Kathreb

The role of Jimmy Carter will be played by Bill Richardson in the upcoming sequel, "Agreed Framework II"

In the much anticipated "Agreed Framework II" Governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson will play the part of intermediary to North Korea. In the first episode, you may recall, former President Jimmy Carter headed over to Pyongyang at the critical moment and got a breakthrough agreement that allowed for negotiations to proceed in creating the original Agreed Framework.

In the sequel Mr. Richardson will head to Pyongyang at a similarly crucial stage in the negotiations (ie: the stage when they come to a crushing halt). Like the original trip the negotiator is not altogether a welcome feature on the scene, the guy being a Democrat and having been US Ambassador to the UN under Clinton, but since there is little alternative and the North Koreans seem to like him the US administration is supporting his trip. Or at least, not stopping it. To prevent any confusion over the roles, Carter made clear before he left for Pyonyang in 1994 that he was not an official of the administration and was acting as a concerned US citizen and low and behold,

The Democratic governor said Friday he won't represent the United States as an official negotiator. He said the trip is intended "to move the diplomatic process forward" after an agreement last month in which North Korea said it would give up the arms program in return for economic aid and security assurances."I want to be helpful as an American citizen," he said.

Of course, it is always disappointing when sequels play out too close to the original. Especially when the original Agreed Framework had such a dismal and predictable ending. Sadly, it seems that Washington has all the imagination of Hollywood as this political sequel continues to follow down the same predictable bad-plot path as last time. Although predicting that Kim Jong Il might die before year's end like his Father did may be going too far.

Permalink Post a Comment