Clinton desperate for a foreign policy triumph By Eric Margolis October 29, 2000 US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is a nice lady who tries hard to do the right thing. But this week in North Korea she did absolutely the wrong thing, and ended up making herself and the United States look weak and foolish. Everyone knows President Bill Clinton is desperate for a foreign policy `triumph' before he soon leaves office. Without one, he will be mainly remembered for Monica and impeachment. That's why Clinton tried to sandbag Palestinians into an unworkable deal with Israel that has now collapsed into bloodshed and recriminations. Turning to Plan B, Clinton pressed Madeleine Albright to use growing d�tente between North and South Korea, and promises of all sorts of goodies, to pave the way for a triumphant Clinton visit to the decaying Stalinist regime in Pyongyang. So Albright rushed with unseemly haste to Pyongyang and put on a truly bizarre display that lost big face for the United States in Asia. A great power should never kowtow to a small, nasty(even if reforming) outlaw state that has committed many foul deeds and routinely threatened to attack South Korea, and the 37,000 US troops stationed there, with poison gas and nuclear weapons. But that's just what Albright did. First, she danced an embarrassing arm-waving jig for schoolchildren that looked disturbingly like vodka-besotted Boris Yeltsin's band-leading cum watsui-dancing episode in Germany. Albright seemed unaware the Secretary of State of the United States of America should not be cavorting before TV cameras in North Korea, which the US still brands a `terrorist state.' . Far more embarrassing, Albright agreed to be Kim's guest of honor at a mammoth, 100,000 -person Stalinist extravaganza. As thousands of robot-like North Korean civilians and soldiers marched by in grandest Stalinist tradition, pictures flashed on giant TV screens of North Korea's new long-ranged missile, military formations, and weapons. Imagine Albright standing on top of Lenin's Tomb in Red Square in the 1980's, schmoozing with Soviet bigwigs while watching a military May Day parade. Albright had no business being there, certainly not when US troops in South Korea and Seoul are within artillery range of more than 2,000 North Korean heavy guns and rocket batteries. She allowed Kim Jong-il to euchre her, and use the prestige of the United States to shore up his position and make himself respectable in the eyes of the world. Now, I rather like Dear Leader Kim. He is eccentric, has a good sense of humor and personality, likes fine French wines, and had to put up for a long time with a domineering father. But rather than publicly pandering to him., Albright should have slipped discreetly into Pyongyang, or sent a deputy. Clinton, as leader of the world's sole great power, certainly ought not go cap in hand to Pyongyang. If a summit is really necessary, the two leaders should meet, as is traditional in diplomacy, on neutral ground, say Singapore, or Beijing. That way, the US does not loose face. The Emperor of China would never, never travel to meet a lesser monarch. Neither should the president of the United States. Why not? Because a visit by Clinton to Pyongyang would reconfirm that North Korea's blackmailing threats to build more missiles and nuclear weapons, attack Japan, invade South Korea, and kill American soldiers, worked. The Clinton Administration paid North Korea close to $2 billion in bribes to be good since 1994,when the two nations almost went to war, and recently lifted the US embargo of the North. Kim Jong-il is desperate for money and food to save his collapsing economy; Clinton is desperate for a diplomatic success. Desperates attract. Cynics must also suspect North and South Korea may have cooked up a clever deal to soak the United States. South Korea is terrified North Korea may suddenly collapse, sending 22 million starving northerners fleeing south. Just feeding North Korea would bankrupt South Korea, whose battered economy remains in perilous condition. South Korea longs for reunification with the North, but not with a nation of starving paupers. So..get the rich, gullible, publicity-hungry Americans to rebuild North Korea. Once the north is off life-support, and economically viable, Korean reunification can progress. Albright should have told Kim Jong-il: `You want a visit from us? First, pull back your guns targeting American GI's along the DMZ, thin out your 750,000 troops there, and how about demobilizing some of your vast army? Do that, show some real good will, and we'll maybe consider coming to disco the night away in Pyongyang. Otherwise, Dear Leader, email my secretary, and maybe we'll do lunch next year.' What's more, if Clinton must have a diplomatic breakthrough, why not make peace with Baghdad and halt America's weekly bombing of Iraq. Stop the US economic strangulation of Iraq and the suffering of its people. North Korea has nuclear weapons, poison gas, germs, and a huge. 1.1-million man army. Demolished Iraq has none of the above. Why didn't Madeleine Albright fly to Baghdad, and attend a military parade with loveable Saddam Hussein? Why not buy rather than bomb Saddam? Like Dear Leader Kim, he's also ready to be good as gold - for the right price. Copyright: E. 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