Political Quotes

“today's Washington Post has a front-page story stating that Japan and China are resisting United States efforts to impose sanctions against North Korea. Yesterday the Scripps-Howard News Service published a column by B.J. Cutler, its chief foreign affairs columnist, which accurately states what our position should be. He wrote this: Before we take a collision course to armed conflict, a number of issues should be clarified for Americans. How many lives are we prepared to sacrifice given recent trends in South Korea? Seoul is not spending enough on its own defense. Its youth is increasingly anti-American, and its bureaucrats discriminate against the United States in trade. Korea is often described as a dagger pointed at the heart of Japan. Please note, ``at Japan's heart.'' Not America's heart. What is Japan going to do militarily if the peninsula erupts? In Korea and in World War I, the answer is: Nothing, except to profit by selling supplies to the American people. Can the American people trust President Clinton and his team, who have shown modest diplomatic and military skills, to effectively wage a land, naval and air war in Asia? The United States should stop boasting that it is ``the only superpower'' and ``the leader of the free world''; it should convene a conference of the foreign and defense ministers of Russia, China, Japan and South Korea to gain their advice. We should say, ``It's your neighborhood, you know North Korea better than we do.”