Is Twitter on George W. Bush's Horizon?
Stone met up with the former president at the World Knowledge Forum, an annual conference sponsored by a South Korean business newspaper, in Seoul. He then posted a picture of him with Mr. Bush along with the following tweet: "President Bush told me he just got a new BlackBerry, will tweets be next?"
As the Los Angeles Times notes, Twitter could be an effective medium for Mr. Bush to continue to cultivate a following and to promote his upcoming book or other appearances.
As the Times' Mark Milian reports, Mr. Bush already seems to have a Twitter username ready, @GeorgeWBush, though it's currently protected and not in active use.
5384003As for his keynote speech at the conference, Mr. Bush talked about the situation in North Korea and defended the actions of his administration during last year's economic crisis.
"We intervened early, we intervened aggressively and we intervened together," Mr. Bush said of the financial crisis, the Associated Press reports.
Mr. Bush said coordinated global action saved the world from a global collapse, saying the "interjection of capital into the financial system helped save our economies."
The former president also addressed his critics from the right side of the political spectrum.
"Some of my decisions ran counter to my philosophy that said people ought to bear responsibility for the financial decisions they make," he acknowledged. But, he said, those decisions were necessary due to "lessons from the Great Depression."
As for North Korea, Mr. Bush said six-party talks are the best way to resolve the standoff with the reclusive communist nation over its nuclear program.
"I believe the best way to bring peace to the Korean peninsula is through multilateral diplomacy through the six-party talks," he said, according to the AP.
Mr. Bush's remarks come at crucial time in negotiations over the future of the talks, which were last held in December. North Korea has been angling for direct talks with the U.S., and a top U.S. diplomat said during a visit to China today that the U.S. would only agree to direct talks if they came with a commitment to also restart the six-party talks.
"Diplomacy with North Korea is very challenging and sometimes it's difficult to know exactly what's going to transpire in terms of your interactions with Pyongyang," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell told reporters in Beijing.
Mr. Bush had a warning about North Korean leader Kim John Il in his Seoul speech, saying he "will no doubt test the system, no doubt try to find weaknesses."