Den Beste on North Korea and uncomfortable solutions:
I think Bush and Hu made a deal. I think they've agreed on a compromise, where the US would make concessions on some sort of security agreement as well as resuming aid, while China would do whatever was needed to make NK accept it. That would involve a combination of private arm-twisting and public assurances and support. I think that Bush has had both the SK's and Japanese on board for such a deal for a long time, and I think the Russians have little to gain by trying to screw it up. It was mostly a matter of working China around to the idea that it was going to have to be less subtle with NK.
If that's what emerges, it's probably the best we could reasonably hope for. It's a fucking long way from ideal. It would condemn the people of NK to continue to live in hell and place us in the moral position of actively working to keep them there. The only thing to recommend it is that all the other possibilities would either cause or seriously risk even worse outcomes.
What do you think? I hope Den Beste's wrong about Bush and Hu and compromise.
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