By SHELTON BUMGARNER
Marmot’s Hole Guest Blogger
The New York Times has a great review of "Nuclear Showdown" by Gordon C. Chang. Some of the better bits:
Gordon C. Chang, a writer who works out of Hong Kong and China, has
sewn together this tale of diplomatic mismanagement in a compelling, if
sometimes overstated and meandering, account of how the greatest
superpower in the world has been repeatedly outmaneuvered by a tiny
country that should have collapsed years ago in a radioactive heap.***
As Mr. Chang explains, without delving too deeply into the interesting
details, the Bush administration has long been of two minds about North
Korea. One faction, fueled by Vice President Dick Cheney’s
office and its fellow hawks, wants to pressure North Korea into
collapse: cutting off the money it makes from counterfeiting, selling
illicit drugs and exporting missiles to the likes of Iran, Syria and
Pakistan. The other faction, equally disgusted by the North’s
existence, sees little choice but to negotiate, partly because that is
the only path our allies will take and partly because despite 60 years
of sanctions, the North still stands, almost by habit.
Be sure to read the rest on your own.
One Comment
Again, a book, just like the hundreds of articles about the same thing, spouting all the problems we know so well but offering nothing in the way of solutions.