On the World Stage

Barack Obama presides over a UN security council meeting on nuclear weapons. Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP

Although I'm sometimes disappointed in President Obama, there are times that I'm quite glad that we have him. One area that I feel he's handling very well is international diplomacy. Today:

Barack Obama today hailed a UN security council resolution on disarmament and non-proliferation as a milestone along the way to "a world without nuclear weapons".

Obama, the first US president to preside over a security council session, said the next twelve months would be "absolutely critical" in ensuring whether the resolution would succeed in reversing the spread of nuclear weapons and setting the world along the path of multilateral disarmament.

He said he had no illusions about the difficulties ahead, but he added "there will also be days like today" when the world came together for the common goal of disarmament and countering proliferation.

Today's resolution calls for the nuclear weapons states to ratify a ban on nuclear testing - something the US senate has yet to do - and negotiate a new treaty to stop the production of fissile material. It also calls for on them to join the disarmament process being led by the US and Russia, who account for more than 90% of the world's nuclear weapons between them.

The document also endorses a string of measures intended to strengthen the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), ahead of a major review conference next May.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/24/nuclear-weapons-un-security-council

I can't imagine shrub engaging the nuclear proliferation issue, or getting any support if he had attempted to. It's nice to have an articulate President who other world leaders listen to with respect.
I know we're a long way from a nuke free world, but as a child of the cold war 'duck and cover' drills, it's nice to see the world getting a little safer.

Clinton in North Korea

Former President Bill Clinton is in Pyongyang, meeting with Kim Jong-Il:

Former President Bill Clinton met Tuesday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on the first day of a surprise visit to Pyongyang, with the "exhaustive" talks covering a wide range of topics, state-run media said.

Kim engaged Clinton in a "wide-ranging exchange of views on matters of common concern," the report said.

Clinton was in communist North Korea on a mission to secure the release of Americans Euna Lee and Laura Ling, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV media venture who were arrested along the Chinese-North Korean border in March and sentenced in June to 12 years of hard labor for illegal entry and
engaging in "hostile acts."

A senior U.S. official confirmed to reporters traveling to Africa with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that the former president was in North Korea to secure their release, but said the White House would not comment until the mission was complete.

"While this solely private mission to secure the release of two Americans is on the ground, we will have no comment," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement. "We do not want to jeopardize the success of former President Clinton's mission."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111528528

This could be quite interesting. Clinton isn't the first former President to go to North Korea; Jimmy Carter went in 1994. But this is a whole new dynamic in international diplomacy, with the former President's wife being the current Secretary of State. Because of this, anything Bill says will be seen as official U.S. policy; even though he doesn't hold any official position, he carries an international gravitas unlike any other individual. In some ways that makes this a brilliant move with regard to the diplomatic impasse with North Korea, as the Obama administration can maintain a plausible distance from any concessions toward formal diplomatic relations, while creating an open conduit for communications. But there are perils with this move, by both creating a new GOP attack talking point and allowing Kim Jong-Il a new propaganda campaign. Relations with North Korea have been an almost impossible dilemma, with no good options available, but this may be the most creative diplomatic move in recent history. Because of the international respect for both Clintons, the world will pay attention.

We'll see how this all plays out, but I'm betting that Bill will get the journalists released. And that's a good place to start.

(Added: Well, that didn't take long. The journalists have been "pardoned", and that they will be released during Clinton's visit. Nice work, Bill Clinton.)