Victoire à-la-Bush

Le site MediaMatters.org signale un contraste saisissant dans les explications données pour justifier ou pour expliquer l’attitude de temporisation et d’apeasment de l’administration GW Bush dans la crise nord-coréenne. Il oppose l’analyse de Newsweek à celle d’un spécialiste des questions nord-coréennes.

« In the July 5 article, Wolffe and Bailey offered three reasons for the Bush administration's “mild” response: the tests failed, the administration “is pushing at an open door” regarding sanctions against North Korea, and the administration is content to allow North Korea to commit diplomatic “blunders.” Wolffe and Bailey cited only unnamed White House officials in offering these reasons for the administration's response.

» From the July 5 article:

» “Why was there such a mild response to the missile launches when the administration spoke so darkly about them before they took place? One explanation is that the launches were a flop. ‘You have to remember that they fired six missiles of short- to medium-range that splashed into the ocean,’ said one senior administration official. “That technology stems from World War II. And the other longer-range missile failed 42 seconds after launch. What was Kim Jong Il thinking? Did he improve his negotiating position? Does it strike fear into the hearts of those who sit down with him?’”

» “Another explanation for the low-key response is that the administration is pushing at an open door. Its only demand is for North Korea to return to the six-party talks — not for sanctions to topple the regime, which China would never impose. China already supports a return to the talks, which it has hosted, and rejects what it considers to be emotional talk of sanctions at the U.N. [...]

» “When it comes to the diplomacy surrounding North Korea, the Bush administration believes its biggest help comes from Pyongyang's own blunders. With enemies like North Korea, the president's aides think there's little need to go on the warpath. »

A cela, le site oppose diverses analyses, dont la plus significative dans sa simplicité est celle de Gordon Chang, auteur de Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes On the World (Random House, janvier 2006), le 4 juillet sur CNN:

« Kitty Pilgrime (guest host): Now, is the response by the Bush administration, in your estimate, the right one? Is this the right way to go about it?

» Chang: Well, I think that it is right for the Bush administration not to get rattled and not to overplay it. But we have to remember that the White House wants to downplay this because they don't want to highlight the failure of American policy for the last five years. This is not just a Bush failure. This failure is evident from administration to administration. The United States is large and North Korea is small, but they always seem to be one step ahead of us. »

Mis en ligne le 7 juillet 2006 à 20H05