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Last update - 19:43 05/08/2009
ANALYSIS: Bill Clinton's Korea trip is lesson in diplomacy for Obama
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: North Korea, Israel News 

Barack Obama is more impressive than him on stage when delivering a speech, and his biography is more fascinating, but all things being equal, there is nobody quite like Bill Clinton. The picture of the former president sitting alongside the despotic leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il, in Pyongyang on Tuesday was worth more than a thousand words in a diplomatic briefing. This is how one conducts diplomacy: getting on a plane and departing in order to talk with the other side, president to president, as if they were old acquaintances.

North Korea was the most painful point on the world map for the Obama administration. Not only did Kim ignore Obama's proposal for dialogue, but he also embarked on an aggressive campaign that included a nuclear test and the launch of missiles that threatened South Korea and Japan.

Kim did not hesitate in humiliating Obama. He made a mockery of the threat of additional sanctions against his impoverished country. It is impossible to intimidate even those who are hungry when they are harmed with nuclear bombs and missiles.
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What did Kim want to achieve? The simple answer is attention. The nuclear weapons and the arms which he sells to other rogue states are a source of power for North Korea, a nation that is at the bottom of global indices in virtually every other aspect of life. The special arms and the domestic repression enable the "democratic people's republic" in Pyongyang to withstand the pressures and incentives from abroad and to preserve its unique character and independence vis-a-vis the prosperous South Korea and free-market China. Kim is ill and preoccupied with grooming a successor. This, apparently, is a good reason to make some noise.

Kim, though, also failed in this respect. The nuclear tests only aroused more anger and alienation in the U.S., harmed Obama's prestige, and did not encourage him to pursue a policy of dialogue. Edward Luttwak, one of America's foremost strategic experts, proposed that the administration cut off all contact with North Korea. The freeze in ties from the Bush presidency has spilled over to the Obama era.

Then a gift fell in Kim's lap in the form of two American journalists who were arrested and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Their arrest garnered more attention than all the missiles and nuclear installations put together. This time, we were dealing with a human interest story that anyone could relate to. This was an opportunity to start a dialogue over an issue that enjoys near wall-to-wall agreement and to do so by dispatching Clinton to North Korea. John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the UN and a spokesman for the right on foreign affairs, blasted the trip to Pyongyang as a capitulation to a dictator.

From the few bits of information that have emerged from the trip, one may glean that the Koreans welcomed Clinton, a president with whom they had reasonable relations. They would not agree to host Clinton's former vice president, Al Gore. The White House kept a distance so that it could portray the trip as a humanitarian endeavor rather than a diplomatic mission that would focus on missiles and weapons. But Kim received Clinton with a respect that is befitting heads of state. The North Korean leader announced that the two men discussed a number of issues - namely political and diplomatic in nature.

After Clinton returns to Washington, Obama ought to ask him: Bill, how do you do it? How do you work your charms that cause them to fall in love with you? If Obama listens and internalizes what the former president has to say, perhaps he will succeed in other areas, chief among them the Middle East
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  1.   don`t you think obama was involved? 19:49  |  ben 05/08/09
  2.   Lesson in Deplomacy for Obama 19:57  |  Harold 05/08/09
  3.   Israel`s Jews will find it hard falling in love with Obama 20:16  |  Steve 05/08/09
  4.   Obama`s behind that Bill Clinton adventure 20:22  |  Nora 05/08/09
  5.   Any reason to criticize Obama 20:24  |  peace 05/08/09
  6.   Ben is so naive 20:41  |  David 05/08/09
  7.   Analysis does not agree with reality 20:45  |  UK 05/08/09
  8.   To # 3 Obama was elected to be US president not 20:45  |  David 05/08/09
  9.   GOOD LUCK CHARMING THE ISRAELIS... 20:48  |  Ed 05/08/09
  10.   Is there are any lessons here they are for Israel 21:13  |  Eyal 05/08/09
  11.   Who do you think asked Clinton to go to NK? 21:25  |  Ninjateck 05/08/09
  12.   Israelis don`t like President Obama? A very good sign. 21:29  |  Lou Medel 05/08/09
  13.   #8: We do not entirely disagree 21:32  |  Steve 05/08/09
  14.   It is not applicable with Islamist-Jihadists 21:33  |  Brod 05/08/09
  15.   Turn it into something negative 21:38  |  U.S. citizen 05/08/09
  16.   how to deal with Kim Jong Il 21:44  |  Harry 05/08/09
  17.   To # 14 rod - you are the only one who calls N. Korea rational 22:02  |  Eyal 05/08/09
  18.   Israel is the one who needs a lesson in diplomacy. 22:17  |  Maureen Ann 05/08/09
  19.   Bill Clintons North Korean SUCCESS. 22:21  |  HAL 05/08/09
  20.   Interesting 22:45  |  Arie 05/08/09
  21.   To # 10 I totaly agree but there is another lesson 22:47  |  David 05/08/09
  22.   Handling Little Green men 23:04  |  Eric Wilson 05/08/09
  23.   BClinton trip - unmitigated silliness and humilliation 23:11  |  17 05/08/09
  24.   No, a lesson for Haaretz on Obama flip-flops and duplicity 23:15  |  Dr. L. Brnd 05/08/09
  25.   Diplomacy does not work with israel--we already know that 23:16  |  Labhras 05/08/09
  26.   Arie stop the nonsense--you get 3 billion reasons 23:27  |  Labhras 05/08/09
  27.   To # 24 - huh? you make no sense, if you dr. i/m tomato 23:34  |  shira 05/08/09
  28.   Labras 23:36  |  Edifice 05/08/09
  29.   #24 Dr. (?) L. Brnd. Israel needs more doctors. 23:39  |  Maureen Ann 05/08/09
  30.   Huh? Oh Aluf Benn, really! 23:54  |  sh 05/08/09
  31.   #27 shira haaguaniya - Dr. makes sense 00:09  |  17 06/08/09
  32.   3 minutes of a 24 hour news cycle 00:25  |  allang 06/08/09
  33.   3 minutes of a 24 hour news cycle 01:30  |  allang 06/08/09
  34.   Labhras and 3 billion reasons 01:36  |  Arie 06/08/09
  35.   The template: Assad & Nasrallah: "Hey, I should try that!" 02:07  |  IW 06/08/09
  36.   Edifice--not too bright are you. 02:08  |  Labhras 06/08/09
  37.   David 02:20  |  Jasper 06/08/09
  38.   Poor Gore....his journalists kidnapped 03:24  |  Lynn 06/08/09
  39.   Send Bill to Tehran Next ! 03:58  |  Jimmy 06/08/09
  40.   All that was involved was freeing a couple of diplomats 04:47  |  Kristen Davis 06/08/09
  41.   #29 05:14  |  Rab Burns 06/08/09
  42.   Clinton trip to N. Korea 05:38  |  Richard Pearson 06/08/09
  43.   To Jasper @ 32 05:49  |  David 06/08/09
  44.   The Clintonian model of diplomacy ... 05:54  |  Morris Valentine 06/08/09
  45.   Maybe Israel should take a few lessons from 06:46  |  jim the mechanic 06/08/09
  46.   #40 Jim the Mechanic--you`re right! 07:45  |  IW 06/08/09
  47.   ailing KJ Ill wants nothing more than WJ Clinton`s delivery of 08:15  |  NK state secret 06/08/09
  48.   Pathetic and provincial analysis 08:30  |  Michael N 06/08/09
  49.   Extremely poor journalism 08:41  |  Michael N 06/08/09
  50.   So - Who Do We Send To Meet With Obama In Order To Free Pollard? 08:47  |  Born In The USA 06/08/09
  51.   Oh to be Young Again! 08:50  |  BoredatMidnight 06/08/09
  52.   Morris Valentine--any advice for your side 10:00  |  Labhras 06/08/09
  53.   3 minutes of a 24 hour news cycle 12:00  |  allang 06/08/09
  54.   #46 IW Who`s dellusional? Unilateral and then a siege? 14:32  |  jim the mechanic 06/08/09
  55.   FREE GILAD SHALIT - ICRC CHECK ON HIS STATUS 16:01  |  lily 06/08/09
  56.   bill clinton had absolutely nothing to do with this 21:10  |  Jeff 06/08/09
  57.   Labhras #52 22:57  |  S 06/08/09
  58.   Aluf Benn , I don`t agree, iwth due respect 23:03  |  Ines 06/08/09
  59.   I find quite difficult not to fall in love with Clinton 23:11  |  Ines 06/08/09
  60.   To Labhras - judge, jury, and executioner 07:30  |  Morris Valentine 07/08/09
  61.   Naivete 21:25  |  daat y 10/08/09
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