Category: America

The Candidates on North Korea (Fred Thompson)

Whew.  I had expected these  primary things to make this project a little less ambitions.  I expected wrong.  Next: SIMON: Well, here’s our final question, though. As you probably know, I’m sure you know, Ambassador Bolton has become very critical of the Bush administration since his resignation from the United Nations. He wrote a book about it and he’s made a lot of public statements. Do you think — and implying that the Bush administration is essentially walking backwards on...

Good Riddance, Nick Burns

Nicholas Burns, the State Department’s number three diplomat and the man  whom  a reliable  source told me was the one  who blocked  implementation of the North Korean  Human Rights Act,  will step down for “personal reasons.”  Alas, the reasons are not known to include painful bleeding hemorrhoids, and so I must go on doubting  God’s existence.  Burns’s legacy will include such notable accomplishments as  Iran’s nuclear bomb.  His replacement is the eponymous William Burns  (no relation) who has enjoyed such...

Did Chris Hill lie about North Korea’s declaration?

In the last episode of our drama, Chris thought he had convinced Kim to out himself in time for the New Year’s ball, only to have Kim say that he’d said enough when Chris visited his place last November. At moments like this one, when this blog begins to sound like the screenplay for a gay soap opera, I understand why The Lost Nomad went fishing. Several days ago, I believe I caught U.S. nucyular negotiator Christopher Hill in a...

Kim Jong Bill Drops Out

DLTDHYA on the WO. You remember, right?  And AmericaForRichardson.org?  Vanished … like a line of blow on Keith Richard’s dresser. Update:   I should note that there was some initial uncertainty that Kim Jong Bill was dropping out after all, but all of the recent stories I found on further research suggest that he is indeed dropping out.  I went over to Bill Richardson’s “official” campaign site and didn’t find any statement denying these widespread reports, which is a dog...

Ron Paul denies decades of racist newsletters published in his name; O.J. still hunting for ‘real killer’

Wow.  Ron Paul  is outed as … a wacky,  racist fringe pamphleteer?  Gee, who ever saw that coming?  Plus, Paul’s campaign offers what must be the single lamest defense ever:  I really should have paid closer attention to the things people were writing in my name for decades.  But take heart, paulbots.  This could mean real momentum for Lydon RaRouche this year. This also raises a serious question for the  Republicans.  Some have suggested that Paul  should be coddled to keep...

The Candidates on North Korea (Edwards, Giuliani, McCain, Obama, Richardson)

I have my own biases, of course, but I don’t do endorsements, chiefly because (a) you don’t care, and (b) this is single-issue analysis in a multiple-issue campaign. This is simply a presentation of what the various candidates have said in relation to Korea issues, but mainly North Korea. If it’s of interest to you or helps you make one part of your decision, great. If you can find a more detailed relevant statement by another candidate I wrote about...

Rep. Tom Lantos, diagnosed with cancer, will not seek re-election

Routine medical tests have revealed that I have cancer of the esophagus. In view of this development and the treatment it will require, I will not seek re-election. It is only in the United States that a penniless survivor of the Holocaust and a fighter in the anti-Nazi underground could have received an education, raised a family, and had the privilege of serving the last three decades of his life as a Member of Congress. I will never be able...

A Better War

HAPPY NEW YEAR.  Iraq and U.S. politics are two subjects that are being thoroughly covered by other blogs, but I’ve been following both stories very closely (while mostly sparing you my thoughts on either).  Here, however, are some interesting (to me) “miscellaneous” stories about Iraq, terrorism, and politics that might also interest you.  MY NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION is the same as last year’s:  to make better use of the FOIA.  This new law may make it easier for me to...

Jay who? Christopher Hitchens, President Bush, and the betrayal of the North Korean people

Christopher Hitchens is certainly one of our age’s most compelling thinkers and one of the English language’s best writers. I disagree with him about plenty of things; who could say otherwise? Hitchens’s greatest logical strength is his consistent argument for the moral superiority of freedom — for all of its flaws of application — over slavery. That is a woefully unfashionable idea among popinjays in Europe and America who are too sodden with the smug confidence of liberties taken for...

Behind the scenes, a deepening crisis for Agreed Framework 2.0

Maybe the Dear Leader will save us all yet. From ourselves, that is. If he does, it will be because he’s overplayed his hand again. A reader forwards a scan of a letter sent by three Republican U.S. Senators — Brownback, Grassley, and Kyl, the new minority whip, to Chris Hill, the architect of Agreed Framework 2.0. The letter requests that State specifically respond to this Congressional Research Service report’s allegations that North Korea continued to materially support Hezbollah and...

House resolution honors Henry Hyde

The resolution passed unanimously last night (suspension of the rules, voice vote).  You can read the full text of the resolution here. It’s sad to think of Hyde’s own passage; sadder still to contrast him with the rudderless party he left behind.  For purposes of Korea policy, we might as well be in a second Carter Administration with a 1975 Congress.  Yes, a few isolated Republicans (and one or two Democrats) take a principled stand here and there, but it...

Don’t let the absence of tact, polish, logic, and stability fool you: Ron Paul slithers like a true pol

Please don’t take this as a reflection on my personal  life, but perhaps  because I’ve lived in Nevada, Korea, and Washington, D.C.,  I  have only  mild moral objections to voluntary exchanges of sex for money between adults.  I’d think that this would be a rare point on which I’d agree with Ron Paul.  But when asked if he was  “shocked” to learn that  the Moonlight Bunny Ranch had contributed to his campaign, Paul missed  the chance  to  defend social libertarianism by...

Condi: U.S. not ready to engage N. Korea broadly

A day after the New York Philharmonic announced it would play a concert in the North Korean capital and a week after word of a personal letter from Bush to leader of the communist nation, Kim Jong Il, Rice downplayed the significance of both. “This is not a regime that the United States is prepared to engage broadly,” she said. “If we are going to engage it broadly, it’s clear in the program that we have laid out how that...

Congressional Research Service issues report on the implications of removing North Korea from the terror sponsor list

Yesterday, a reader and friend was kind enough to forward the entire report to me (thanks!), which I’ve uploaded onto this blog, and which you can access here: crs-north-korea-terrorism-list-removal.pdf   Since then,  this has  generated some press attention in South Korea.  The report’s authors are the highly regarded Larry  Niksch and Raphael Perl.  There’s too much valuable information in there for me to graf and do it justice; this one is a must-read.  I’ll limit my comments to a few...

Senate resolution would set conditions for de-listing North Korea as a terror sponsor

I knew this was coming but was asked not to write about it. But now, I see that Richardson has a link to a Yonhap story about it. Now that it’s out, I’ll speak out of school for a moment and say that I suggested a couple of the provisions that made it into the resolution, although I’d rather not say which ones. The sponsor is Sam Brownback, who having dropped his presidential bid, is back to doing what earned...