[Cindy]

Thank you GarryOwen2006 for that update.

[SevenofNine]

OH Wow rack it Garry

[hsalaw]

Well, well, well. This is interesting.

[montag813]

And the phony dance continues, to the strains of a Cantonese tune. And China once again looks like the reasoned party, the straight man to Kim Jong-Il's fanatic. And we all play along. What a farce.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Sounds like the little Korean Pot-bellied pig might have screwed the pooch.

[Echo Talon]

hmmm wonder if it was still a fake nuke... lol

[Soul Seeker]

Why?

Are the sanctions going to have teeth? be watered down? have the Chinese finally believed he's uncontrollable even by them?

Since China is involved, I'll wait and see for the answers.

[ARealMothersSonForever]

whoopie ducking foo

And there it is.

[Billthedrill]

We'll see. Kim wants a successful test primarily for the publicity, but China wants to keep the Japanese guessing instead of committed to their own nuclear program. Kim's in a bit of a spot at the moment - his test didn't convince the people it was supposed to and Japan was alarmed anyway. That's a lose-lose proposition from Kim's point of view.

I think he'll try again. He doesn't have a lot of choice at this point.

[pawdoggie]

We may not have that much leverage over Kim Jong Il, but we do have an enormous balance of trade deficit with the Chinese that we could start "reducing" if the ChiComs won't play ball. Sounds like they may have already figured that out.

[TigerLikesRooster]

A major geopolitical realignment of E. Asia may have started in earnest. More than 50 years of post-Korean War political order in E. Asia is coming to an end.

[Dallas59]

With conditions on the conditions...

[LibWhacker]

Clicked on the link. Might have missed something, but as far as I can tell the story is that someone in South Korea said someone in China told him that China may sign on to UN sanctions. Lol, don't get too excited, folks.

[Stallone]

A: Marxism and Islamofascism.
Q: Name two political movements that were destroyed in January 2007.

[GSlob]

Good if true, but I'll believe it when I see it. There are certain mutual affinities between the despots even when they speak different languages.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Oh, my...China basically telling Mini-Me he's on his own!

[the invisib1e hand]

yeah, the last thing China needs is a credible threat to its status as 900 pound gorilla.

[the invisib1e hand]

yeah, the last thing China needs is a credible threat to its status as 900 pound gorilla.

[piytar]

That's just slightly huge

What's really going on here, though? Kim Jong-Ill (mispelled on purpose) has (a) embarassed China and (b) done something that is making Japan about seriously considering getting/making nukes. China will not abide either. But they aren't about to fight Japan again -- they've lost every time they've tried. A nice, peaceful, consumption-based Japan is what they want.

If Ill doesn't back down -- and NOW -- his days are numbered. Ironically, it won't be the US that takes him down, it will be China. Strange bedfellows indeed...

[drierice]

I don't post often but here's another viewpoint: China's support for sanctions sounds encouraging. My problem is that I have a hard time trusting breaking media reports and a harder time trusting China or N. Korea.

We don't know what behind the scenes discussions may have occurred between China and NK. China may have told NK they must support sanctions (because of the Olympics, etc.) but that China would veto any meaningful ones.

Another possibility (a hunch) is that China is leery of NK's growing friendship with Iran, and wants to take Kim Mentally-il down a peg. Bottom line: We just don't know what China intends, but it 'sounds' good.