[plenipotentiary]

Bolton does speak the truth. However, politics is the art of the possible. Iran is coming down the track fast. The US will take that one first, then Syria, then the N Koreans.

The N Koreans are being lulled. They are impotent, and their dictator is (hopefully) die-ing

I am repeatedly surprised that people don’t listen to what GWB has said quite openly.

The US will take the Axis of Evil at times and places of the US’s choosing. The State Department are doing what they are told. Make nice with Kim till the time is right.

[AmericanInTokyo]

That is not the prevailing analysis here out in Asia, unfortunately. And I have to agree.

[AmericanInTokyo]

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Joe Biden (D-DE), the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, made the following statement today after North Korea agreed at the Six Party talks in Beijing to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs, to return to the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, and to accept International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards in exchange for energy aid, economic cooperation, and security assurances: "The Bush administration was right to reverse course on North Korea and stop letting ideology get in the way of results. This is evidence that hard-headed engagement offers a greater hope of reining in the North's dangerous nuclear ambitions than the policy paralysis of the past several years."