Information Merry-Go-Round
June 25th, 2008I’ve only got a couple of small notes for you, dear reader, before I head to bed. The first is just my recommendation that you read this article, about the FBI’s file-deletion program and regulations. We often like to think of our age as the “information age,” but while information is easily-accessible today it is also easy-to-destroy, and we often lose sight of this fact. It is unsettling to any student of history to know that priceless records are being destroyed by the FBI.
My second note is on this news story.
North Korea on Thursday is expected to release details on its plutonium stockpile and continue preparations to publicly dismantle a controversial nuclear reactor — key steps meant to assuage international concerns about nuclear activity in the usually secretive Communist nation.
Under an agreement hammered out in six-nation talks that included the United States and China, leaders in Pyonyang agreed to provide a full accounting of the plutonium, “acknowledge” concerns about its nuclear proliferation and uranium enrichment activities and agree to continued cooperation with a process to ensure that no further activities are taking place.
I can’t believe that these negotiations have been going on since, roughly, 1994. I’d like to attribute it to the inefficiency of the Communist system but it’s more a result of paranoia and stonewalling on their side and an unwillingness to communicate on the other side, with China refusing to apply necessary diplomatic pressure alongside us and the other nations generally unable or unwilling to make any strong moves toward nuclear accountability on the Korean Peninsula.