Comment - "President Bush said that if diplomacy failed, he might be forced to turn to military options to prevent the North from making nuclear weapons." This is pretty serious. If not for the Iraq situation, the showdown against North Korea would dominate the headlines.

This story says President Bush is being criticized for refusing to negotiate with the North Koreans. But what is there to negotiate? What is there to discuss? Do critics seriously believe it's in our best interest to reward lunatic dictators who try and blackmail us with a nuclear weapons program?

News - Another gloomy article says the U.S. figures it can't stop North Korea from making weapons, but draws the line at North Korea selling bombs to the highest bidder: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42584-2003Mar4.html

Comment - I still think this is a problem that is mainly China's to solve. The article says "An administration official said Chinese officials have told North Korea that China would consider any attempt to produce nuclear weapons a "direct threat to Chinese national security." While the Chinese told U.S. officials that they made it clear to North Korea they would not accept such a step, the Chinese statement did not address reprocessing or foreign sales of the resulting materials."

News - It's more likely we'll wake up some morning soon and find ourselves at war with Iraq: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/05/international/middleeast/05IRAQ.html

Comment - According to this article, war may not come until late March (apparently the 101st Airborne does not have all its helicopters yet). But I wonder if this is disinformation designed to lull Iraq. Our troops may zip in there tomorrow.

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12:15:41 PM