4 March 2010: WaPo on North Korea and Burma
It may be almost as revealing as the White House’s concern about growing military (and nuclear?) cooperation between North Korea and Burma that David Albright, asked to comment by the Washington Post, takes a strikingly alarmist point of view about these new developments. Albright, you will recall, had said for years that the Bush Administration had inflated fears that North Korea had an undeclared uranium enrichment program. I don’t suppose that I will ever be in agreement with David Albright about how to solve the newly confronted problem, but no one should be condemned for the inconsistency inherent in coming to one’s senses. Despite the tone of his comments at this site, I bear no personal grudge against Albright. He’s even showing signs of coming around on the uranium issue. Sure, you could say his tone has changed because a Democrat is President, but let’s be charitable enough (no, really) to admit that North Korea’s behavior in 2009 pretty much kicked the legs out from under any defensible argument that it’s (a) not really interested in having nuclear weapons, and (b) amenable to diplomatic compromise.
The Diplomat has a long article about the anachronism that is U.S. Forces Korea. If you’ve come here, you may be interested in reading some quotes by me on page three. On the other hand, you’ll have to suffer through some quotes by the John Feffer, a Chomsky-endorsed apologist for the Great Famine.
North Korea asking to abrogate its mutual defense pact with China (link in Korean)? I seriously doubt it.
Joshua was quoted:
I think it is true that they will always be an irritant, but it will be mitigated considerably once that huge military base is moved out of the capital. I used to not think it would make any difference — and truth be told, I’ve enjoyed the convenience of the base within walking or jogging distance of my home — but now I am.
With the base down in Pyongtaek, it seriously curtails the ability of the chinboistas to rally numbers of irritated to go and demonstrate, and then the demonstrations are too far away for them to have the intended effect. They will be left to demonstrating in front of the new embassy when it moves to Namyong-dong, but then it will be a bit far away from the geographic media points.
The move is a good thing. Turning the ROK into a cooperative partner on and off the base would be a good step beyond that.
I wrote:
I will qualify this: I think it is true that they will always be an irritant by some.
I wrote:
What is wrong with me?! I should have written:
I was writing this comment while an Apple Store employee was giving me the evil eye (and they still have no iPads). Plus, I was hungry and craving the açaà bowl “M” told me we would get after she was done at Macy’s.