Ex-President Carter bombs in Pyongyang
Ex-President Carter did not do himself proud in Pyongyang. Dear Leader Kim Jong-il didn’t meet with him and summoned him back after he had left for the airport to carry an “important message.”
The important message was delivered by a foreign ministry official, not Kim Jong Il. The official read out a written message from the Dear Leader, stating Kim’s willingness for “unconditional talks” for the nuclear issue and holding a summit with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak — neither of which are new proposals.
“Carter was used by North Korea like a fool,” said Toshimitsu Shigemura, an expert on North Korea at Waseda University in Tokyo.
“Firstly, he couldn’t meet Kim Jong Il. Secondly, there was no progress on the nuclear standoff. Thirdly, he just brought with him a message by Kim Jong Il to the outside world, as if he were a messenger of North Korea,” Shigemura said, adding that the only reason North Korea hosted Carter was in an attempt to draw food aid from the United States.
Oh well. Ex President Carter may not care much about losing face — for himself or for the United States. Might he not even understand the concept? It’s not peanuts in Asia.
“I think it is counterproductive of Carter to describe Seoul and Washington withholding food aid and that was human rights violations,” said Brian Myers, an American expert on Korean affairs at Dongseo University in the South Korean city of Busan.
“The last thing we need to do now vis-a-vis North Korea is to make it feel that South Korea and Washington bear moral responsibility. Carter needs to encourage North Koreans to do a better [job] of feeding its own people.”
Apparently China was not enchanted either:
It’s not just Washington and Seoul which held low opinions of Carter’s visit. Even Wu Dawei, China’s front man on Korean affairs, said of Carter’s visit: “What Carter is thinking is Carter’s thinking only,” South Korea’s Yonhap News reported Saturday.
China is host to the North Korean nuclear talks, aimed to persuade North Korea to give up nukes. It didn’t appreciate Carter’s attempt to “steal the ball,” the report said.
Nor did Secretary Clinton think much of the visit, and neither did South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan. It’s almost (but not quite) enough to make one feel a bit sorry for the ex-president.
I guess both the Norks and the ChiComs can spot a self-aggrandizing buffoon when they see one.
Too bad Carter can’t, despite all his practice–he sees one in the mirror every morning.
Never fell sorry for that peanut-head! I wish the North would keep Carter.
Americans. generally have no idea of the significance of “loss of face” in China, Japan and Korea. It is public humiliation on a level that is frequently cause for suicide. What Kim Jong-il did was not merely snubbing: it was the equivalent of spitting on Carter. It was personal. The asian nations recognize it as such and so does Washington.
As for Carter, he must certainly have got the message and is unlikely to do any more posturing re North Korea.. He just hopes that Americans won’t comprehend the scale of the insult. Now if only the “Palestinians” would follow suit.
You give him far too much credit.
Carter can always count on sympathy for his peacemaking forays in the arms of his bestest-buddies, Raul and Fidel. Come to think of it, a warm Caribbean vacation might just be the thing to shrug off the cold reception Jimmy got from Kim.
Fidel and Raul regularly treat Carter like he’s a moronic spindle-head as well.
There seems to be a common theme amongst the current and former democrat presidents: they all seem to consider themselves as astute statesmen able to influence foreign leaders with their brilliance.
As with Carter, it appears that their faith in themselves is misplaced. And not only regarding democrat presidents. Look at civilians like Jesse Jackson and Jane Fonda. And don’t forget Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) who visited the Middle East and denigrates the USA whenever he gets the chance.
And why do only democrats and radical leftists criticize and demean the USA? You never see Republicans doing that. The USA is, and has been for centuries now, a beacon in the world for personal freedom and commercial opportunities, yet the leftists continue their hyperbolic criticisms of this great country. Even Obama promised to “fundamentally transform” the USA into . . . what? Zimbabwe? Cuba? Why do these people apparently believe that the USA is so basically evil that it must be torn down and rebuilt into a socialist state?
Is it pure ignorance of what the USA is, or could it be that they all truly believe their own bizzaro-world ideologies? If the latter, then they are merely stupid malcontents and fools, not the intellectual giants they believe they are.
…. Why do these people apparently believe that the USA is so basically evil that it must be torn down ….
In one word?
Envy.
There are other words but the world’s hatred of and rage toward America is all rooted in Envy: The only one of the Seven Deadly Sins generating no immediate gratification and offering no “reward.”
Envy’s only secondary effect is in the hatred and rage it instills in those who suffer it.
Imagine that? Carter treated as a buffoon, which of course he is. I like Jimmy, when he’s driving nails and keeping his mouth shut.
…. Carter was used by North Korea like a fool ….
Used LIKE a fool?
Nah.
Used like THE fool.
Like the fool he is.
At least, thanks to Carter and his fellow-socialists, the world knows we have freedom of speech, even when it is anti-American, anti-free-market, and pro-Marxist.
Also, thanks to Carter, we have new respect for Bush, since he refuses to comment publicly on world or political affairs.
As bad a Carter is when going overseas to embarrass the US, the worst part is that he comes back.
http://instantrimshot.com/
I look forward to the year 2032, when the one-term former President Barack Obama visits North Korea to meet with Il’s grandson about bargaining away his nuclear program for further food aid from United Nations. Because we will have 30-50 years of Barack Obama being a former President, demonstrating for the next generation how utterly stupid liberal ideas actually are when they are implemented.