On talking with the enemy
Paul Mirengoff

Phillip Klein at the American Spectator blog looks at the question of how to deal with North Korea, and the more general matter of "talking with the enemy." As Klein notes, the latter issue shouldn't turn on simple-minded slogans such as James Baker's "I believe in talking to your enemies."

We should, of course, make an effort to find out the real views of our enemies. And if those views indicate the possibility of negotiations that hold a reasonable promise of a beneficial outcome for us, we ordinarily should hold such negotiations. But it's pointless at best, and dangerous at worst, to hold publicized negotiations when we know that the enemy's bottom line is one that we cannot accept. Indeed, while critics of the Bush administration like to remind us that we talked with the "evil empire" Soviet Union, we actually learned though bitter experience to avoid holding major summit-style talks unless there was reason to believe they would succeed in advancing our interests.

How do the Bush administration's practices hold up under this standard? We certainly have access to the views of North Korea, both through our partners in the six-party talks and through our own bilateral contacts within that framework. In effect, we are talking with our enemy. But the key to successful negotiations (if such are possible) appears to lie in changing the dynamic by bringing new pressure to bear on North Korea through key regional players and especially China. Otherwise, negotiations will likely proceed along the same lines as the failed Clinton-Carter talks -- a prime example of negotiations we would have been better off not undertaking.

With respect to Iran and Syria, ...

On Provoking Ponderous Ponderings of Pyongyang and Palestine
Hatched by Dafydd

Paul Mirengoff of Power Line has a great post up, "On Talking With the Enemy." Paul takes up the question of whether "I believe in talking to your enemies," as James A. Baker III, co-chair of the newly formed Iraq Study Group, likes to say, is a workable policy -- or just a mindless liberal slogan. Sorry for the redundancy. Paul's conclusion:

We should, of course, make an effort to find out the real views of our enemies. ...

Paul considers this point in the context of the bilateral talks with North Korea that many Democrats, including Republican Baker, demand the Bush administration undertake, hoping for the same wonderful outcome we had when the Clinton-Carter team agreed upon the Agreed Framework (hence the name) with Kim Jong-Il in 1994. The net effect of the Agreed Framework, along with South Korea's Sunshine Policy of "engaging" North Korea, was described in the Washington Times by Dr. Yearn Hong Choi (and quoted in yet another Power Line post) thus: ...