That piece is disappointing, coming from an experienced foreign policy guy like Daalder.
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Fact is, there is a mistaken assumption by many that diplomacy is a simple process where two opposing sides sit down in a room, talk for days or weeks or months, sign a document and another world problem has been fixed. That is rarely what happens.
Problems are multidimensional and multipolar, with many different players and many different possible fora for communication and negotiation. It's more like a three-dimensional game of chess where you want to maneuver your opponent into the position you want and, ideally, make him think that is where he wanted to be. Basic bilateral talks are only one of many ways to do that.
Interesting. That's precisely what I assumed Daalder was saying. That negotiation is a very complex process which requires every tool in the box, something that, even now, the Bush folk are not using.
PS Just one example - the US envoy on North Korea, Chris Hill, was one of the top 3-4 US officials involved in the Dayton Accords on Bosnia and the chief negotiator at the Rambouillet talks on Kosovo. Do you think he is there now to do nothing? Daalder knows that, he was on Clinton's NSC at the time.
The bit from Steve Clemons that I posted a day or two ago addresses precisely this issue. Clemons argues, on the basis of sources inside the administration, that Hill is having serious problems with the Cheney cabal who are seriously opposed to any form of negotiations, whose strategy is sanctions only and isolation only.
I don't doubt there are elements within the Bush administration who favor and are pushing a negotiating strategy of the sort you have in mind. But it's also clear that Cheney's crew, while not as strong as immediately after 9-11, still have a great deal of clout. And enough to make life difficult for the Hills of the world.
And, here's the point I think Drum made and Daalder is making in a different way, so long as GWB does not run the ship, one has a vacuum. And foreign policy sort of slips/slides from one mometarily powerful faction back to another. |
