Swag Award of the Week August 3-9

I know it's only Wednesday, but I don't think anyone can take the award from Bill Clinton this week. In a 20 hour trip, Clinton flew to North Korea, met with Kim Jong Il and accomplished a feat the U.S. government had been trying to accomplish since March; broker the safe return of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, the two American journalists who were sentenced to 12 years hard labor after being arrested while crossing into N. Korea from China. Clinton and the journalists returned home today to tearful eyes and open arms of family members and Al Gore, who owns the media company the journalists work for.

View the emotional press conference:

Apparently this trip had been in the works for some time as the White House & the N. Korean Foreign Ministry had been engaging in talks for months. Possible candidates to make the trip included Bill Richardson New Mexico governor Bill Richardson as well as former President Al Gore, but the Koreans let it be known that Bill was their choice to engage in talks.

Clinton's visit was the first visit by such a high-ranking U.S. official since then Secretary of State, Madeline Albright visited with N. Korean officials in 2000. According to the White House "Mr. Clinton went to North Korea as a private citizen, did not carry a message from Mr. Obama for Mr. Kim and had the authority to negotiate only for the women’s release"... Right.. Bill Clinton has had a vested interest in N. Korea and its nuclear capabilities since his time a president and officials close to the matter said “It would be someplace between surprising and shocking if there wasn’t some substantive discussion between the former president, who is deeply knowledgeable about the nuclear issue, and Kim Jong-il."

Whatever was said at that table may never be known by anyone who was not in attendance, but the outcome is clear. Two U.S. citizens have been reunited with their families and have escaped a terrible fate thanks to the efforts of Bill Clinton and other U.S. diplomats.

Eight and a half years removed from office, and Bill Clinton's appeal and effectiveness on a global stage cannot be overstated. The fact that he was sought by the Koreans, made the trip there and came back with the two journalists in under 24 hours says something. Someone told me a long time ago that "you have to be in demand to make demands." President Clinton's successful trip embodies that phrase. SWAGGER !!

North Korea flexes its muscle again

North Korea has placed its military on standby and has threatened war if anyone attempts to shoot down what appears to be a test firing of a long range missile.

The North Korean government also cut off a military hotline that it uses to communicate with the South Korean government. This move has stranded hundreds of S. Korean workers who cross the border regularly to work in Kaesong, an industrial city near the DMZ.

The North Korean govt. has also announced plans to launch a communications satellite, which many believe is a front for a long-range missile of reaching Alaska...Uh oh Sarah Palin. 

The missile test firing and the 'communications' satellite launch both violate U.N. Security council regulations that bar North Korea from any kind of ballistic activity.

President Obama's special envoy to N. Korea has already encouraged the N. Korean government to not fire the missile, and has called the launch an "extremely ill-advised move."

PS. The United States currently has 28,500 troops in S. Korea, and 26,000 of those troops along with S. Korean soldiers & a U.S. aircraft carrier began a series of war games today. The military claims these games are not tied in any way to any political or real world event...

Something to keep an eye out on.