It’s like the old ‘we do not talk with terrorists’ line, diplomacy only works when it operates without tedious rules and when short term losses of face are forsaken for long term goals that will bring a safer world and a resort to discussion before warfare.

Indeed. I’ve actually got a degree of sympathy for (some) people who worry about the message you send out by flying top US officials flying out to the world’s various despotic hinterlands. It is, in some ways, a slightly cynical thing to do, because it suggests that US interests will always come above a state’s human rights abuses in diplomatic relations. But the thing is, I just don’t see how there is any alternative at present. Certainly in the example of Burma, you could argue that one of the reasons they’re flirting with acquiring nuclear technology is because of a paranoia built up over years of isolationism & castigation from the international community. Maybe with slightly improved dialogue that’ll change, I don’t know, but there is little to be lost at this stage by trying.

I have no truck with people who have knocked CLinton and thus the Obama administration for the photo taken in North Korea, or those that say that by going to Burma you give credence to the regime.

It’s like the old ‘we do not talk with terrorists’ line, diplomacy only works when it operates without tedious rules and when short term losses of face are forsaken for long term goals that will bring a safer world and a resort to discussion before warfare.