there’s gotta be a lowe’s somewhere.

FYI, I was kinda speaking from a North Korean’s perspective for more comic effect.

# 17,

Not a pancake eating canuck. Kimchi and burger eating Korean American. Now for the biggest shock. I’m a registered Republican.

Because of this, I say we sign a peace deal with the piece of crap so he has fewer excuses to blame the US for continuing to develop nukes, pull the ground troops out (at least reduce drastically and leave the air force here), and tell South Korea that it’s now up to them to coddle the Norks and to foot the bills (they don’t want to pay for the upkeep of the US military presence anyway). The US should announce that it is giving control of the situation over to South Korea and then cut off all benefits to the Norks. In essence, wash our hands of the place while keeping a close eye on the Norks for possible shipments of nuke materials elsewhere. If LMB gets in, the US could be flexible on this, but if a leftist gets in, then I think the Yankees should hit the road.

What a great deal! The Americans pay us $2M so they can look at this great big giant hole we dug up….

“Us”, eh, Wankon?

That could be a question for anybody who posts here.

““Unconstructive” as compared to what? Would you go so far as to say it is North Korea who is “unconstructive”, or is that an awful truth that must not be pronounced — lest they take offense and rattle their nukes some more?”

Of course North Korea’s behavior is not constructive and is unacceptable by any normal person’s standards. They are, as they should be, almost universally regarded as an international basket case. It doesn’t mean that Bolton’s approach to dealing with these countries is correct.

I have immature and confrontational students in my classes from time to time. Sometimes you have to deal with it harshly, but other times it is probably best to take a deep breath, try to relax, avoid saying something you might regret, and try to come up with a more constructive solution. It isn’t a matter of doing it 100% one way or the other. It is about trying to achieve the right balance. It is this that I feel Bolton wasn’t terribly good at. (The ROK should also be tweaking the sunshine policy, to put it mildly, because I think they have taken it too far in the other direction.)

“Huh? Then what are we still doing there?”

Good question. Guess both the South Koreans and Americans believe it is in their interest for that situation to continue. I’ve never claimed that the United States has sought to be in a weak or unenviable position, nor that it pleases me to see it. (It doesn’t.) Being bogged down in two wars, having all the parties involved - including allies like Japan and South Korea - unwilling to have a war started in their backyard, and not having a whole lot of international credibility these days are a few things that aren’t conducive to having a lot of options on the Korean peninsula.

I wonder if you are capable of stepping outside yourself and taking an objective look at what you’ve said. “Unconstructive” as compared to what? Would you go so far as to say it is North Korea who is “unconstructive”, or is that an awful truth that must not be pronounced — lest they take offense and rattle their nukes some more?

Would you say that it’s important to be fearless when speaking “truth to power”? But wait, “the US is holding a pretty weak hand….”

Huh? Then what are we still doing there? The whole point of our presence is the ability to wreak horrific destructive power on the North. If that uncomfortable reality is what makes us “weak” — because all the other parties agree it is “unthinkable” — then the US needs to withdraw.

And let the ROK be the ones to decide the right combination of “carrot and stick” to use in dealing with their long-lost fraternal brothers of the DPRK. With what, more than twice the population and over 30 times the national ealth of the DPRK, the ROK should be — by now — more than adequate to the task.

And it should be a relief for them to do so. After all, they won’t then be subject to the vagaries of “mad-dog Boltonism”.

I don’t hate Bolton for what he thinks. (I don’t agree with him on much, but I don’t automatically discount what he has to say.) What I don’t like about him is the unconstructive manner - confrontational, insulting, belittling, ill-timed, etc - in which he seems to insist on expressing himself. (Especially, when he held positions where he was speaking on behalf of the United States government.) Denigrating one’s enemies is not always helpful, and needlessly alientating one’s allies while trying to ask for their support in waging two wars is downright stupid.

North Korea is probably conning us again to some extent, I agree. What the Bush admin. is doing now - not unlike the Clinton admin. before it - is trying to deal with a problem with no easy solutions. The United States is holding a pretty weak hand, and outside of doing something that might threaten a war on the Korean peninsula - something that none of the other players involved, friendly or not, want to see happen - they are stuck with having to make the most of a bad situation.