Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Shocking! Multilateral Diplomacy Works

Despite North Korea's demands to negotiate bilaterally with the U.S., the Bush administration stuck to its guns (figurative in this case) and remained committed to negotiations that include China, Russia, South Korea, and Japan. Those talks paid off today in a oil-for-disarmament deal to be consummated by year's end.

Of course, enforcement remains a problem, as it was with the failed Clinton-era deal, but unlike that agreement, this one involves all of North Korea's neighbors. By token of their inclusion they are more likely to help the U.S. and UN monitor disarmament than otherwise.

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