22 January 2009: So Much for Outreach

* One year into the Obama Administration — and doesn’t it seem like so much longer than that? — the new conventional wisdom is that “outreach” has been a failure and that pressure is likely to continue. The failure of outreach is completely unsurprising. The administration’s resort to pressure is slightly surprising.

* Jesus in Pyongyang! I sure hope this kid and her whole family aren’t sent to a prison camp over this.

* Don Kirk: “Looking Ahead to North Korea’s Demise”

* “A Soft Power Solution for Iran” is one of the more interesting things I’ve read all year, in part because I’m writing out some similar ideas for North Korea.

* John Bolton on China and Google:

Google’s conduct in the immediate future is critical: If Google can negotiate satisfactory protections for its operations in China and decides to remain, then its hard line will have proven successful. But if Google cannot get essentially what it wants, and nonetheless remains in China, that will be the worst signal of all. Google must remember never to make threats unless the company is fully prepared to carry them out. [Amb. John Bolton, Wall Street Journal]

More here.

* I loved this line: “Americans expect their leaders to have some core positions that are inviolate and then work around the edges on everything else. They want pragmatic idealists. What else would you expect from a nation that buys low-carb bread and low-fat ice cream?”