South Korea Cool to Europe’s Offer. Reportedly disappointed by a cool reception when he met with Dubya two weeks ago, South Korean president Kim may have signalled the EU that he would welcome their ministrations on behalf of the stalled reconciliation process with North Korea, but a South Korean spokesperson is now backing away from European offers to intercede. Dubya may have been irked by Kim’s standing firm about reservations about the NMD program; in any case, the Shrub appears to have expressed his stereotypical kneejerk skepticism about whether the Communist North could be trusted in the peace process. Attaboy, George, another sophisticated blow for world peace. I’ll bet the U.S. has placed pressure on Kim not to embarrass us publicly by going with the European, more conciliatory view. International Herald Tribune

This, and all foreign policy moves by the Shrub’s admiistration, have to be watched through the lens of the now-well-publicized divisions among his foreign policy team. New York Times Recall, at about the time we were all worried about the Ashworth nomination for Attorney General, I took note of analysts who suggested that Donald Rumsfeld’s accession to the Defense Dept. was really the one progressives should have tried to defeat. It appears that Rumsfeld is collecting a group of hardliners who scoff at Colin Powell’s more thoughtful and, literally, diplomatic — although by no means liberal — approach at the State Dept. Foreign policy theaters in which their doctrinal differences will be tested include engagement in the Balkans, the European rapid deployment force, arming the Iraqi opposition to Saddam Hussein, reform of our sanctions program in Iraq, the destabilization of the arms race with Russia and to a lesser extent China by the national missile defense proposals, selling advanced weapons systems to Taiwan, and the above-mentioned Korean issues, where the Clinton administration proposed the North give up missile programs in return for our provision of several nuclear reactors. VP Cheney may well turn out to be a power broker in this internal conflict, and is assembling a powerful foreign policy team around himself as well. Analysts see him as tilting toward the Pentagon’s position. So far, where Condoleeza Rice situates herself in the hurly-burly is not clear. What’s a poor President to do? It ought to be entertaining to watch, at least … if it doesn’t get us all killed.