Daily Inspiration Quote by Mitchell Reiss

Diplomats rarely speak in absolutes, and Mitchell Reiss’s hedged opener - “I’m not sure” - is doing more work than it admits. It signals professional caution while quietly delivering a verdict: the North (in context, almost certainly North Korea) is structured to defeat speed, simplicity, and the Western appetite for neat policy wins. The line reads like a preemptive rebuttal to every headline craving a breakthrough summit, a “grand bargain,” or a sanctions lever that magically produces compliance.

The phrase “quickly or easily” matters because it names the fantasy Reiss is puncturing. Negotiations with highly securitized, authoritarian states don’t fail only because of ideology; they fail because delay is a strategy. Time allows the regime to manage internal politics, extract concessions, test red lines, and keep adversaries off balance. “The North” also functions as a diplomatic euphemism - a way to depersonalize a leadership and instead describe a system: insulated, suspicious, and optimized for survival over rapprochement.

There’s an implicit critique of Washington’s own habits, too. The U.S. tends to cycle between impatience and overconfidence: throw pressure at the problem, then expect rapid behavioral change. Reiss’s intent is to reset expectations and, by extension, policy design. If nothing can be done quickly, then the real work becomes endurance: verification regimes, incremental steps, coordination with allies, and the political stamina to treat negotiations not as an event, but as a long, grinding contest over credibility and leverage.