Apropos of bribing in international politics: the trick is to frame the payments as something honorable. For example, we've been bribing the Egyptians on a grand scale for decades but calling those billions "foreign aid" in much the same way that Chinese emperors used to call the silver and concubines they sent the barbarians "gifts."
Dan: I too am still digesting the North Korean deal -- and I haven't yet read through all the hardliners' howls -- though so far I think John Bolton makes some good points. I wouldn't bet on "eventual North Korean denuclearization," in any case. Bolton said he didn't "do carrots." Maybe he should have said he didn't do bribes. The administration's weakened politically, so it endorsed multilateralism as in its interests. The Agreed Framework fell through -- a signature Clinton initiative -- and this one may as well. We'll see.
On a related note, you might be interested in my post this morning on the thaw in Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations, which is being chaulked up to liberal internationalist influences:
http://burkeanreflections.blogsp...grows-
with.html
Plus, I'm still waiting to hear back from you about that possible "plasticity" post you mentioned.
Until then...regards.
bolton is an expert on exactly nothing. he doesn't "do carrots" because he doesn't actually do anything except sign stupid war monger letters to US presidents that are essentially blackmail notes from AIPAC
Commenting by HaloScan.com
