How do you think Josh Marshall will spin this news:
The United States and its key Asian and European allies said on Friday they were suspending a North Korean nuclear power project for one year, but stopped short of scrapping it as the Bush administration wanted.
The New York-based Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, or KEDO, said the suspension would start on Dec. 1. A decision to resume operations will be made within a year while five countries try to persuade communist Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons programs that have spooked the United States and nations in the region.
“KEDO is not leaving the place,” A diplomatic source said. “Hopefully you will have a diplomatic outcome in the talks … and the organization may be involved in delivering what kind of energy assistance has been decided.”
KEDO was the international consortium established to run and manage a project that stemmed from the so-called Agreed Framework between the Clinton administration and Pyongyang.
Which knee-jerk anti-Bush track will Josh take? Which version will he state? Will it be the agressive United States bullying our allies, with a statement like this:
“Regional allies acquiesed to aggressive lobbying and bullying by the United States and agreed to a temporary halt in the construction a nuclear reactor that came from the widly successful Clinton era Agreed Framework- an agreement that was sabotaged by neo-cons and bumbling rhetoric from the President.”
Or will it be the Allies sticking together to keep the peace, saving us from a neo-con nightmare in the region:
“The United States today was rebuffed by four regional allies, as they refused to agree to a belligerent and perhaps hostile attempt to permanently end construction of a nuclear reactor on the North Korean peninsula. The liberal Brookings Institution, ina press release that read like a sigh of relief, stated that ‘Cooler heads have prevailed and fortunately our allies were able to restrain the mad dog tactics of the current Bush cabal.'”
Ok. Maybe I got a little carried away with the second one, although it is not far off from the breathless rhetoric comes from Marshall on a daily basis. Which option will he try?
Or perhaps, there is option #3- he will ignore it completely, recognizing that no matter how dishonest he is, how much background he distorts, and how out of control he attempts to portray this administration, there is no way not to recognize that this is a multilateral success and a repudiation of the policies of the Clinton administration.
MommaBear
What’s his brand new doctorate in, anyway…pile it high and deep ??
The Marmot
First, thanks for the link (and the trackback)
Seconf, KEDO is dead, regardless of what the diplomats say. The Japanese don’t like it, the EU ain’t crazy about it, the Bush Administration is very clear about what it thinks about it, and truth be told, the only people really pushing to see that project brought to fruition are the South Koreans, and even a large segment of the South Korean electorate thinks the deal sucks (and when the deal was signed in ’94, the South Koreans were flat-out against it). Of course, Clinton never imagined that North Korea would last long enough to see the reactors, but even so, it was a flawed approach from the beginning and now we’re paying the price.