Links for 23 Oct 07

* John Bolton is now actively lobbying against Agreed Framework 2.0, drawing dozens of GOP congressmen  to speeches he’s giving to influential policy groups (ht: Evan).  His efforts appear to have gained new traction with the Syria revelations, and the Administration’s inordinate secrecy from Congress about those revelations probably isn’t doing any good for congressional relations (but may be fueling suspicions).  Yes, Bolton probably suspects that his enemies in the State Department torpedoed his confirmation, and he probably holds a few grudges.  But agree with Bolton or not, you have to concede that he has risked  making powerful enemies by placing principle over party loyalty.

*    One of Bolton’s unrealized goals at the U.N. was reform, and today,  there are  allegations  of cronyism against Ban Ki Moon. 

*   The Heritage Foundation’s Bruce Klingner lays out what’s missing  from Agreed Framework 2.2, the latest joint statement in the Administration’s unfolding North Korea exit strategy.  It’s a few weeks old and I’m sorry to have missed it, but it’s well worth reading, and spot-on in its recommendations.

*   Take a few minutes to read the story of Steve Kim, who spent the last four years in a Chinese prison for trying to help North Korean refugees.  I’ve been seeing a flood of articles lately calling for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics because of China’s support for the world’s most repellent regimes.  Burma may have more to do with that than North Korea, where our State Department lavishly praises China for its willingness to play diplomatic king-maker, but don’t forget what China’s policies mean for North Korean people:  torture; oppression;  sexual exploitation; literally dragging them back to  prolonged deaths with  wires through their  wrists  and noses; and putting placing bounties on them as if they were vermin.  If you wouldn’t attend Michael Vick’s games because of  his torture and murder of  dogs, surely  Hu Jintao’s torture and murder of human beings  justifies a  boycott of  Hu Jintao’s  Olympics. 

*   More hand-biting from North Korea, accusing well-known hegemonistic expansionist Roh Moo Hyun of violating its territorial waters.  How odd, since I’m eagerly awaiting  the transition  of power and  start of  the North Korean influence scandals  relating to  the Roh Administration and the former Uri Party.  Three sources of intense curiosity to me:  National Assembly member  Im Jong In, the still-unnamed “major government offices,” and the still-unnamed  cabinet secretary.

*   I realize I haven’t commented on Comrade Chung’s nomination.  I like the idea that he’s running, because win or lose, we will now have a referendum on appeasing North Korea and Yankee-bashing, which Chung represented more  than any other Korean politician with the possible exception of Roh himself.  You can’t lose if you don’t enter, and we should be glad that despite his broad name recognition and friendly treatment by TV media (but not the newspapers), Chung is way behind in the polls. 

*   There are two excellent new citizen-journalist reports from Iraq, from Michael Yon and former Special Forces operator Jeff Emanuel.  Yon, not a knee-jerk critic of the media, thinks there’s a wide gap between events on the ground and perceptions here, and  lays out an ambitious plan to reshape media coverage with a focus on small-town papers.  Both Yon and Emanuel are supported  entirely  by reader contributions.