Journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee have been set free following a visit to North Korea by Bill Clinton. There was huge relief when they got out of North Korea and safely off Bill Clinton's plane ;-)
But some fear this kind of high profile visit might encourage hostage taking and arrests by other rogue states.
What do you say?
I think this proves that there is a willingness and a desire from the Koreans for engagement. Isolation means confrontation. Engagement means reconciliation. That is the lesson of Clinton's presidency and Bush's. The Koreans want direct talks and a guarantee that they will not be invaded. Hardly unreasonable requests. The question is what will the Americans do about their unreasonable requests, especially the political persecution of Seán Garland as a means to try and embarass and slander the Koreans.
Time and again Clinton shows up the Bush administration for the cack handed diplomacy that was its hallmark.
Thank God those two ladies are free from the lunacies of the Kim Il Jong II regime.
If I could mass-sterilise the planet, I would. Seriously.
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I think the arrest and conviciton of these two reporters was a hot potatoe the N. Korean authorities wanted to get shut of.
Clintons arrival, and the bringing to bare of his considerable charm, brought with it a message couched in the friendliest terms that N. Koreas actions would alter the US's willingness to engage with Pyongyang at all. The long term consequences of N. Koreas actions would outway any benefits, making Pyongyang a hostage of their own actions - rather than the other way around.
Clinton arrives in the morning, has a meeting and the issue is resolved by the evening of the same day. Now either Bill Clinton is a stateman of mythical proportions or Pyongyang was just looking to comprise to avoid injecting uncertainty into ongoing negotiations.
The fact the ladies in question had not been transferred to work camps to start their sentance, but instead were in the area, with their bags apparently, points to Pyongyang just waiting for a plane to come and take them home.
Now hostilities can return to normal.
Kidnap a couple of US citizens, and get a meeting with a former president. So will he go to Iran next? Obama could make him ambassador to his administrations kowtowing and caving into crazy regimes. Brilliant!
[COLOR="Red"]ex mea sententia[/COLOR]
I like the point you make about the girls gettin safely off his plane!!
In seriousness, i think the Koreans were playing a game of deal or no deal, ending up dealing.
Could Obama make a special envoy to North Korea now I wonder, or was this just a flying visit, in the name of Liberty?
I think he was right to go.
If anyone knows anything about diplomacy, the actual talking to people is the key, not the grandstanding through CNN, Fox, ABC etc etc etc
Free Speech, Free the P.ie 3.
Mr Crowley, 5intheface and Gruffalo......
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Originally Posted by Pocono Joe
How does this represent caving into a crazy regime? How is talking to someone to secure a goal, caving? They wanted to have the two journalists released and they succeeded. What did North Korea get out of it? All they got, was the opportunity to get rid of an issue they probably regretted in the first place.
Former US ambassador to the UN and all round war mongering neo con John Bolton thinks it’s a bad idea
John R. Bolton -- Clinton's Unwise Trip to North Korea - washingtonpost.com
You may not be interested in the dialectic, but the dialectic is interested in you - Trotsky
must be a good thing then
Give the man a cigar (or two).
John Bolton is actually a comedy puppet designed by the South Park boys.
P.
"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."
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