North Korea

It seems quite interesting, this slow dance that North Korea is involved in with the rest of the world, but specifically the US. It is now confirmed that they did in fact test a nuclear device. After which they again reiterated their desire to talk with the US one-on-one. The US said that they would not participate in that kind of negotiation, but only in the previous six nation configuration.
The US then pressed ahead, with Japan and several other nations, to agree to sanctions against North Korea. North Korea had previously said that they would consider any such actions an act of war.
Sanctions now in place, North Korea has said that it considers the sanctions an act of war and that they will conduct another nuclear device test. It seems likely that they do indeed have enough material to conduct at least one more test, and perhaps many.
The sanctions themselves may or may not be what the US really wants, since China has agreed that they will stop and search North Korean ships, but will not confiscate any materials, legal or otherwise found aboard those vessels. Other nations have not stated whether or not they will actually make any confiscations. But it certainly seems that this could force an escalation of the situation in a rather short time.
We already know that due to the Bush Administration's approach, this matter has been exacerbated. What we don't know is how far they are willing to push this issue of not negotiating one-on-one. Based upon past performance, one can only hope that wiser folks will soon be on the scene to force a rather more rational approach.
It is my opinion that North Korea is in a very sad state. There is no doubt that they cannot feed their own populace, which is why they had been receiving large amounts of outside food aid. Sanctions rarely, if ever, work. See Cuba for an example of how irrational they are. And, if North Korea sees itself as being forced into a corner, I have no doubt that they will make strike out. This is not in anyone's best interest. At some point, the populace, which has been starved and beaten into submission for 50+ years, will themselves take action and end the regime. This action which is now being taken, cannot in my opinion serve the better good.



If the Republican Pary cannot protect the Page's who are in their midst, how in the hell can you expect them to protect the nation?