Where's the Outrage?

Over the next several days I’m going to try and talk about what’s next after healthcare reform.

Rachel Maddow had to take out a full page ad in the Boston Globe to combat rumors that she was running for Senate in Massachusetts. It seems that former model and newly minted Senator Scott Brown thought would be a great idea to say that somebody liberal and famous was gunning for his position. I guess he thought would be a great way to rake in campaign funds. Of course, the other thing he could do would be to shout at the president during a joint session of Congress. That seemed to work for Joe Wilson.

Since I didn’t post a music video last night, I thought that I would post one this morning.

Artist: Al Jarreau
Tune: Morrnin’

From PA:

• Election results in Iraq: “The former interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, a secular Shiite once derided as an American puppet, galvanized the votes of Sunnis who sat out Iraq’s first national elections and clawed his way back from political obscurity. But his wafer-thin edge of 91 to 89 over his nearest rival, the incumbent prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, falls far short of the majority of 163 of the 325 seats in parliament that he needs to form a government.” (Ed. I think that it is interesting that Sunnis are coming back to the table.)
• Uh oh: “A South Korean naval ship sank early Saturday after an explosion tore a hole in its bottom near a disputed sea border with North Korea. The cause of the explosion was not clear, and the Seoul government did not blame North Korea for the incident.”
• Campaign-finance ruling: “A federal appeals court on Friday handed another victory to conservative opponents of campaign-finance restrictions, striking down limits on individual contributions to independent groups who want to use the money for or against candidates in federal elections.”
• Welcome changes to the Home Affordable Modification Program and the Federal Housing Administration program: “The Obama administration announced new ways Friday to tackle the foreclosure crisis, in part by requiring lenders to temporarily slash or eliminate monthly mortgage payments for many borrowers who are unemployed.”
• Senate Republicans did what they do best: they blocked an extension of unemployment benefits.
• House Minority Whip Eric Cantor’s (R-Va.) spokesperson tries to explain why the GOP leader got the story of the magic bullet so very, very wrong this week. [Read more →]

Tags: Elections, Iraq, North Korea, Party Politics, Rachel Maddow Show, Senate by ecthompson
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I highly recommend that you read yesterday’s post on North Korea. I looked at North Korea’s history of nuclear interest dating back to late 1950s and early 1960s.

To use a football metaphor, I’m not going to tell you that the Clinton administration had taken a football (North Korea’s nuclear issues) down to the two-yard line and all the Bush administration had to do was to carry the ball over the goal line. President George Bush, Vice President Cheney and Secretary Colin Powell needed to do much more than that. In retrospect, Bush was ill-prepared for North Korea. I have no idea how much he was briefed. I have no idea if alternative viewpoints (outside of the neoconservative line of thinking) were presented to the president. (Here’s a North Korean timeline.)

In my opinion, foreign policy is like three-dimensional chess. There are lots of moving pieces. You need to be very smart and very prepared in order to anticipate your opponent’s move. In foreign policy you are playing multiple opponents at the same time.

As far as I know, there were no high-level discussions about how to approach the North Koreans when President Bush announced to the South Korean president that he was unclear if North Korea was holding up their end of the bargain. He basically stated that North Koreans were liars and cheats and could not be trusted. “We’re not certain as to whether or not they’re keeping all the terms of all agreements.” (NYT) While such a provocative statement would not get a second look in downtown Baltimore, in the world of diplomacy it was a slap in the face. Now, the big question is, if the United States were to break off discussions with North Korea which were agreed upon in the “Agreed Framework,” then what? What leverage did we have against a country that is already isolated? Was it possible that we could squeeze China and Russia in order to use their leverage against North Korea? None of this had been discussed prior to Bush’s statement. This all happened in early March of 2001. By September of 2001, we were focused on Afghanistan and some in the Bush administration had already begun to focus on Iraq.

Bush’s idea for policy began to gel between September and December of 2001. It was a simple dichotomy. Either you with the United States, against the terrorists, or you supported the terrorists. North Korea’s interests are in the survival of the regime, first, and survival of the Korean people, second.

One of the most interesting figures throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s was a Pakistani scientist named A. Q. Khan. He may have been more of an entrepreneur than a scientist. As one of the heads of Pakistan’s endeavor to build its own nuclear weapon, A. Q. Khan was in a unique position to gather nuclear technology for Pakistan and, at times, to sell that technology to countries like Syria, Libya and North Korea. It appears that he supplied both centrifuges and centrifuge designs to the North Koreans in the late 1990s. It appears that Pakistan got missile technology while North Korea received nuclear technology.

The Bush administration believed that a show of force in the Middle East would cause other rogue regimes to fall in line. I have no idea why they thought this would work on North Korea. Soon after United States invaded Iraq, North Korea announced that they are going to withdraw from the nonproliferation treaty. They then restarted the reactor. Two years after insisting that the United States would not sit down and talk with North Korea, six-party talks began in September of 2005. During this time, it appears that North Korea had made enough plutonium to make 4-13 nuclear bombs.

So while the United States stood tough, what incentive did North Korea have to negotiate? How could conditions be any worse for their people? Their only bargaining chip was the one they’ve been working on for over 40 years — a nuclear weapon. We can never seriously entertain a military option because of North Korea’s close proximity to Seoul, South Korea. North Korea needed and wanted food, fuel and respect. With nuclear weapons, they have an opportunity to get most of that. I’m sorry, but no matter how you slice the situation, the Bush administration fumbled the ball with North Korea. They allowed North Korea to increase their nuclear arsenal three or four times.

This is the world that Barack Obama has inherited. So what should he do with North Korea? What price should we pay to keep North Korea from making more nuclear weapons? I think it is clear that North Korea will never give up all of its nuclear weapons. I think it’s also clear that we don’t know exactly how many nuclear bombs they’ve made. The North Koreans have shown a willingness to sell technology to rogue regimes like Syria (the reactor that the Israelis blew up in 2007 was based on a North Korean design). So, I don’t believe it is a leap to believe that North Korea would sell technology to Al Qaeda if Al Qaeda had the money. How do we prevent this? How does Barack Obama fix the North Korean problem?

Tags: North Korea, Pakistan by ecthompson
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As soon as President George W. Bush took office in 2001, Secretary of State Colin Powell stated that he was going to continue the actions of the Clinton administration. Quickly, Vice President Dick Cheney and other neo-cons in the Bush White House worked to silence Powell and reverse the steps that the Clinton Administration took to freeze nuclear weapons production in North Korea.

I believe that the way that the US-North Korea relationship has been played out in the media has been ridiculously superficial. Secondly, the American public has been led to believe that everything started with President Clinton. He is portrayed as a hero or a villain, depending upon your point of view. As usual, I think that the real picture is far more complex.

It appears that North Korean’s nuclear plans date back to the late fifties and early 60’s. Being a very small and somewhat paranoid country, North Korea began to send scientists to the Soviet Union right at the end of the Korean War. They did not believe when push came to shove that the Soviet Union would stand up for them. The Cuban Missile Crisis reinforced that belief. The Soviet Union, their ally, backed down when the US showed force and imposed a blockade around Cuban. North Korea thought that Russia would do the same if squeezed by the US. Also, in 1965, the US, Japan and South Korean signed a diplomacy agreement. This served to further isolate the paranoid country. North Korea fired up the first of its two nuclear reactors in 1967.

Presidents Johnson and Nixon paid little attention to North Korea as they began to build their nuclear facility. The United States was preoccupied with Vietnam. Through the 1980s, President Reagan did little or nothing as North Korea continued their march towards a nuclear weapon. Reagan did pressure the Soviets to get North Korea to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. To N. Korea, this meant nothing.

In 1990, when George HW Bush declared that Saddam Hussein was “worse than Hitler,” North Korea was slowly but surely working on their bomb. Intelligence throughout the 1980s and early 1990s suggested that Kim Il Sung was getting closer to acquiring a nuclear weapon. By the way, by all accounts, Kim Il Sung had killed more people in his gulags than Saddam Hussein ever did.

Between 1992-1994, North Korea and the United States were in a battle of wills. North Korea publicly stated that they would pull out of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. By this time, it was estimated that the North Koreans had enough plutonium to make five or six nuclear weapons. There were negotiations, but they fell apart. South Korea started civil defense drills. The Pentagon began to reinforce the troop strength in South Korea. Jimmy Carter went to North Korea and over a period of several months negotiated the Agreed Framework ( here’s the document). This puts a lid on the crisis.

It appears to me that North Korea is a country that has nothing. It has no significant natural resources. There’s very little that the United States, China or Russia would need from North Korea. Therefore, in my opinion, North Korea has bargained over last 30-40 years with the only chip in its coffer — a nuclear weapon. North Korea needs food, fuel and money. It is hoping that nuclear weapons could get them all three. More on North Korea tomorrow and how Bush, Cheney and the gang didn’t understand North Korea at all.

(A lot of the information in this post can be found in David Sanger’s book, The Inheritance.)

Tags: Bush Administration, North Korea by ecthompson
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This is a barrel of fun and information.  Enjoy!

There’s been a lot of craziness in the news this week and I can think of nobody better to unravel the craziness than Bill Scher from Liberal Oasis and Campaign for America’s Future. Bill is correct to point out we could have no better adversary. We can either have somebody intelligently discussing the conservative approach to health care reform or these angry mobs screaming at our congressmen. Once the press began to focus on the mobs Liberals clearly appeared to be rational and thoughtful. Also, the press suggested, at the beginning of the week that these mobs were speaking for middle America. By the end of the week, it was clear that they were speaking for the far right.

Let’s slow down. Bill points out that this is a disingenuous argument by the right wing. He points out that nobody from that Right is saying slow down. I have a really good idea.

By the end of a week, Sonia Sotomayor joins the Supreme Court as the 111th Supreme Court justice in the history of the United States. Barack Obama gets Cash for Clunkers through Congress. President Bill Clinton goes to Pyongyang and brings back the two journalists that were imprisoned from Current TV. It’s an excellent example of how conservatives will never except that Democrats can do anything well. There is no quid pro quo. Bill Scher is great as usual.

I speak with Heidi Shierholz from the Economic Policy Institute.  We discussed the “better” economic numbers. It’s hard to celebrate the loss of 247,000 jobs but that’s a lot less than over 700,000 jobs that we saw earlier in the year.  It is not time to do a happy dance but if you were on the ledge getting ready to jump, you can come back inside.

 

 The Errington Thompson Show 8-8-09 [50:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Economy, Healthcare, North Korea, Podcasts by ecthompson
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North Korea is a huge problem. With a leader who has proven that he will do any thing at any time, it is hard to figure out exactly what North Korea wants. Former President Bill Clinton and Former Vice President Al Gore were deeply involved in getting these two journalists released. I’m happy for them and their families. Congrats to everyone for bringing these Americans home safely.

From the LAT:

Reporting from Washington and Seoul — Bill Clinton is returning from North Korea after securing the release of two American TV journalists, according to a spokesman for the former president.

“President Clinton has safely left North Korea with Laura Ling and Euna Lee,” Matt McKenna said in a statement. “They are en route to Los Angeles where Laura and Euna will be reunited with their families.”

News agencies quoted the North’s state media saying the journalists were granted a “special pardon” after Clinton negotiated their release with officials in Pyongyang during a surprise visit.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee had been sentenced to 12 years in prison for illegally entering the secretive nation this year.  (more… )

Tags: North Korea, Obama administration by ecthompson
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• I really don’t have any more to say about the Henry Louis Gates thing. This is another example of how Americans can see things very differently.
• Is Crooks and Liars down?
• 44 people, including three mayors and several rabbis, were arrested in a sting operation. This is ugly even by New Jersey standards.
• The perfect game. Watch the vid:

From Political Animal:

• An unexpected rise in home sales and drop in the share of foreclosures on the market sent stocks soaring on Wall Street.
• North Korea has taken to taunting and mocking Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. What officials hopes to accomplish with this is unclear.
• By October, the U.S. expects to have 160 million vaccines ready in response to the H1N1 virus.
• Bryant Neal Vinas, a 26-year-old American who helped al Qaeda, is now cooperating with U.S. authorities and is likely to provide valuable intelligence.
• House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) refuses to apologize for his bogus attacks against Speaker Pelosi regarding the CIA.

[Read more →]

Tags: Congress, Healthcare, North Korea, Race, Sports by ecthompson
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As warned, North Korea has fired more missiles off the coast. According to the Associated Press, North Korea fired two short ranged missiles last Thursday. It is not definitely known at this time what type of missiles were fired but it was reported that the missiles were ground – to – ship missiles.
North Korea initially ordered a no sail zone off the east coast due to military drills through July 10th however we now see that those military drills must have consisted of firing missiles.

I’m starting to feel a little troubled by the growing tensions as well as North Korea’s vow to strengthen their nuclear arsenal. Just under two weeks ago North Korea was accusing the U.S. of attempting to start a second Korean War (as discussed in one of my recent posts ) however, it seems to be the other way around.

In my opinion, we as a country can not handle anything else right now, especially a nuclear war with North Korea. We are already in a war that has lasted well over 5 years, we are in a recession STILL, and we need to get our country’s healthcare under control, and this is just to name a few things that still needs resolving.

I hope and pray this country does not end up in another ongoing conflict, we need a break.

Tags: North Korea by Blowfish
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It seems like it’s always something when it comes to us (America). Can someone please tell me why North Korea is accusing Washington of attempting to “provoke a second Korean War”? I would say this country has enough on its plate and hopefully U.S. officials feel the same way.

Both regional and U.S. authorities have been keeping a close eye on North Korea searching for signs of the country possibly firing short or mid range missiles in the up coming weeks. Recent reports show that North Korea may be preparing to fire its most advanced missile yet in our direction around Independence Day. Now who seems to be looking for a second Korean war now?

It seems as if North Korea is feeling persecuted in spite of the fact that they are the aggressor. The UN sanctions, in my opinion, are more than justified.

Thank goodness the US is preparing for the possibility of North Korea following through on their threats. It is reported that the US Military has set up a ground based missile system as well as a nearby radar system for additional defenses around Hawaii. Both of these devices combined can shoot an incoming missile in mid air. Now I do feel a little safer in knowing that.

It wasn’t that long ago when we saw North Korea began to dismantle one of their nuclear facilities. The American press made a big deal out of this diplomatic effort. That seems so long ago now.

It was reported by one Japanese paper that North Korea may launch a Taepodong–2 missile that has potential to reach up to 4,000 miles. Keep in mind Hawaii is approximately 4,500 miles from North Korea. With that being said, if North Korea attempts to ruin America’s Independence Day, hopefully the missile launch will fail just like a similar long range missile attempt on July 4th by the North Koreans three years ago.

The question of the year is, can we all just get along?

Tags: Military, North Korea, Obama administration by Blowfish
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I just saw the movie Angels and Demons. It was much better than The Da Vinci Code. Tom Hanks has lost 35 or 40 pounds and he looks good. The movie lacks those dull, slow parts that so dominated the first one. It’s very entertaining and, in my opinion, more respectful of religion.  It is well worth the admission price.

North Korea proved that they are less respectful of the rest of the international community by setting off some sort of nuclear device earlier today. It will take several days to analyze the data, but it seems clear that North Korea set off some sort of large device. Now what? Should there be consequences for defying the international community? Who should enforce those consequences? The United States? Should the United States try to enforce something unilaterally? That sounds a lot like what the Bush administration did with Iraq. The international community will not go for the US going its own way, again. Should the United States, Russia, China and the European Union try to do something jointly? It is important to remember that no matter what we do, North Korea has the ability to retaliate, not against us, but against the South Korean civilians. It will be interesting to see if President Obama will be able to forge a coalition that will actually force North Korea into some sort of international compliance.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell went on the offensive yesterday to combat charges that several Republicans, including Dick Cheney, have thrown at him (remember, Powell left the Republican party). He argued that he is still Republican. To paraphrase his argument, the Republican Party needs to, dare I say it, change. Now there are a lot of Americans who still believe that Colin Powell can save the Republican Party. I don’t know. Maybe he can. I know it’s a long way to the 2012 elections, but I don’t see Colin Powell as a viable candidate. I believe that his reputation is too tainted with the stain of Iraq. I just don’t see how the Republican Party can move forward without dealing with some of their more radical elements. This would include Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and Dick Cheney.

Many progressives are upset that Barack Obama has decided to push ahead with military commissions. Personally, I think that military commissions set a terrible precedent. Putting precedent aside, though, I understand that President Obama is in a terrible situation. People like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and the so-called “20th hijacker” Al-Qahtani are clearly terrorists. If given the opportunity, they would try to wreak havoc either on the United States or United States interests around the world. They need to be tried and jailed for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, both of them were subjected to harsh interrogations (torture). There’s no court in the United States that would try these guys. Most, if not all, of the evidence would be thrown out. So what do you do with them? Indefinite detention without charges seems repugnant to me. If we could find a way to try Terry McVeigh and the so-called Blind Sheik, then we should be able to find a way to try and convict these two terrorists. We have to have some evidence that was not obtained by illegal means. We must. (I hope.)

Finally, Ryan Leaf has been arrested. I’m not laughing at the misfortune of others, but… just a little over 10 years ago, Ryan Leaf was the number two draft choice for the San Diego Chargers. He went from the anointed one to a bum in less time than Sarah Palin has. The former NFL quarterback has been indicted on drug and burglary charges. This says something about our society and about Ryan Leaf. Maybe putting athletes up on a pedestal is not the best idea.

Oh, this is a great Memorial Day story.

Tags: Civil Liberty, Domestic Issues, Movies, North Korea, Obama administration, Party Politics, Torture by ecthompson
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Early Monday Morning News Roundup

• The stimulus package has passed the House and the Senate and awaits the president’s signature. If you think the fight over the stimulus package is over, you’re wrong. There’s plenty more fighting to do. As Obama and his administration begin to look at the housing and the banking crisis, look for Republicans to harp back on this stimulus bill to try to retard progress. Lindsey Graham and John McCain, along with a host of other Republicans, hit the Sunday morning talk shows to criticize “wasteful” government spending.
• Paul Krugman makes an excellent point. The average American lost money during the Bush administration. I talked about this four years ago, looking at median income. The Federal Reserve released a report called Survey of Consumer Finances, revealing that Americans’ net worth decreased during the Bush administration. This is in spite of the fact that we were told we did not have to worry about our low savings rate because most of our net worth was tied up in our houses… and home prices “always” go up. It’s clearly time for us to get our house in order — pun intended.
• Newly appointed Senator Ronald Burris may have misled Congress and the Illinois legislature. It appears that Governor Ron Blagojevich’s brother may have asked for campaign financing “help”. Marcy has three excellent posts on this new development (here, here and here).
• Historians rank George W. Bush as one of the worst.
• I’ve talked previously to my colleagues and to members of the North Carolina legislature about the absolute danger of scooters. I doubt that my ramblings had any influence, but it seems now that North Carolina is looking at a law to restrict scooters. From a trauma standpoint, this only makes sense. Many people who lose their licenses begin driving scooters. A lot of these people have made poor choices in the past and continue to make poor choices (like driving while intoxicated). There’s a nice article in this morning’s Citizen Times.
• There may be some room for negotiations with North Korea.

More later…

Tags: Budget, Economy, North Korea, Obama administration by ecthompson
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Sunday morning news Round-up

• Do you remember the US attorney scandal? Seven US attorneys general were surprisingly all fired at once. After further investigation we learned that more US attorneys general had been fired, bringing the total to nine. To make a long story short, the Office of the Inspector General and the Office of Professional Responsibility in the Justice Department came out with a 392-page report which detailed some of the circumstances surrounding the firings. The report harshly criticized Alberto Gonzales, Kyle Sampson, (Gonzalez’s former chief of staff), and top Justice Department deputy Paul McNulty. Of course many senior officials in the Bush administration, including Harriet Miers and Karl Rove, refused to cooperate with the investigation.
• GM and Chrysler are in discussions about a possible merger. When you take two poorly managed companies and merge them together what do you get?
• The Bush administration has removed North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. In return, North Korea is continuing to dismantle their plutonium reactor. Remember that we can’t talk to our enemies. We don’t want progress.
• The FBI released the files of longtime columnist Jack Anderson. Anderson was a critic, to put it mildly, of J. Edgar Hoover. He even earned a spot on Nixon’s “enemies list.”
• Sunday morning pundit round-up — here.
• Yesterday, Bob Herbert, NY Times columnist, had a great piece on the complete failure of conservatism. “The first is how wrong conservative Republicans have been on so many profoundly important matters for so many years. The second is how the G.O.P. has nevertheless been able to persuade so many voters of modest means that its wrongheaded, favor-the-rich, country-be-damned approach was not only good for working Americans, but was the patriotic way to go.” Amen!!
• NATO forces are planning to target the heroin networks that are funding the Taliban. This sounds all well and good until you figure that we were supposed to be doing this in Afghanistan over six years ago. There should no longer be a Taliban. There should no longer be heroin networks. This is simply the latest in a string of bad news coming out of Afghanistan.
• Longtime Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was supposed to be in a power-sharing arrangement with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Well, not so much. The heads of all the ministries have been appointed by none other than President Mugabe.
• This is a great time to be a sports fan. Basketball and hockey are starting. Baseball is deep into the playoffs (Tampa wins in the 11th?). Week six of the NFL begins today.  I’m sure you could probably find a soccer game and a tennis match somewhere. Ah, Sports Heaven.

Tags: Afghanistan, Bush Administration, North Korea, Party Politics, US Attorneys by ecthompson
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Here’s the Monday evening news roundup:

• Let’s start overseas. North Korea is miffed that the U.S. has not lived up to their obligations in the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty in their eyes. It appears that they are beginning to start up their nuclear reactor, again.
• We saw a record jump in oil prices today, as if we don’t have enough to worry about.
• Wall Street seems to be having a difficult time figuring out what Congress is doing, just as I am. The Dow lost 372 points today.
• An Iraqi top official testified in front of the Senate today. The former chief inspector of Iraq’s Commission on Public Integrity told U.S. senators that approximately $9 billion of American reconstruction money had been lost, stolen or misused. $9 billion. That’s one third of a Bear Stearns bail out.
• The New York Times had a large article on Senator John McCain’s campaign manager, Rick Davis. Rick Davis received approximately $30 thousand per month for five years as the president of an advocacy group for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Although Senator McCain has been hammering Senator Barack Obama about ties with loan agencies, McCain’s campaign cried foul. They began whining that the New York Times is partial to Barack Obama. Then again, they’ve been whining on a variety of subjects recently. They just aren’t being treated fairly. The New York Times responded with an official statement.
• Details of the $700 billion loan bailout are slowly emerging. Questions about McCain and his economic decisions are bubbling to the surface. Did he almost bankrupt Arizona with his electric cars? By the way, as long as we are talking about this bailout, we should remember that we know President Bush loves corporate insiders. Well, where did Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson come from? In his previous role as chairman of Goldman Sachs, he received $38 million in 2005. Sweet package. In his current role, he has surrounded himself with Goldman Sachs ex-employees. Who stands to gain from this corporate bailout? Not Goldman Sachs. Couldn’t be.
• The final game of the regular season has been played in Yankee Stadium. I’m not a New York Yankees fan. But still, I do appreciate the history and the significance of Yankee Stadium. The House that Ruth built will be torn down. If it wasn’t so big, it should be made into a museum. The new Yankee Stadium was built across the street and will be ready for the New York Yankee home opener in April of 2009.
• Congratulations to Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart!!!

Tags: Congress, Economy, Election 2008, North Korea, Sports, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show by ecthompson
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Good evening. It’s time for the news round-up.

• The way deficit is up. I thought that after seven years of Republican rule, the deficit would be under control. Tax cuts were supposed to spur investment in pay-off for deficit. I’m guessing it just didn’t work out as they planned.
• Rumors abound about North Korea’s reclusive ruler Kim Jong Il. The North Korean leader failed to appear at a military parade earlier today. Some have suggested that he has had a major stroke.
• President Bush dusted off an oldie but goodie today: The surge is working, but yet it hasn’t quite worked. We can withdraw a miniscule amount of troops — 8000. The gains that we’ve made are tenuous. Yada, yada, yada. This is interesting in the wake of all the publicity surrounding Bob Woodward’s new book. The Pulitzer prize-winning author suggests that the military leaders did not and do not support the surge.
• Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has new allegations to fend off. It appears that the “maverick” billed Alaskan taxpayers for 312 nights in which she was supposed to be traveling when, in fact, she was at home. Oops. It be interesting to see if this story gains traction.
• One hundred fifty-seven years worth of investment experience may be going down the drain at Lehman Brothers. The investment bank has lost more than 91 percent since February of 2007. No matter how you look at this, it’s bad. Is another bailout in the works?
• For reasons that are unclear, cyclist Lance Armstrong, has announced that he is going to compete in another Tour de France. Why?

Tags: Domestic Issues, Economy, Iraq, North Korea by ecthompson
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Maybe, just maybe talking to your enemies works. Ask North Korea.

From WaPo:

North Korea dynamited the dirty gray cooling tower at its deactivated Yongbyon nuclear facility on Friday, a made-for-TV event intended to show the United States and the world that it is serious about abandoning its nuclear weapons program.

After a loud explosive charge, the 60-foot tower imploded within seconds, melting into a thick white cloud of smoke and dust. The late afternoon demolition was filmed by television news crews invited from the five countries that for years have been pressing Kim Jong Il’s totalitarian state to back away from nuclear confrontation. (more…)

Tags: Bush Administration, North Korea by ecthompson
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Threatening North Korea for 5 years didn’t do anything except allow North Korea to build several nuclear weapons. Suddenly, the Bush administration tried diplomacy. They kicked John Bolton and Donald Rumsfeld to the curb and started talking. Now, North Korea is dismantling their nuclear facility. (The Bush administration has pieced together exactly what Bill Clinton had done nearly 7 – 8 years ago.)

———-

From WaPo:

President Bush today lifted some trade sanctions against North Korea and acted to remove the country from a list of states that sponsor terrorism, after the isolated Stalinist regime turned over a key document detailing its rogue nuclear program.

Nearly seven years after Bush described North Korea as part of “an axis of evil” and less than two years after Pyongyang stunned the world by exploding a small nuclear device, Bush said the receipt of the nuclear disclosure marked the start of an “action for action” process meant to end with the full dismantling of the country’s nuclear facilities and weapons. (more…)

Tags: North Korea by ecthompson
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There has been no greater example that has debunked the Muscular Amero-centric Bush policy of “my way or the highway” than North Korea. The Bush Administration threw out the Agreement Framework of the Clinton administration. They began the inflammatory finger pointing. They refused to talk with North Korea. North Korea escalated their nuclear program and threw out the IAEA. North Korean exploded something. John Bolton was removed from the negotiation process. Christopher Hill began to actually talk with North Korea. The hard neocons – Rumsfeld and Cheney – got fired or marginalized and magically North Korea began to come around. Yesterday an agreement of economic cooperation was signed. As important, is an agreement to end the Korean War. South Korean never signed that treaty.

I think that this is a significant development.  Kind of like where we were at the end of the Clinton administration before Bush screwed it up.

———–

From USAToday:

The South Korean president signed a commitment with North Korea Thursday to seek a formal end to the Korean War, ending a historic three-day summit during which he was snubbed by his host and upstaged by a nuclear agreement 600 miles away in Beijing.

South Korea never signed the cease fire that ended hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War; so the two Koreas have remained technically at war ever since. In their declaration Thursday in the northern capital Pyongyang, South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il agreed to pursue a permanent peace. South Korea has said it will need to work with the other combatants in the Korean war — China and the United States — to reach a formal peace deal. President Bush has said there can be no permanent peace on the Korean peninsula until North Korea gives up nuclear arms. (more…)

 

 Korean Agreeement [2:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Bush Administration, North Korea by ecthompson
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This is good news for the Bush administration after nothing but bad news day after day for months. Alberto, Cheney, Iraq, Scooter Libby, Iraq, Iran, the environment the list is almost endless. This may be something that the Bush Administration can cheer about.

———-

From CNN.com:

Pyongyang and Washington have agreed on a three-week timeframe for shutting down the North’s plutonium-producing reactor, a top U.S. nuclear envoy said Saturday after returning from a rare visit to the reclusive state.

Christopher Hill — the chief U.S. negotiator at international talks on North Korea’s nuclear programs — said they were looking at a three-week timeframe for shutting down the Yongbyon reactor, when asked by reporters on his arrival at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. (more..)

 

 North Korea agrees to shut down reactor [7:19m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Bush Administration, North Korea by ecthompson
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Maybe China has become more involved.  Maybe Russia has played a larger role.  Because China and Russia are the keys to Korea. 

I’ll believe it when I see it.  North Korea has made a career out of breaking promises.  (Update: Now, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t have made this deal.  I think that we should have made this deal 6 years ago.  In the video below, NBC Nightly News interviews John Bolton.  Why?  The man is crazy.)

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From WaPo:

North Korea agreed Tuesday after arduous talks to shut down its main nuclear reactor and eventually dismantle its atomic weapons program, just four months after the communist state shocked the world by testing a nuclear bomb.

The deal marks the first concrete plan for disarmament in more than three years of six-nation negotiations, and could potentially herald a new era of cooperation in the region with the North’s longtime foes _ the United States and Japan _ also agreeing to discuss normalizing relations with Pyongyang. [Read more →]

 

 NN - North Korea nuclear deal [7:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Foreign Affairs, North Korea by ecthompson
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Great points.  The administration is going to have to actually talk to North Korea.  Wow.  A discussion. 

 

 Hardball - Richardson discusses North Korea [6:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Foreign Affairs, North Korea by ecthompson
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From CNN.com:

Two U.S. government officials with access to classified information tell CNN that the initial air sampling over North Korea shows no indication of radioactive debris from the event Monday that North Korea says was an underground nuclear test.

The U.S. Air Force flew a WC-135 Constant Phoenix on Tuesday to collect air samples from the region.

A third official reiterated that at this point “there isn’t information to allow confirmation it was a nuclear test.”  more

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So what’s the next move?  Do we continue to ignore and name call?  Or do we pull back from the UN security council?  What does North Korea do?

Video to follow.

Tags: North Korea by ecthompson
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