[copycat]

Unless the United States promptly engages Pyongyang in dialogue and sends back the monitoring team to watch over the North Korean nuclear program, the world may soon be facing a dangerous situation.

No problem this Iraq thing should be wrapped up in a few short weeks.

NK has demanded to speak ONLY with the US regarding this "situation." This is a clear sign that this "bluster" is designed to a)damage Bush politically b)forestall an attack on Iraq with the help of their fellow traveles like Uncle Ted.

[Steel Wolf]

Their demands for dialog and recognition may seem benign enough, but once the negotiations begin, the Bush administration will find, as did Clinton's negotiators in 1993, that talking with North Korea involves an ever-deepening commitment to shoring up the dictatorial regime. Nonetheless, that may still be worthwhile, because the longer the US waits, the greater the risk to the security of East Asia and the world.

This is a great article right up until the very last line. The risk is that either North Korea goes under while clucthing a handful of nuclear weapons, or that it goes under clutching hundreds. The risk is also that they sell nuclear weapons to whoever can afford them, to keep their precious regime afloat.

This problem is about to get so far out of hand as to become absurd. We've already lost our chance to stop them before they got nuclear weapons. Now it just a matter of how bad will the bill be when we finally decide to pay it?

Or, how much will it cost when the creditors come knocking?