Washington Views

July 14, 2009

On Second Thought, Let’s Not Talk to Our Enemies Without Preconditions!

As someone who openly seeks the violent overthrow of the regime by cultivating and arming an internal opposition, I never thought I’d see the day when the Obama Administration moved to in a diplomatic direction at least as extreme as mine, and possibly more so: American diplomatic efforts on North Korea are coming under fire within the Obama administration from officials who consider talks futile and instead want to focus on halting the regime’s trade in nuclear weapons and missile...

Diplomacy/Uncategorized/Washington Views

July 1, 2009

Robert King to Be Next NK Human Rights Special Envoy? (Updated)

So says a reader I trust. The little I know is that he was a staffer who worked for Rep. Tom Lantos, meaning he probably knows plenty about foreign policy and shares his former boss’s interest in human rights, but may not have much specific Asia expertise. Here’s a photo of him. There are three things that I like about King without knowing anything else. First, he’s not a State Department insider. Second, he’s not the same person who will...

Diplomacy/Human Rights/U.S. Politics/Washington Views

July 1, 2009

Sam Brownback Lifts Hold, Kurt Campbell Sworn In

Sorry, no inside baseball for you today, but the Center for a New American Security has the announcement here. I’d previously profiled Campbell at this post. Overall, my impression is that we could have done much worse.

Diplomacy/Washington Views

June 30, 2009

Plan B Watch

A year ago, who would have suspected that we’d be celebrating the replacement of a liberal accommodationist named George W. Bush with a hard line neocon named Barack Obama, who would finally show signs of grasping not just the reality of North Korea’s bad faith, but some of the very best tools for breaking it? Christine Ahn’s misery (and Selig Harrison’s, and Leon Sigal’s) is my pleasure: The Treasury Department’s 2005 blacklisting of Macau’s Banco Delta Asia, which held a...

Money Laundering/Sanctions/Washington Views

June 29, 2009

Obama Forms Team Plan B

The Washington Post is reporting that President Obama is forming an inter-agency team, much like the Illicit Activities Initiative that David Asher headed in G.W. Bush’s first term, to coordinate sanctions against North Korea: The White House is forming an interagency team to coordinate sanctions efforts against North Korea with other nations, senior administration officials said yesterday. The team will be led by Philip S. Goldberg, a former ambassador to Bolivia who is slated to leave for China in the...

Diplomacy/Money Laundering/Sanctions/U.S. Politics/Washington Views

June 28, 2009

Sam Brownback Strikes Again

Now, he’s holding the nomination of Kurt Campbell to replace Chris Hill as Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Recently, Brownback has used the power of the nomination hold to become the congressional oversight over State’s spectacularly unsuccessful North Korea policy that no one on the Foreign Relations Committee is willing to be. He’s brought a degree of public scrutiny to some of State’s dumbest decisions, and has managed to slow down — but not stop — the...

Diplomacy/Sanctions/U.S. Politics/Washington Views

June 18, 2009

David Sanger: Obama Tired of Kim Jong Il’s B.S.

Regardless of what you think of N.Y. Times correspondent David Sanger or his paper, Sanger is rightly known for the quality of his access to the White House, regardless of who occupies it. Here, he reveals the administration’s thinking about North Korea: The decision to confront North Korea with overwhelming pressure — designed to bring its shipping and financial transactions to a virtual standstill — is based on the conclusion that re-entering negotiations to buy the dismantlement of the country’s...

Diplomacy/Washington Views

June 16, 2009

Some Good Reads

Both appear in the Wall Street Journal, and both are too good to just graf and go. Read them both in their entirety. Nicholas Eberstadt: A New Plan for Pyongyang Paul Wolfowitz: Resettle the North Korean Refugees Plus this from Melanie Kirkpatrick: “I pray Ms. Lee and Ms. Ling will come home soon. But if the Americans’ ordeal raises international awareness of the horrors of North Korea’s gulag, it will not have been in vain.”

Diplomacy/Human Rights/Refugees/Uncategorized/Washington Views/WMD

June 7, 2009

Is Barack Obama Finding His Inner Churchill?

[Update: Clinton hints at putting North Korea back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, and calls the charges against Laura Ling and Euna Lee “absolutely without merit or foundation.” Does that mean Clinton’s best information is that they were inside China?] I continue to be gleefully amazed by the toughness and seriousness of Obama’s words on North Korea. Now let’s see if they translate into effective action. In his young presidency, Obama has already jettisoned some of the...

"United" Nations/Ling/Lee Incident/Sanctions/Washington Views

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...

Appeasement/Diplomacy/U.S. Military/U.S. Politics/Washington Views

May 29, 2009

Selected North Korea Commentary, Part 2

This being Week One of Korean War II, there’s been a proliferation (groan) of thoughtful commentary on North Korea. Two thinkers I’ve been waiting to hear from in particular are B.R. Myers and Marcus Noland, and both have since weighed in.

Proliferation/Washington Views/WMD

May 28, 2009

Selected North Korea Commentary

The most depressing thing about North Korea’s April missile test wasn’t the test itself; it was the vacuousness of most of the reactions to it. Many of the writers seemed poorly read on the facts, and conservatives and liberals had both stretched their credibility to defend the Bush and Clinton administrations, respectively, despite the general consistency of the policy through both administrations. Recent events prove that both policies failed. This time around, the commentary seems smarter and better informed. Part...

Proliferation/Washington Views/WMD

May 27, 2009

What? That Is Your Day Job? (Part 2)

David Albright, who has spent the last several years discounting the evidence of North Korea’s nuclear cheating and cheerleading for diplomatic giveaways to Kim Jong Il, has joined the coalition of the willing. Sort of: “North Korea’s thrown something in our face that we have to deal with now and it could have tremendous ramifications for the ability to stop proliferation in the future,” said David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, a nuclear disarmament think...

Washington Views/WTF?

May 27, 2009

What? That Is Your Day Job? (Part 1)

I never was a fan of Lawrence Eagleburger, and I see no reason to become one now: VARNEY: Would you — do you believe that the U.S. and/or China should now seriously consider and plan for a military attack? EAGLEBURGER: I have believed that for some time. So, you’re — you’re call — you are asking the wrong person, I guess, because I have felt, as I say, for the better part of 10 years, that we could see this...

Washington Views/WTF?

May 6, 2009

Oberdorfer to Be Inducted Into Irrational Exuberance Hall of Fame

I like Don Oberdorfer as a person, but he really should ask the Council on Foreign Relations to put this link in a more obscure place: This morning when I turned on the BBC, the newscast started by saying that the last days of the Cold War may be near. They were talking about the developments regarding North Korea at the Six-Party Talks and signing of the latest agreement between North and South Korea looking toward an eventual peace treaty,...

Washington Views

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...

U.S. Politics/Washington Views

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:...

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...