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June 11, 2009

House Dems Block Bill Demanding Release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, Re-Listing N. Korea as a Terror-Sponsor

Almost everywhere in Washington, one can sense a seismic shift in the consensus about dealing with North Korea.  Gone are the gauzy fantasies that North Korea’s disarmament is just one more (American) concession away.  You can see this in the Obama Administration’s emerging policy, and you can see it in the think tanks that supply the media much of their analysis.  At an event yesterday, I heard Victor Cha and Jack Pritchard broadly agree on the need for tough sanctions...

Categories Appeasement/U.S. Politics
June 5, 2009

Obama Gears Up for “Plan B;” John Kerry Blocks Terror Re-Listing

I really don’t know what to make of this.  A young, inexperienced president, one whom the North Koreans arguably endorsed, comes into office showing every sign of being easier meat than Lance Bass in Riker’s Island.  The North Koreans, true to Joe Biden’s prophetic gaffe, and with their exquisite sensitivity to American weakness, don’t even let the man get inaugurated before they begin the noisy repudiation of every agreed framework, U.N. resolution, and armistice they can stuff into a shredder....

Categories "United" Nations/China/Counterfeiting/Money Laundering/NK Crime/NK Economics/Proliferation/Sanctions/U.S. Politics
June 1, 2009

SecDef Gates Not Pushing for Agreed Framework III

Michael Yon traveled with Defense Secretary Robert Gates to Singapore and passes along these observations: One matter that you will see in the press is that North Korea is the elephant in the room. Secretary Gates has made it clear that we have no intention of rewarding bad behavior, as we have done in the past with North Korea. Many readers seem to hold a special disdain for President Obama, and I actively campaigned for McCain, but I get the...

Categories Appeasement/Diplomacy/U.S. Military/U.S. Politics/Washington Views
May 11, 2009

John Kerry: Clueless About North Korea

History will deservedly remember John Kerry as a failed poseur, a man too self-important and detestable to unseat George W. Bush in 2004, and one of my least favorite American politicians of all time.  We are still burdened with Kerry as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in which capacity he spirited the incompetent and congenital liar Christopher Hill to confirmation as the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq.  In that capacity, Kerry seems to have learned much from the nominee’s...

Categories Diplomacy/U.S. Politics
May 4, 2009

N. Korea: Obama Just Like Bush!

Someone still isn’t feeling the hope and change: North Korea blasted U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday as no different from his predecessor in trying to “stifle” countries that are uncooperative with the U.S., referring to Washington’s move to punish Pyongyang’s rocket launch.  [….] “With nothing can the U.S. justify such illegal provocation as forcing the UNSC to table the issue of the DPRK’s (North Korea) launch of a satellite for peaceful purposes and issue ‘a presidential statement,’” the North’s...

Categories "United" Nations/Diplomacy/Japan/Missiles/Proliferation/U.S. Politics
May 2, 2009

At The New Ledger: On the New Hostage Diplomacy

I have a new piece up at The New Ledger: As President Barack Obama basks in the adoration of the media, the captivity of three of their colleagues — one in Iran and two in North Korea — now looks very much like a calculated test of whether terrorism will be restored to its former place as a tolerated method of diplomacy. The new administration’s reaction thus far has seemed paralyzed and unprepared for the test that Joe Biden, after...

Categories Media Criticism/Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. Politics
May 2, 2009

Obama Policy Watch: Reality Sinking In?

There have been several signs this week that the Obama Administration is reaching an early recognition of the realities that eluded the Bush Administration for most of its two terms. Recent statements from the new administration reflect a growing acknowledgment that unconditional aid and easy concessions have failed as tools for the “management” of Kim Jong Il. That acknowledgment would not have been possible without the inspiration of Kim Jong Il. I will give you some quotes, and then I’ll...

Categories U.S. Politics/Washington Views
April 22, 2009

Chris Hill Slips Through; New Bills in Congress Would Roll Back His Unilateral Concessions

[Update:   I have the House bill, too.  Scroll down for the link.] The AP is reporting that Christopher Hill is now confirmed as Ambassador to Iraq.  Having managed to inflict a slight flesh wound on Hill, we can at least claim to have alerted potential critics to some of the less desirable aspects of his character, which (I fear) will reveal themselves again in due course when he opens secret talks with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.  Don’t say I...

Categories Appeasement/Diplomacy/U.S. Politics
April 21, 2009

Stand With Sam Brownback

According to my latest information, which is just short of a day old now, the nomination of Chris Hill was to go to the Senate floor yesterday, where it was expected to get more than enough votes to close debate.  Under Senate rules, Senator Brownback now has his chance to go to the floor and speak, to see if he can change a few more minds.  I’ve passed him as much ammunition as time has allowed.  Now, the rest is...

Categories Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. Politics
April 17, 2009

Christopher Hill: Deep Kimchee for Iraq

Of the many things that will be written about North Korea this week, the least likely of these is, “Now there’s the kind of diplomacy we need more of.” Consider just the events of the last few days: the missile test itself, which may have hit closer to home than originally thought; the failure of the United Nations to enforce two of its violated resolutions; the broader failure of deterrence and counter-proliferation; and North Korea’s final repudiation of a February...

Categories Appeasement/Diplomacy/Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. Politics
April 3, 2009

Hill’s Nomination Held, But Senate Could Override the Hold Today (Update: Hill Still Not Confirmed!)

[Update: The gods of the Senate calendar were not kind to Chris Hill today. Harry Reid and John Kerry tried to bully him into it, but Brownback stood his ground and did not lift his hold. Hill was not confirmed. It may be a short-lived moral victory. After the recess, it will be in the hands of the Senate leadership to get the nomination to the full Senate floor. In any event, North Korea’s missile test will have happened by...

Categories Appeasement/Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. Politics
March 26, 2009

Chris Hill Lies to Entire Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Sam Brownback’s Finest Hour

[Updated below.] [A]s the current assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, [Christopher Hill] presided over negotiations with North Korea that deliberately minimized focus on the bleak human rights record of that country, ignored its nuclear proliferation, and had the practical effect of affirming its nuclear weapons capability. Hill also has a troubling hotdog tendency to play by his own rules, to the detriment of U.S. diplomacy…. Hill’s brand of cowboy diplomacy might be justified if it...

Categories Human Rights/Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. Politics
March 20, 2009

Chris Hill Update: Man Tells Lie, Lie Catches Up With Man, Dog Bites Man

The Washington Times, reporting that Senator Brownback is increasingly open in his threat to hold Chris Hill’s nomination as Ambassador to Iraq, relates just the latest story of Hill misleading a member of Congress: In [a] hearing on July 31, in response to a request to bring Jay Lefkowitz, who was a special envoy for North Korea human rights, to future talks, Mr. Hill said, “I would be happy to invite him to all future negotiating sessions with North Korea.”...

Categories Diplomacy/Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. Politics
March 18, 2009

Five senators write Obama, ask him to withdraw Christopher Hill’s nomination

Read the full text of the letter here. The senators signing include Brownback (R-KS), Ensign (R-NV), Inhofe (R-OK), Bond (R-MO), and Kyl (R-AZ), the Senate Republican whip. McCain and Graham are still opposed to Hill’s nomination but did not sign. No one on the Foreign Relations Committee signed or came out in opposition. The big question now: will any Senator hold the nomination? Not yet. A hold would shift the focus to the Senator instead of Hill. Those opposed to...

Categories Appeasement/Diplomacy/Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. Politics
March 16, 2009

Opposition to Christopher Hill’s Iraq Ambassador Nomination Grows

Somewhere, Anthony Zinni must be smiling. There are now four senators — Brownback of Kansas, McCain of Arizona, Graham of South Carolina, and Ensign of Nevada — who have declared their opposition to Chris Hill becoming the next U.S. ambassador to Iraq. Recall from the experience of Kathleen Stephens, now our Ambassador to South Korea, that it takes just one senator to hold an ambassador’s nomination. Hill’s nomination will not go forward unless those senators all lift their holds. [Oops:...

Categories Diplomacy/Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. Politics/Washington Views
March 12, 2009

And there was much wailing in Riyadh

Tienanmen Massacre defender Charles Freeman has withdrawn his name as the Obama Administration’s nominee to head the National Intelligence Council. Freeman’s nomination did not require Senate confirmation. As he withdrew, Freeman blamed “the Israel lobby” for spiking his prospects, and while it’s apparent that friends of Israel like Sen. Charles Schumer weren’t fond of Freeman, the decisive veto came from Nancy Pelosi because of Freeman’s extreme apologist views for the Chinese regime’s atrocities. The Washington Post later editoralized that Freeman...

Categories U.S. Politics/Washington Views
March 12, 2009

Brownback: Chris Hill was ‘evasive and unprofessional’ in his dealings with Congress

Senator Sam Brownback has come out against Chris Hill’s nomination to be U.S. Ambassador to Iraq: I am deeply concerned about the possibility of Assistant Secretary Hill serving in the crucial post of Ambassador to Iraq,” Brownback said. “While I commend Mr. Hill for his long and dedicated career in the Foreign Service, I believe that his lack of any Middle East experience, and his evasive and unprofessional dealings with Congress, make him a poor choice for leading our largest,...

Categories U.S. Politics/Washington Views