On North Korea, Obama Touts Sanctions, Not Talks
Now, these diplomatic efforts have also strengthened our hand in dealing with those nations that insist on violating international agreements in pursuit of nuclear weapons. That’s why North Korea now faces increased isolation, and stronger sanctions ““- sanctions that are being vigorously enforced. That’s why the international community is more united, and the Islamic Republic of Iran is more isolated. And as Iran’s leaders continue to ignore their obligations, there should be no doubt: They, too, will face growing consequences. That is a promise. (Applause.)
Now, I suppose you detect sarcasm, but don’t take this as criticism. If candidate Obama’s campaign rhetoric was sincere, then I credit him with being a quick study, with an assist from Kim Jong Il. I don’t deny that President Obama’s North Korea policy leaves much to be desired — it’s really just a continuation of the same paradigm of the last 20 years, only with more sanctions. It’s ultimately headed toward an agreement that won’t make our country more secure. Still, the pressure is hastening the Kim Jong Il’s Untergang, and it’s far, far better than my initially low expectations.
Hillary has been pushing all of China’s buttons — internet freedom & Iran sanctions being two areas — with nary a word about China’s role in keeping the screws on North Korea. In the meantime, PRC Ambassador to North Korea Liu Xiaoming has flown the coop from Pyongyang, going on big cross-border tours to drum up business, and China is encouraging a bunch of small provincial delegations (North Hamgyong tourism board, anyone?) to set up agreements with Chinese municipalities. To use your fantastic terminology, die Regierung in Peking will kein Untergang im Norden (Beijing wants no North Korean collapse)! Instead the US uses what little leverage it has with China on the Iran issue.
I’m sure you remember all the just-short-of-open strife within the first Bush (43) administration about North Korea policy, but there’s practically no reportage on the internal back-and-forth within Obama’s administration. It would be nice to know who’s steering things, or genuinely engaged with the policy, or what the parameters of the debate actually are.
Are Gates, Clinton, or Obama really paying attention to North Korea? It’s nice to know that you were heartened by it, but I took the North Korea reference in Obama’s speech as a throwaway line leading into the pressure on Iran in 2010.
On NK, Cumings, the late Zinn, and Chalmers Johnson all seem to have been pretty quiet on the quiet Bush-Obama continuities, the faith in sanctions. Maybe Sig Harrison has been writing some stuff I have missed? And John Feffer’s site hasn’t had a North Korean editorial since Nov. 4, 2009.
I suppose we will just have to let the Germans do the Obama-critiquing for us by way of example, along the lines of Professor Juan Cole who takes down the Af/Pak policy. The Jan. 7 issue of Die Zeit had a huge piece of investigative reporting about powderkeg Kirkuk (for some reason Newsweek has shown no interest) and a scathing front-page, above-the-fold editorial on the same page entitled “Yes We Can Kill: Barack Obama weicht dem Terror so wenig wie sein Vorgaenger Bush. Nur wirft er die Moral dabei nicht voellig ueber Bord,” or, “Yes We Can Kill: Barack Obama deviates as little from Terror as his Predecessor Bush. Only, he doesn’t totally throw Morality overboard.” Is it a sign of success or of quiescence on the American left, or of North Korea’s bankruptcy, when the main critiques of American North Korea policy are coming out of French left-wing papers instead of the East Bay? Just a thought prompted by your post, prelude to the Untergang.
Last thing on Obama — you may have missed it, but on the day of the State of the Union he recorded a rather affecting 5-minute video meant to be beamed to a concentration camp memorial liberation-commemoration service in Poland. Given your focus on the North Korean camps and eagle eye, I was assuming you would take that gorgeous rhetorical flight and tie it to the need for Obama to add some momentum to the NK Human Rights Envoy, but one can’t everything one wishes for.
Thanks for your recent heads-up on the Brian Myers reviews!