One of the areas of foreign policy in which I do not think that George Bush has made anything appreciably worse is North Korea. Of course, this is because it doesn't actually get much worse than Crazed Dictator Worshipped As God By Millions of Starving Citizens, Who Has a Nuclear Weapons Programme. So it's not as if this actually redounds to Mr Bush's credit.
What puzzles me, actually, is the many people I know who purport to believe that Mr Bush has somehow egregiously fouled things up, here. Serious, intelligent people who I know believe this. Usually, they blame him for not sitting down to bilateral talks with North Korea. I find it impossible to grasp what this is supposed to accomplish. North Korea wants nukes so that its neighbours will be all scared of it. It wants to scare the neighbours so badly, in fact, that it diverts resources into a huge and unwieldy military machine even when food is so scarce that parts of the population are apparently forced to eat barely edible things, like each other. How is sitting around a table and talking earnestly to them supposed to assuage this desire?
It seems glaringly obvious to me that unless we invade North Korea or Iran, these countries will continue their quest to stockpile a little doomsday. It also seems glaringly obvious to me that we're not going to invade. (Note: this is a prediction you can embarass me with for years during the Iranian War.)
So what do we get out of the negotiations, other than a way for earnest people who believe in diplomacy to get the same emotionally loaded, adrenalin-soaked thrill that the rest of us got out of being on the Prom Committee? Sure, it looks like we're doing something, at least until it turns out that surprise! they kept their nuclear programme after all. I suppose that's worth some votes, so I understand what the politicians get out of it. But what I don't understand is why there are so many people around me, not connected with the government, who profess to believe that this agreement with North Korea is some sort of breakthrough, or that jawing with Iran will do much besides make our jaws tired.
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