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According to Richard Holbrooke, Richard Holbrooke is essentially this country's top diplomat -- Hillary Clinton is merely his "pupil. This despite the fact that Holbrooke has hit the trifecta of shady business dealings over the last few years: a member of AIG's board with more than $800,000 in compensation, a managing director at Lehman Brothers, and the recipient of a "Friends of Angelo" loan from Countrywide (that alone was enough to get Jim Johnson thrown under the Obama campaign bus). Now comes another revelation from the New York Times. Despite repeated denials, according to three sources, Holbrooke did offer former...

The question on everyone’s mind: Why didn’t the United States do more to prevent the progress of North Korea’s uranium-enrichment program? Regrettably, the answer to this question is even more disconcerting than the disclosure itself. Intelligence amassed over the course of nearly two decades on North Korea’s uranium-enrichment program has been an inconvenient truth for most U.S. officials involved in North Korea policy through consecutive U.S. political administrations — but nowhere was this delusion in more abundance than in the latter years of the George W. Bush administration, in which I served as the director for counterproliferation strategy, covering North...

Seasoned U.S. diplomat Chris Hill showed some jitters on Wednesday over being nominated as next U.S. ambassador to Iraq. “I just don’t want to screw it up,” said Hill, in fairly undiplomatic language at a confirmation hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As new U.S. ambassador, Hill would oversee the drawdown of U.S. troops. Hill has faced some opposition as next U.S. ambassador to Iraq but he had a fairly smooth hearing on Wednesday. Critics Arizona Sen. John McCain and Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, who have questioned Hill’s lack of Middle East experience and whether he was tough enough...

Clinton rejects charges Hill mishandled N. Korea Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:47pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday defended her choice for U.S. ambassador to Iraq, saying he made "lemonade out of some pretty bad lemons" in talks to end North Korea's nuclear programs. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee plans on March 25 to hold a hearing on Chris Hill's nomination, which is opposed by some Republican senators who fault his lack of Middle East experience and suggest he mismanaged talks with Pyongyang. "Both of those criticisms are unjustified and unfounded," Clinton told reporters...

U.S. presses N. Korea on Syria By Nicholas Kralev February 20, 2008 The United States, alarmed by mounting evidence that North Korea gave nuclear assistance to Syria, has rejected pressure from some of its partners in six-nation talks to compromise on an overdue declaration of Pyongyang's nuclear activities, U.S. officials said yesterday. The declaration, which was due at the end of December, would complete the second phase of an October deal aimed at denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and clear the way for promised political and economic benefits to the communist state. "We won't have a complete and correct declaration until...

U.S. Diplomat Is Residing in North Korean Capital, Chosun Says By Heejin Koo Nov. 26 (Bloomberg) -- A U.S. diplomat has been residing in North Korea since mid-November, acting as a liaison between the governments of Washington and Pyongyang, South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper said, citing an unidentified official in Washington.The presence of the unidentified U.S. envoy, who is staying at the Koryo Hotel in Pyongyang, is an indication of improved relations between the two nations since North Korea pledged to disable its Yongbyon nuclear plant by the end of this year, the Seoul-based daily said. The U.S. plans...