Day: October 10, 2006

I’m not one to agree much with most of what Senator John McCain (R-AZ) says or does, but on North Korea, McCain’s got it right (even if he’s saying it for his own political advantage).

North Korea isn’t Bush’s failure. It’s Clinton’s.

Republican Sen. John McCain on Tuesday accused former President Clinton, the husband of his potential 2008 White House rival, of failing to act in the 1990s to stop
North Korea from developing nuclear weapons.

“I would remind Senator (Hillary) Clinton and other Democrats critical of the Bush administration’s policies that the framework agreement her husband’s administration negotiated was a failure,” McCain said at a news conference after a campaign appearance for Republican Senate candidate Mike Bouchard.

“The Koreans received millions and millions in energy assistance. They’ve diverted millions of dollars of food assistance to their military,” he said.

A spokesman for Hillary spouted off the typical talking point rebuttal. And, apparently not wanting to be left out, John Kerry jumped in on the squabble.

“He must be trying to burnish his credentials for the nomination process,” said Kerry, who labeled McCain’s comments “flat politics and incorrect.”

“The truth is the Clinton administration knew full well they didn’t have a perfect agreement. But at least they were talking. At least we had inspectors going in and we knew where the (nuclear fuel) rods were. This way, we don’t know where the rods are, the rods are gone. There are no inspectors. Ask any American which way is better,” Kerry said.

Yadda yadda yadda, John. With you Democrats, it’s never the results that matter, it’s good intentions.

McCain went on to say he rejects Pyongyang’s call for bilateral talks.

“The worst thing we could do is to accede to North Korea’s demand for bilateral talks,” McCain said. “When has rewarding North Korea’s bad behavior ever gotten us anything more than worse behavior?”

Exactly, and that’s what we should be focusing on now as sanctions are being deliberated.

China has agreed that North Korea must be punished for testing a nuclear bomb earlier this week, but they won’t go as far as a U.S and Japan suggested plan.

Why? Well, because it would hurt Pyongyang too much.

Boo fricken hoo.

China, which reacted to Monday’s blast with a strong condemnation but considers North Korea a useful buffer against U.S. forces stationed in South Korea, said it envisioned only a limited package of sanctions – not what the United States and especially Japan were demanding.

China and Russia object to plans to interdict shipments and block financial transactions. They also oppose a new suggestion that Japan proposed Tuesday – to include mention of the North’s abduction of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and ’80s.

“We certainly understand that Japan is close to the country. But I think you cannot ask by this resolution to kill a country,” China’s U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya told The Associated Press. He said the Security Council must impose “punitive actions” but that they have to “be appropriate.”

Though far less than what the Americans and Japanese seek, even calling for some punishment was significant for China, which usually opposes sanctions, particularly against an ally such as North Korea.

The Bush administration asked the U.N. Security Council to impose a partial trade embargo including strict limits on Korea’s profitable weapons exports and freezing of related financial assets. All imports would be inspected too, to filter out materials that could be made into nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

The United States reiterated that it would not talk with the North Koreans one-on-one, but Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice assured the North that the U.S. would not attack. 

Why the assurances? Why not keep the threat out there? Isn’t that the only thing Pyongyang fears? They obviously don’t worry about being starved to death, since they’re already doing that to their people today.

As I’ve said before, our reaction to North Korea is writing the playbook for Iran. They’re watching, with interest.

Via Cader Books:

Reuters editor Joe Maguire “no longer works” for the wire service after giving his boss a galley of his forthcoming book Brainless: The Lies and Lunacy of Ann Coulter, though “neither side in this dispute would say that he was fired,” according to the NYT.

Reuters did “confirm that Mr. Maguire was granted conditional approval to write his book on Ms. Coulter.” In a statement trying to explain why he doesn’t work there any more, the service cited their principles of “integrity, independence and freedom from bias.” An employee who worked under Maguire says that when colleagues were told he was no longer employed, it was made clear they “weren’t allowed to ask why.”

More: NYT