NYC Letter: KA-Boom!

ALMOST INSTANT UPDATE: Reader Duncan points us to this article last week in the WSJ by John Bolton, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and former ambassador to the UN. Money quotes:

• The curtain is about to rise again on the long-running nuclear tragicomedy, "North Korea Outwits the United States." Despite Kim Jong Il's explicit threats of another nuclear test, U.S. Special Envoy Stephen Bosworth said last week that the Obama administration is "relatively relaxed" and that "there is not a sense of crisis." They're certainly smiling in Pyongyang.

• So far, the North faces no such threat [scil., ending the Six-Party Talks] from the Obama administration. Despite Pyongyang's aggression, Mr. Bosworth has reiterated that the U.S. is "committed to dialogue" and is "obviously interested in returning to a negotiating table as soon as we can."

• North Korea is a mysterious place, but there is no mystery about its foreign-policy tactics: They work. The real mystery is why our administrations -- Republican and Democratic -- haven't learned that their quasi-religious faith in the six-party talks is misplaced.

Worth the full read.

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Day 126 of CHOPE

SURPRISE!
Smart Power Misses Opportunity To Be Smart

From KA-fizzle to KA-boom, NoKo detonates a winner! [Pause.] Wait a minute. Didn't NoKo say it would abandon its nuclear weapons program?

NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR TEST CATCHES U.S. BY SURPRISE

May 25, 2009 (FNC) - North Korea's decision to detonate a nuclear device underground Monday caught the United States by surprise, officials said.

"They didn't give us any warning whatsoever," one senior U.S. intelligence official who works on North Korean issues told FOX News.

... The senior intelligence official said that even after the demonstration at the Punggye nuclear test site, the only evidence of activity that analysts could see in aerial imagery was a "couple of spoil sites," or large holes.

"We saw some activity" at Punggye prior to the test, the official said. But the activity was not as intense as that which normally precedes a detonation, so few anticipated such an action at this time. "They are really good at hiding things from us."

This is why it is vitally important to continue diplomatic talks with a lying NoKo. With endless talks one day an emboldened NoKo won't bother lying. [Soft, knowing snicker.] Then we'll have them. Ha!

North Korea also appeared to test fire the Musudan-Ri missile, on which Kim Jong Il could ultimately hope to place a nuclear device.

... But there were conflicting signals about specifically which type of rocket North Korea tested. It could have been a more benign short-range missile.

"The reporting itself is very confusing," one official said.

This is pretty serious. Mr. Obama is probably pretty worried.

OBAMA PLAYS GOLF AFTER MEMORIAL DAY OBSERVANCE

WASHINGTON May 25, 2009 (AP) - President Barack Obama hit the golf course after marking his first Memorial Day as commander in chief.

... Obama grabbed his clubs after he participated in Memorial Day observances at Arlington National Cemetery. He laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns and, in brief remarks, saluted the men and women of America's fighting forces as "the best of America."

[Painful pause.] It was a holiday. Not to worry. Before teeing off, Mr. Obama issued a stinging tongue-cluck to set a tone for continued diplomacy.

North Korea will not find security and respect through threats and illegal weapons.

We will work with our friends and our allies to stand up to this behavior and we will redouble our efforts toward a more robust international nonproliferation regime that all countries have responsibilities to meet.

In this effort the United States will never waiver from our determination to protect our people and the peace and security of the world.

Thank you, guys.

That should do it. [Pause.] We were curious what a Kerry presidency would look like. Now we know.

Mr. Obama will be back on the job today. Well, sometime today.

[Tuesday] Obama takes his personal 747 all the way out to naughty Las Vegas, where he said bankers shouldn't go and party on taxpayer funds. And there the president will speak at a big fundraiser for the re-election campaign of Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid. The next day Obama visits Los Angeles to do a Democratic National Committee fundraiser.

Priorities. We will always have Noko. Not so Mr. Reid.

[Hat tip: JWF]

CHOPE.

Team Barry: Not to worry. Kim Jong Il: 고맙습니다! (Thanks!)

Posted by Damian at May 26, 2009 07:00 AM