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Newt: We’re Ready to Leave, Whenever You Ask. Perhaps not a related item, but only perhaps–I heard Newt Gingrich on Fox News yesterday, saying that we should withdraw from Iraq when and only when its democratic government says it is ready for us to leave. Then he quite gratuitously veered off-topic to say the same about South Korea. It’s hard to say how much influence Newt has over anything today, but who would have imagined this extent of conservative anger at South Korea even five years ago?

The conservatives are the alliance’s base of political support. Without them, the alliance is politically unsustainable. To put it another way: would you stake the survival of your nation on the hawkish resolve of Nancy Pelosi?

One of my sillier ideas, but one that always seems to get a good reception from American listeners, is the idea of the United States unilaterally–without even telling the South Korean government in advance–publicly demanding that South Korea hold a national referendum on the alliance. The United States would promise to respect a “nay” vote, although we should never yield to a foreign nation the “right” to be protected by our armed forces.