Fallout

So there's an interesting backlash to the Clinton trip to free Euna Lee and Laura Ling from North Korea's tender mercies.

John Bolton, the charming Bush-era U.N. ambassador called this "perilously close to negotiating with terrorists", apparently.

Politically there appears to be a great deal of concern that this gave credibility and status to Kim Il Jong.

Bolton's jackassery aside, some of the critics may have valid points, but I guess it's too soon to tell.

Frankly, if people are all that up-in-arms over North Korea getting attention, maybe more should have been done to stop them getting nukes? Just seems like it's a little late in the game to be worrying about giving them attention. They're already doing an impressive job of getting attention to themselves.

So it goes back to Lee and Ling. From what I've been able to figure out from the news coverage on their capture, they were near the North Korea-China border and got snagged. Like the three Americans recently grabbed along the Iran-Iraq border, they may not have even known they'd crossed the border... assuming they did. It's not too much of a stretch to imagine North Korean soldiers crossing the border to grab Lee, Ling, their cameraman, and their guide (the latter two managed to escape capture by the North Koreans).

It seems pretty obvious that Lee and Ling were being used as political tools to get attention. Tools with a limited shelf-life as both had medical problems and probably would not have done well in a North Korean labor camp.

I, for one, am happy their story seems to have had a happy resolution. It must be a huge relief for them and their families. I hope the three Americans held in Iran get a similar happy ending.

I'd also like North Korea to get de-nuked and learn to play nice with the other kids.

And, since I'm listing out my wishes, I'd like a couple million dollars, tax-free.

Hey, can't hurt to mention it.