Posted on 2/8/2008, 6:19:10 AM by KantianBurke
They had gone somewhat quiet on the subject of North Korea's famine-stricken slave society, all the while involving themselves in "constructive engagement" with "dear leader" Kim Jong-il on the question of nuclear facilities.
At any event, he got up on his hind legs at the American Enterprise Institute in the third week of January and made an explicit criticism of the Bush administration that he serves. The State Department's insistence on "diplomacy," he argued, had yielded nothing but another round of stalling and obfuscation from Pyongyang on the weapons issue. He could have added that it had yielded no improvement at all in the monstrous exploitation of the North Korean people. It was time, he concluded, that the United States "should consider a new approach" to this longstanding impasse.
This brought our secretary of state into a fine pitch of indignation. As the report in the New York Times of Jan. 23 phrased it, "Ms. Rice sharply disagreed, and said Mr. Lefkowitz should stick to human rights and leave the talks over the North's nuclear policy to her, Mr. Bush and the other nations involved: Russia, China, Japan and South Korea." Or, as she even more pithily phrased it herself:
He's the human rights envoy. That's what he knows. That's what he does. He doesn't work on the six-party talks. He doesn't know what's going on in the six-party talks and he certainly has no say in what American policy will be in the six-party talks.
How could it be put more plainly? Stick to human rights, little man, and be aware that we consider such inconveniences to be a sideshow at best. It seems a long time since the president was receiving North Korean dissidents in the White House...
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
it might be worse than Ethiopia except for the city of Pyongyang
You really should indicate where you have snipped things when you excerpt manually... it doesn’t even say who “he” is. (It’s Jay Lefkowitz.)
The problems in North Korea are their problems, not ours. We are not responsible for their welfare. If they attack us, or seem ready to attack us, or abet some other nation or group in attempting to attack us, we should annihilate them.
Because short of that NOTHING the US President does will feed ONE starving NK citizen.
Easy to talk tough about “Doing something” not so easy to actually DO it.
So what do you suggest we do? Invade?The problem here is the Jorge talks the talk but he doesn't walk the walk.
Because short of that NOTHING the US President does will feed ONE starving NK citizen.
Easy to talk tough about “Doing something” not so easy to actually DO it.
After making a big deal about how he was a big humanitarian and champion for democracy all of the world, he makes kissy faces at Kimmy and tells his human rights monitor to shut up.
That’s the issue here.
No, the issue here is that we should stay out of thinking we can cure all the world’s ills. It’s our taxpayer dollars that is spent on these hopeless cases. We should concentrate on giving aid to those countries with which we have a strategic interest. Now, Bush actually is lousy at this, as he wants to give all of our taxpayer money to Africa for Aids victims. A total waste of our money. I can’t stand it actually, when Bush DOES act like a compassionate conservative, because of his choices such as the Africa aids victims. Fat lot of good that does anyone. Or when he wants to give aid to the Pali’s, or create a terrorist state of Muzzies in Kosovo, a new satellite state of the narco-terrorist country of Albania. And throw taxpayer dollars at it. Or when he allows the poppy fields to grow in Afghanistan because otherwise the poor farmers won’t get any money from it, and therefore have a poor standard of living, totally ignoring all the damage heroin does to the world at large, and the USA in specific. We should eradicate those poppy fields, and stop letting PC compassion get in the way, because it really isn’t compassion, is it?
If the North Koreans get fed up enough with their country, one day they will rise up against it. If they don’t, they will continue to live rotten lives and/or starve. Survival of the fittest. Again, we can’t and shouldn’t try to cure all the world’s problems. Especially as it always costs us big bucks for little return, if any.
No, the issue here is that we should stay out of thinking we can cure all the world’s ills. It’s our taxpayer dollars that is spent on these hopeless cases. We should concentrate on giving aid to those countries with which we have a strategic interest. Now, Bush actually is lousy at this, as he wants to give all of our taxpayer money to Africa for Aids victims. A total waste of our money. I can’t stand it actually, when Bush DOES act like a compassionate conservative, because of his choices such as the Africa aids victims. Fat lot of good that does anyone. Or when he wants to give aid to the Pali’s, or create a terrorist state of Muzzies in Kosovo, a new satellite state of the narco-terrorist country of Albania. And throw taxpayer dollars at it. Or when he allows the poppy fields to grow in Afghanistan because otherwise the poor farmers won’t get any money from it, and therefore have a poor standard of living, totally ignoring all the damage heroin does to the world at large, and the USA in specific. We should eradicate those poppy fields, and stop letting PC compassion get in the way, because it really isn’t compassion, is it?Uuuum... your knee is jerking too hard for you to understand. I don't necessarily disagree with you but that wasn't the point. The other poster was asking why it became an issue. I explained the logic.
If the North Koreans get fed up enough with their country, one day they will rise up against it. If they don’t, they will continue to live rotten lives and/or starve. Survival of the fittest. Again, we can’t and shouldn’t try to cure all the world’s problems. Especially as it always costs us big bucks for little return, if any.
“I’m sure we’ll both agree that the sooner Jorge is gone the better.”
Bingo.
As far as I’m able to discern, Ms. Rice was telling Lefkowitz to tend to his business of Human Rights, and that she would do her job, which is to do the negotiating on N.K.’s nuclear plants. That’s bad?
Will you STOP bringing reality into these kind of threads! You’re ruining them for the children.
Utterly amazing. 1st the Dincons scream at Bush for going into Iraq, now they scream at him for not going into North Korea!
The problem here is some of you are just knee jerk hysteric Bush haters desperately looking for the next excuse you can manufacture to scream your hate at him about.
Real life doesn't work like a Hollweird Actions or an episode of 24 kiddes. Past time some of you wake up and smell what you are shoveling.
Utterly amazing. 1st the Dincons scream at Bush for going into Iraq, now they scream at him for not going into North Korea!
The problem here is some of you are just knee jerk hysteric Bush haters desperately looking for the next excuse you can manufacture to scream your hate at him about.
Real life doesn't work like a Hollweird Actions or an episode of 24 kiddes. Past time some of you wake up and smell what you are shoveling.
Utterly amazing. 1st the Dincons scream at Bush for going into Iraq, now they scream at him for not going into North Korea!Yawn... listen I was *explaining* why Hitchens said what he said. I didn't make a value judgement. I hate Jorge, but that is for completely different reasons.
The problem here is some of you are just knee jerk hysteric Bush haters desperately looking for the next excuse you can manufacture to scream your hate at him about.
Real life doesn't work like a Hollweird Actions or an episode of 24 kiddes. Past time some of you wake up and smell what you are shoveling.
Truth hurts doesn’t it. You are a knee jerk Bush basher who would find something to whine about no matter what he did.
Truth hurts doesn’t it. You are a knee jerk Bush basher who would find something to whine about no matter what he did.I like the truth just fine, the smelly illegals driving drunk and scratching themselves on the street corner on the other hand...
You nailed it on NK. The President should have maintained his policy of no engagement until nuke disarmament, kept the B2’s on stand-by to vaporize the North if needs be and called it a day.
The goverment should continue to wage war and support allies killing Islamic jihad’s such as Ethopia. To your point, it was not what the government did to earn this ally. It was the American people and the “we are the world” concert that raised $200 M in 1987 (or was it 88?). Their goverment used the money to build infrastructure for the people and now 20 years later we have a strong ally in Africa.
No, most of us want people like John Bolton in the State Department working with the President instead of the President listening to Condi Rice. We can hold the President accountable for a very poor decision in this regard and hopefully influence the next guy/girl to give up trying to bribe North Korea and getting nothing in return.
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