|| -----Original Message-----
|| From: Doug Henwood (...)
|| I just
|| heard a press conference by former Senator Sam Nunn - a hawkish
|| Democrat - who was clearly, though discreetly, distressed by Bush's
|| rhetoric about North Korea. He said (and this is very close to a
|| direct quote): "The State Department made it clear that Bush wasn't
|| speaking necessarily of a military response, though that's the way it
|| was interpreted. There's a lot of diplomatic work to be done."
||
It's more likely Nunn is worried about unilateral US threats losing their credibility rather than unilateralism per se. Just as the EU and ME are opposed - Israel (and Jordan, for what it means) excepted - to military action against Iraq & Iran, ASEAN is totally opposed to action against North Korea. Dubya is spitting against the wind. It's very likely nothing much will come of these threats, just as nothing will come of the "war against terrorism". So what Nunn said should be read as "do the diplomatic homework before you make threats".
Hakki