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FINALLY. . .Kurt Campbell Sworn in to Deal with Asia
Share / Recommend - Comment - Print - Tuesday, Jun 30 2009, 4:40PM
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Center for a New American Security Co-Founder and CEO Kurt Campbell has finally been sworn in today as Barack Obama's Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs, the position most recently held by the newly appointed US Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill.
Senator Sam Brownback had a hold on Campbell for a very long time -- and I was working on a blog post preparing to blast the Kansas Senator for his irresponsibility in holding up this nomination and for allowing a simmering cauldron on the Korean Peninsula to near dangerous levels without an Asst Secretary of State in place to focus attention on what was going on there.
Fortunately, I no longer need to do this -- and Campbell, whose spouse is the Under Secretary of Treasury for International Affairs nominee Lael Brainard, can now give the misbehaving North Korea leadership some of the American attention it craves so much.
North Korea will continue to be a mess -- but it is vital to have someone focused on what is really happening there. I have been a fan of some of our Korea handlers in the past -- like Evans Revere who now heads the Korea Society in New York, Ambassador Stephen Bosworth who heads the Fletcher School at Tufts and is now a part time North Korea envoy, Christopher Hill who is now in Baghdad, and now Kurt Campbell.
This is a vital region that more than anything else needs high level American attention and involvement -- and until this swearing in ceremony today of Kurt Campbell, the Obama administration was not giving enough of either.
-- Steve Clemons
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Reader Comments (9) - post a comment
OK, here's a question: now that State has an Asst. Sec. for East Asia, what is this Bosworth fellow supposed to be doing? I'd never call myself an expert, but North Korea doesn't strike me as a part-time job.
"blast the Kansas Senator for his irresponsibility"
Might not there still be some way to make it a matter of public record that this sort of misguided use of this senatorial privilege is truly irresponsible, and this case jeopardized US foreign policy in this critical area? What is wrong with the good senator?
North Korea went off track thanks to the Bush administration. Brownback (R-KS) is extending that legacy and taking advantage of the current confusion in the White House.
As in other matters, the Obama administration is sending out different messages.
Obama (whitehouse.gov): "We have pledged to work with our partners to achieve the denuclearization of North Korea through the Six-Party process."
Campbell: "If confirmed, I would use close bilateral and trilateral coordination with Tokyo and Seoul to make clear that neither the United States nor its allies will accept a nuclear North Korea."
Two, three or six, which is it?
Brownback wants sanctions, not negotiations, and he sat on Hill and Campbell to make his point.
Are special representatives like Bosworth, Holbrooke, and Mitchell, who report to the White House, there to keep Hilary Clinton in line?
Some similarities: ‘warhammer’ is a very social game in China, just like here.
People play with people they already know. Boyfriend and girlfriend may play or husband and wife.
Hopefully, the new US envoy( Mr Kurt Campbell) to the pacific rim would do his best to confront the emerging challenges that the United States faces in this volatile region.
Thanks for posting the article, was certainly a great read!
Haha check out that stupid runescape spam-bot.
Apparently found a way to get past the captchas.
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