Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Claudia Rosett of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and the Hudson Institute offers some ideas for disposing of Kim Jong Il's regime come the next round of six-way talks on February 25. Some of them are alright, like increasing the funding for Radio Free Asia's North Korean service and trying to entice Kim with offers of asylum, while I have to wonder if others are really serious. Offering lessons in the wonders of Capitalism? C'mon. I do like the imagery of her conclusion - in fact, I wish I'd thought of it before - drawn from one of my favorite of Shakespeare's works, "If we must discuss this extortion racket, let's start from the premise that as the world's leading democracy and superpower, we are the makers of manners..."
OpinionJournal: Tear Down This Regime - Let's negotiate North Korea's dictatorship out of existence.
--U.S. President Ronald Reagan, June 12, 1987
When President Reagan spoke these words 17 years ago, in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, he had on his side not only the military might of the United States but the considerable power of sound principle and straight speaking. Just over two years later, the Berlin Wall fell...
