With the Six-Party Talks just concluding in
When reviewing the new agreement that came out of the Six-Party Talks, it is important to keep in mind that the most important issue on the table is not how much oil we give to
That is what the Six-Party Talks have been all about. The world began scrambling last night to figure out if all participants, especially Kim Jong-II, would accept the new agreement, and indeed whether it will be effective.
From what I have heard so far, I am disappointed. It looks like too much was given away or punted down the road. We appear to be providing significant rewards for minimal compliance and leaving the important issues to future negotiations and to working groups that may or may not be able to resolve them. This makes any follow-on negotiations key, if the
Unfortunately, all of this is painfully familiar. We’ve been here before, literally.
Just six and a half years ago, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright stood here and delivered a major address on the outcome of her visit to
Time proved that our best hopes and the best efforts of our best negotiators then were wrong. Or perhaps I should say half-wrong. Without the Agreed Framework, we might well be dealing with a
Yet the Agreed Framework did not solve the bigger problem. It simply constrained it. It kicked the big can of denuclearization down the road, deferring its resolution.
And so it remains the central issue we face today.
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