tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7172429940118949100.post5031078901453991416..comments2023-11-05T04:18:46.009-08:00Comments on thoughts on the road: Let's have a war!Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00670952264797321717noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7172429940118949100.post-6471793842339867762009-04-05T18:53:00.001-07:002009-04-05T18:53:00.001-07:00Very interesting piece. Thanks for recommending it...Very interesting piece. Thanks for recommending it. The approach he advocates is novel, but it makes sense to me.Erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00670952264797321717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7172429940118949100.post-25370619206573718552009-04-05T18:53:00.000-07:002009-04-05T18:53:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00670952264797321717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7172429940118949100.post-89389865947827271762009-04-05T15:01:00.000-07:002009-04-05T15:01:00.000-07:00Oh, let's not! :(I prefer this approach, from the ...Oh, let's not! :(<BR/><BR/>I prefer this approach, from the NYTimes Opinion page yesterday: <BR/><BR/>www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/opinion/02myers.html<BR/><BR/>To Beat a Dictator, Ignore Him <BR/><BR/>[...]<BR/>Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has been wise to reject the idea of shooting down the Taepodong-2 missile. It is safer to allow Pyongyang another hollow victory than to humiliate it before the world. Punitive sanctions after the fact would most likely make no difference, because North Korea will return to negotiations in any case. But next time we go into talks, we must do so with an awareness of the domestic political realities that force the North Koreans to do the things they do. <BR/><BR/>This means demanding changes where they matter most, and can be immediately verified — on the propaganda front — before putting our faith in some grandiose timetable of disarmament. If Kim Jong-il will not cease referring to himself as a “military first leader,” or stressing that America and North Korea “can never share the same sky,” we can be certain, without letting yet another deadline elapse, that he is negotiating in bad faith. For far too long, American diplomats have treated Kim Jong-il’s political culture as his business. It is ours as well.Anihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05443689500887100154noreply@blogger.com