Friday, September 07, 2007

Just when we thought we were doing too much APEC blogging

A real diplomatic disaster occurs. This one speaks for itself. What's supposed to be a bland press availability after a meeting where George Bush is just reading from whatever his handlers wrote for him. This one with South Korean president Roh. The context is that there is still no peace treaty from the Korean War -- one which George Bush now holds up as an example of the possible good outcomes from Iraq.

Bush first stated his position that there can be no treaty until North Korea gets rid of nuclear weapons, which is a higher hurdle than the unificationist South Koreans want, but then tried to be a little too blandly upbeat:

And so I'm optimistic. There's still more work to be done. But nevertheless, Mr. President, when we have worked together we have shown that it's possible to achieve the peace on the Korean Peninsula that the people long for.

Note in particular the tense. President Roh clearly did (go to 8m mark on video) --

I think I might be wrong -- I think I did not hear President Bush mention the -- a declaration to end the Korean War just now. Did you say so, President Bush?

PRESIDENT BUSH: I said it's up to Kim Jong-il as to whether or not we're able to sign a peace treaty to end the Korean War. He's got to get rid of his weapons in a verifiable fashion. And we're making progress toward that goal. It's up to him.

PRESIDENT ROH: I believe that they are the same thing, Mr. President. If you could be a little bit clearer in your message, I think --

PRESIDENT BUSH: I can't make it any more clear, Mr. President. We look forward to the day when we can end the Korean War. That will end -- will happen when Kim Jong-il verifiably gets rid of his weapons programs and his weapons.


Bush's boosters like to think that his botched English is the only thing between him and Churchill. But there's a real cost to lack of clarity in a complex world.

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