Posted 11:07 AM by Blah blah

U.S. Angers Yet ANOTHER Ally. North Korea in a Nutshell.

I'm angry today. Sorry for this rant.

I've been closely following this soap opera about North Korea and its drive to develop nuclear weapons. In a major piece of good news this week, N. Korea said it agreed to have nuclear talks with the U.S. and China next week. This is after the U.S. and N. Korea have not been talking for a while, and it followed major pressure on N. Korea from China. Just before they have this critical talk,

"Rumsfeld also said the U.S. has no plans to reward Pyongyang even if it completely abandons its nuclear weapons program.

Fukuda appeared to be irritated by this remark. 'Usually, you don't talk about conditions before talks even begin,' he said."

You sure as hell don't! He has no understanding of diplomacy. Doesn't Rumsfeld understand you keep your mouth shut before any negotiations, especially one as delicate as this? We are talking about potential nuclear war here. He's already stirred up panic and anger in Syria with more stupid, arrogant accusations of them having chemical weapons.

Not only that, but Rumsfeld had ordered plans made for a possible ATTACK on Syria, which Bush actually had to block.

For the history of the major events in this nuclear dispute, please read this timeline (Frontline).

If you are new to this whole story, please start by watching Kim's Nuclear Gamble, the Frontline PBS program I mentioned. You can see the whole thing on the web.

It ends with Bush interrupting the progress that Clinton had made with Kim, by pulling out of the agreements Clinton had already signed with Kim. Kim then angrily stopped dismantling his nuclear material. Bush ended by saying he'd only talk to N. Korea if other countries like China and S. Korea got involved. Kim said no, and he only wished to talk one-on-one with the U.S.

We were stuck. Then this happened:

Good news!
- China Appears to Be Trying to Rein in North Korea. China, afraid of how dangerous this stalemate was getting, started applying pressure on N. Korea. China shut off a major oil pipeline to N. Korea for three days.

N. Korea started to change its mind:
- U.S., North Korea to Begin Talks China Will Serve as Host of Effort to End Stalemate.
- U.S. Makes Concessions for N. Korea Negotiations Washington Shows Signs of Compromise to Get Talks Going.

And now today,
Bad news!

- N. Korea Says It's Extracting Plutonium:

"North Korea said Friday it was reprocessing more than 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods, which U.S. experts have said will give the communist state enough plutonium to make several atomic bombs....The North Korean spokesman emphasized the importance that the North sees in a military deterrent to stave off a possible U.S. attack in the wake of the war against Iraq. 'The Iraqi war teaches a lesson that in order to prevent a war and defend the security of a country and the sovereignty of a nation it is necessary to have a powerful physical deterrent force only,' the unnamed spokesman told North Korea's KCNA news agency."

In other words, the U.S. pre-emptive war on Iraq has scared N. Korea (and China too) to perhaps start continuing weapons development again, to defend itself! :( Just great. The U.S. says it sees no physical evidence of this and that N. Korea is bluffing. The U.S. claims it won't attack N. Korea. Uh huh...right.

- Rumsfeld barb on Pyongyang aid earns angry rebuke from Fukuda. This only hurts everyone at this critical time.
- U.S. considers canceling Beijing North Korea talks. What the hell??