Wednesday, September 03, 2003
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN THE "AXIS OF EVIL" LOSES A MEMBER? Convert it into the "Axle of evil." (.pdf file; Adobe Acrobat Reader required). Nice to know that Congressional Republicans read stuff from the Cold War International History Project (or at least they read reporters who read the stuff):
Moreover, to offer concessions to Pyongyang, particularly a non-aggression pledge, to induce good behavior assumes the following: that the concessions actually will encourage North Korea to change its behavior, dismantle its nuclear program, and stop making bombs; that
Pyongyang can be faithfully trusted to live up to its end of the bargain; and that the United States has no other means of dealing with the threat North Korea poses other than by giving in to its demands. Given North Korea’s flouting of the Agreed Framework and threats to pull out of other agreements, including the 1953 Korean War Armistice, there is no reason to believe that the regime can be trusted, is honest, and is willing to give up its atomic programs in exchange for U.S. concessions. The Korea Initiative, a research project conducted by the Woodrow Wilson Center that has examined secret Soviet archives dealing with North Korean-Soviet relations, also found that North Korea has a long history of extracting aid-for-concessions, adopting superficial reforms to appear to being honoring an agreement, and then reverting to old practices in order to extort more aid.
