Thread: A perfect example of Incompetence

The Bush administration is not only evil but also completely incompetent (thank God).

Case in Point: North Korea

When Bush Junior came into power, they threw all kind of shit to Clinton for surrendering to NK demands for exchanging oil against nuclear peace. They claimed it was irresponsible and that we shouldn't talk to our ennemies and cut funding, which they did. The end result was logical: NK resumed their nuclear research facilities since their agreement with the US was terminated.

Fast forward 7 years later and you have the Bush administration back to the negotiating table with NK over an "oil for nuclear peace" exchange deal. What the fuck happened ? basically they are back to pre-Clinton negotiation over the same deal that was undone by their very administration. Isn't that kind of completely stupid and humiliating ? how can you be taken seriously by your ennemy with that kind of pattern ?

Basically, Bush actions have given 7 more years for NK to develop their nuclear facilities, giving them more power for negotiating a peace deal, and forcing the Bush administration to lose face over the whole original tantrum. Not an entirely bad thing I might add.


But wait it gets better:

- Last year the US Treasury by order of the President blacklisted a Macau Bank for giving banking facilities to NK, forcing the bank to freeze North Korea USD accounts. The bank was basically shutdown internationally.

- But then a few months later, after heavy negociation, NK agree to shutdown one reactor as a good will measure for further negociation (remember they need oil) but they ask to be returned their 25 millions USD freezed earlier. Fair game, everybody agrees and the US Treasury asks for the bank to release the funds.

- This is when it gets funny: the bank can't release the funds because they are in violation of International US Treasury rules, and they would need a reverse ruling of the US Treasury to release the funds, but the US Treasury can't and won't reverse the ruling for some technical reasons (probably because the original ruling was on very thin ground or even illegal)

- Without the funds, NK refuses to shutdown the reactor, and this has been going on back and forth for the last 3 months, each accusing the other of cheating on their end of the bargain. The US Treasury was so desperate that they plead with the bank that they earlier shutdown, to find a quick solution. But why would the bank find a quick solution to a problem they didn't create ? and how could they ? and why should they be held responsible for something that is beyond them ? All because of the incompetence of the US Treasury ?

- So basically the negotiation have stalled once again because once again the Bush administration has been unable to deliver its end of the bargain thanks to its own stupidity and ill thought actions. In the meantime, NK keeps working on its nuclear activities.

The official story here:

Originally Posted by WSJ

Reprieve for Macau Bank? U.S., Alleging Ties With North Korea,
May Ease Sanctions
By JAY SOLOMON and DEBORAH SOLOMON
June 13, 2007

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Treasury Department is discussing a plan to ease the lifting of sanctions on a Macau bank at the center of a stalled agreement to dismantle North Korea's nuclear program.

In March, the agency barred all U.S. financial institutions from doing business with Banco Delta Asia, alleging that the Macau bank had engaged in money laundering and other illicit activities on behalf of the North Korean government, and aided Pyongyang's pursuit of nonconventional weapons. The bank has denied the charges.

The U.S. agreed, however, to facilitate the bank's release of some $25 million in North Korean funds that had been frozen by Macau authorities, as part of a broader agreement that would result in Pyongyang's giving up its nuclear-weapons program. The U.S. has also said it would consider lifting the sanctions on BDA on condition that its politically powerful owner, Stanley Au, sell the family-owned bank.

Even as the U.S. and other countries involved in the "six-party talks" on denuclearizing the Korean peninsula finally worked out a way last week to allow the transfer of the funds to Pyongyang -- through a North Korea-controlled bank account in Russia -- Beijing and Mr. Au are still pressing Treasury to lift the blacklist status from BDA.

China, which regained control of Macau in 1999, has voiced concern that the blacklisting of BDA could harm the former Portuguese colony's growing role as a leading financial and gaming center for Asia, said U.S. officials. Meanwhile, Mr. Au, a Macau legislator and one-time finalist to become the territory's governor, has aggressively fought demands to sell a bank that has been in his family since the 1930s.

China, which until recent years enjoyed close relations with its communist neighbor, has played a major role in the North Korean disarmament talks.

In an effort to broker a compromise, Treasury officials are discussing new preconditions that would allow BDA's blacklist designation to be lifted without requiring Mr. Au to sell the bank, people familiar with the matter said. Options include requiring Mr. Au to pay fines for BDA's alleged illicit activities and to guarantee new reforms at the bank. Another possibility would be for Mr. Au to retain ownership of BDA but to give up operational control and take on nonexecutive status, the people said.

U.S. officials have said they want assurances that BDA will no longer be run by individuals who they believe have engaged in illicit activities in the past.

Mr. Au and his lawyers have repeatedly denied that he had supported illicit North Korean activities. The Macanese Monetary Authority, which took over management of BDA in 2005 after Treasury's allegations sparked a run on the bank, has initiated a number of structural reforms at BDA and implemented new, antimoney-laundering rules for Macau.

Both Mr. Au and BDA declined to respond to questions concerning any efforts to remove the bank from the blacklist. A Treasury spokeswoman also declined to comment.


Lifting the sanctions on BDA could open Treasury to criticism that it let North Korea off the hook and essentially bowed to pressure from Beijing. A number of conservative critics, including former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, argue that the White House relinquished an important tool for leverage when it agreed to return the $25 million to Pyongyang.

The blacklisting of BDA is seen as another important tool for the U.S. to pressure North Korea and China, they said.

A number of U.S. officials close to the talks cautioned that any lifting of the BDA sanction could still be months off and wouldn't necessarily allow Mr. Au to retain ownership of the bank. They also said the issue of the blacklisting has been separated from the dispute over the $25 million.

"I'd caution against anything happening soon" on the sanctions issue, said one U.S. official.

The BDA dispute has sparked tensions between the State Department and Treasury, said people close to the matter. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has pressed senior Treasury officials to resolve the BDA issue to allow the North Korean disarmament process to move ahead. Treasury argues that this entails a complicated process involving numerous U.S. agencies, including the Justice Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service.

In recent days, the U.S. and Russia have agreed to a plan to return Pyongyang's $25 million to a North Korean-controlled bank in Russia. Pyongyang's inability to find an international bank that would accept the funds had held up their transfer back to North Korea for months. Pyongyang has refused to implement the next step in the denuclearization agreement -- shutting down its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon -- until it receives the funds.

U.S. officials are hopeful that a settlement of the financial issue can allow the six-party talks to resume in the coming weeks. But there are still many who fear that Pyongyang could still find other ways to stall on implementing its disarmament commitments. U.S. officials hope that with the financial issues resolved, pressure will then fall squarely on Kim Jong Il for failing to live up to his commitments, rather than on the U.S.