Replies

...the Bush administration’s now collapsed policy towards North Korea, an incoherent mix of bluster and appeasement.

Here is something that is worth kicking around. I don't think Sullivan's characterization is unfair. In the matter of Korea, what we have seen is "an incoherent mix of bluster and appeasment."

Given who these people are -- Bush, Cheney, Powell, Rice, Rumsfeld, etc. -- why would anyone suspect that any policy we see coming out of them is caused by incompetence or confusion?

There is a case taught at the Harvard Business School about the son of a company founder who is placed in charge of the purchasing department. He does not have any known expertise in purchasing, and in fact as we tune in is royally screwing up negotiations with the company's largest vendor... one that is critical to their manufacturing process and that they have been doing business with for twenty years.

Now that he's a big-shot purchasing agent, the son is insisting on concessions from this vendor that are, well, irrational. Everyone can see this but him. The manufacturing guy is terrified that the son is going to so piss off this vendor that the vendor will walk away. The vendor's salesman knows everybody in the place, including the founder. He's telling anyone who will listen that his company is willing to be reasonable, but this kid is asking for things that can't be done.

The way this works at Harvard is that everybody yaks about this for an hour, offering up ideas for how to resolve this mess. As with most of these cases, there was a true story behind it, and at the end everybody gets to find out what was really done and what really happened.

What happened here is that the vendor caved, and the company got concessions the previous purchasing agent hadn't won in twenty years. The moral of which is... sometimes when you are negotiating, and you fundamentally have the stronger hand (you're the buyer, not the seller) acting irrationally pays off.

Er, what policy exactly would you pursue regarding Korea? I asked my anti Bush brother that a few nights ago, as we sipped some adult beverages. Now I ask you.

In re "an incoherent mix of bluster and appeasment."

I think it's more a matter of, "I,ve got news for you but this ain't the time to tell you."

Here is something that is worth kicking around. I don't think Sullivan's characterization is unfair. In the matter of Korea, what we have seen is "an incoherent mix of bluster and appeasment."

I see a bit more coherence than that, and even a flash of "stratergery" as the Bushies shift responsibility to the U.N., back off slightly, and put the North Koreans in the position of blustering to, and threatening war on, the "world" rather than just the U.S.