (besides al Qaeda, the Taliban, Iran, and North Korea)

The reason I kept doggedly saying only talk in a 6-party format was — to nail China and SK down on specific steps they would take to punish the North if/when the new deal broke down.

If we didn’t do something like that, or at least something that makes sense in hindsight looking at the current deal, the opponents of the administration who say they don’t see why we couldn’t have gone to the table 1-on-1 and cut this same deal are correct.

This administration stuck to its ideas on the NK nukes, on USFK reformation, to name just two important policy issues, for so many years —- but within such a short period of time, since the last election defeat and heading into the next big presidential election cycle — it has pretty much completely unravelled on at least those two items.

Depressing…

I had fogotten about Victor Cha. I don’t know a lot about him, but I remember meaning to look up more of what he has had to say after hearing him a couple of times on C-Span and a couple of things I did read back then (before he became an official).

The impression I got from these brief glimpses leads me to believe he might not be very happy about Richardson’s trip and what he is being told to do for the administration.

I’m not suggesting Cha is similar to Bolten in this next part, but it is clear Bolten would have had a tough time backing the administration’s recent moves.

Onefreekorea has suggested that Jay Lefkowitz should resign as the US ambassador on NKHR – and with the latest news from Thailand and Laos and the lack of strong US response, I would guess he still thinks so.

I wonder what Cha would think about turning in a notice?

Generate a document that contains a detailed list of those acts, that if performed by Pyongyang, would be considered to be ‘completely unacceptable’ by the governments of China, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the U.S.

Generate a second document that contained a list of the positions that are considered to be ‘absolutely non-negotiable’ by those same governments.

Present this list to ‘The Only Fat Man in North Korea’ (TM Reg) for his perusal.

Generate new documents to replace these, after ‘TOFMINK’, to the hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing of all concerned, pisses on the original two lists.

Gawd!

What is it that I’m missing here?