Nork Nuke Deal
The Times has the details on the deal. Essentially, the US and the five party group will be trading electricity, fuel oil, food, and some diplomatic goodies for a verifiable freeze on North Korea’s nuclear program. The freeze won’t be wholly verifiable, but the agreement will shut down North Korea’s plutonium program, which is a genuine achievement.
The talks are supposed to lead to further talks in which North Korea will give up its nuclear weapons. Let me go out on a limb here and say that this will never happen; North Korea may give up some of the nuclear fuel that it has, but I very much doubt that it will disarm entirely. Nevertheless, this deal makes the world safer. In comments to this post yesterday, Steve asked “Does this mean Bush was right about North Korea?” The answer is a pretty emphatic “no”. The deal we have today isn’t notably different from the Agreed Framework in 1994, except that it doesn’t promise a light water reactor and North Korea has nukes. It’s also pretty similar to what was on the table in 2002, except that North Korea has nukes. While a success on its own terms, this agreement represents an utter rejection of the Bush administration’s approach to North Korea thus far. Carrots, instead of sticks, brought compromises. Nuclear weapons were the subject of diplomacy, not the precondition. The fact that the wingnutosphere has remained largely quiet (although Red State is trying to blame newspapers for the deal) and that John Bolton denounced the agreement should tell you all you need to know about the type of diplomacy that was conducted here.