leswp1
Well-known member
Re: He says he's not dead.

Which onePerhaps, but then again, I don't think Castro would survive the trip.
Which onePerhaps, but then again, I don't think Castro would survive the trip.
I'll take great solace in the fact that NK was turned into a parking lot while I'm floating in the upper atmosphere...
In a saner world NK is China's problem. The question is how do we get to that saner world.
That is a great image, but Cafe won't let me give you rep.I think the Chinese like things the way they are. I read something today that compared the region to a working class bar. And NK is China's wirey cousin, just released from prison, who's unpredictable and with a penchant for violence.
That is a great image, but Cafe won't let me give you rep.
Meanwhile no surprise: Jimmy Carter sends "condolances" to Kim Jong Un. Priceless.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog...esident-carter-sends-condolences-kim-jong-un/
I was thinking he should be in a nursing home by now. With stuff like this, better make it the dementia ward.
I'm not sure I agree with you (he seems to be on a lot of foundations that do international work) but you have a good point that he hasn't (AFAIK) been affiliated with US diplomacy for a long time. And I also really liked the imagery of your last sentence.That's nice, except that Carter hasn't been internationally significant for a decade. So really, his condolences are a mere fart in the wind. It smacks of trying to stay in the public eye by doing something to get a headline which will give a third of Americans a stroke.
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Carter was one of the guys who helped negotiate the "agreed framework" with North Korea, at the request of then-president Clinton. Part of the diplomatic game is "honest men willing to lie for their country." Within the context of diplomacy you do things like send condolence letters or send the VP off for funerals or negotiate silly cultural exchange programs with people who you wouldn't piss on if they were on fire normally.
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The right creaming their jeans over this is funny but all it shows they don't understand that diplomacy with enemies is part of the game. Jaw, jaw is always better than war, war.
Meanwhile no surprise: Jimmy Carter sends "condolences" to Kim Jong Un. Priceless.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog...esident-carter-sends-condolences-kim-jong-un/
There's a reason the current administration is nicknamed "Jimmy Carter's Second Term".![]()
What ever happened to the concept of diplomacy? When I was a kid it was something most people expected and understood as a necessary evil. If all the countries had the attitude they had to have it their way or nothing, the world wouldn't work.And that reason is the mindlessness predictability of right wing talking points.
Carry on.
It'd work; there'd just be a lot more bloodshed.What ever happened to the concept of diplomacy? When I was a kid it was something most people expected and understood as a necessary evil. If all the countries had the attitude they had to have it their way or nothing, the world wouldn't work.
It'd work; there'd just be a lot more bloodshed.
Part of being an engaged power in the world is having lines of communication open, even to regimes you loathe. There were plenty of people whose thought process during the Cold War was because the Soviet Union was terrible to its people we shouldn't even talk to them. Luckily, those people didn't get anywhere near real power, or there would probably be about 5 billion fewer people on earth today.
It's galling to talk to criminal regimes and you do your best to send the right signals on different diplomatic levels but just as you said: it's a necessary evil. You don't have to give them MFN and you don't have to listen to them when they lie about you in UN, but there are some harmless things that you can do to edge back a bit from the precipice.
It's particularly hard for Americans to understand this because we're about as close to all-powerful as any nation has been, and we're completely convinced of our ethical superiority (especially when compared to a legitimately nuts North Korean regime) so the temptation is always there to force every issue. That'd be great if that was how the world worked, but taking your marbles and going home just means you aren't in the game.
The Israelis and Hezbollah talk to each other on the sly; I think we can talk to the Norks.
Ah-Keep your friends cose, but keep your enemies even closer. I think that is extremely wise advice. BTW, I talk to everyone.![]()
It'd work; there'd just be a lot more bloodshed.
Part of being an engaged power in the world is having lines of communication open, even to regimes you loathe. There were plenty of people whose thought process during the Cold War was because the Soviet Union was terrible to its people we shouldn't even talk to them. Luckily, those people didn't get anywhere near real power, or there would probably be about 5 billion fewer people on earth today.
It's galling to talk to criminal regimes and you do your best to send the right signals on different diplomatic levels but just as you said: it's a necessary evil. You don't have to give them MFN and you don't have to listen to them when they lie about you in UN, but there are some harmless things that you can do to edge back a bit from the precipice.
It's particularly hard for Americans to understand this because we're about as close to all-powerful as any nation has been, and we're completely convinced of our ethical superiority (especially when compared to a legitimately nuts North Korean regime) so the temptation is always there to force every issue. That'd be great if that was how the world worked, but taking your marbles and going home just means you aren't in the game.
The Israelis and Hezbollah talk to each other on the sly; I think we can talk to the Norks.