I remember when this sort of thing was denigrated as “John Kerry’s foreign policy,” but frankly, I’m glad to see the Bush administration acting like a bunch of grown-ups:
President Bush’s top advisers have recommended a broad new approach to dealing with North Korea that would include beginning negotiations on a peace treaty, even while efforts to dismantle the country’s nuclear program are still under way, senior administration officials and Asian diplomats say.
Why, it seems only a few years ago that Dick Cheney’s approach to North Korea was “We don’t negotiate with evil, we defeat it.” Of course, refusing to negotiate didn’t really accomplish anything, apart from giving Kim Jong Il time, opportunity, and reason to further North Korea’s nuclear program. It’s at least worth trying to talk (after all, if nothing comes of it, what’s been lost?). Maybe Cheney finally figured that out. Hopefully he’ll realize the same thing about Iran sooner or later.