Former President Bill Clinton showed up in North Korea today on a private good will mission to get the North Koreans to release two jailed American journalists.
The trip is risky at many levels, but all things considered it is probably a brilliant move. Why? Go below the fold for more
Former President Bill Clinton's trip to North Korea is risky at several levels. The former President could go off script as he does sometimes. The trip could threaten his wife's credibility as 'the one in charge.' The North Korean's could go off script and keep the girls - making the Americans and Bill Clinton look foolish. The North Korean's could feel rewarded for their recent saber-rattling episodes with nukes and missiles.
Of course, a lot could go right. Principally, Clinton provides a face saving way for the North Koreans to return to nuke reduction talks.
The trip may also turn out to be a brilliant political move for a very odd reason. It has been clear for some time that Kim Jong Il may be having a little trouble with reality. By some reports he thinks that North Korean efforts to put a satellite into orbit worked. There are also reports generally that his aides give him news about North Korean successes that don't always match reality.
So is it possible that Kim Jong Il has forgotten (or never really knew) that Bill Clinton is no longer President of these United States? If there's even a chance that is possible, then Clinton's trip may turn out to be a brilliant device for helping North Korean and American Realists give Kim Jong Il want he says he wants - proper recognition from the Americans and their Leader.