The Bush administration sees diplomacy as something to be engaged in with another country as a reward for that country's good behavior. They seem not to see diplomacy as a tool to be used with antagonistic countries or parties, that might bring about an improvement in the behaviour of such entities, and a resolution to the issues that trouble us. Thus we do not talk to Iran, Syria, Hizballah or North Korea. We only talk to our friends -- a huge mistake.

I haven't seen the right wing spin on last nights events yet. I'm not sure its out. But the left wing has jumped on this, and their message, frankly, strikes a nerve. We've been avoiding talks with these people for years. If we're not willing to take the casualties associated with war there, and we're not (which is why we provided aid during their famine), then we need to engage in dialog.

Think of NK as the world's biggest hostage situation. We need to talk them down, and reunification of the country is a carrot that we can use in that discussion. We're not doing that, which means we're doing fuck all except being jerks. Had I bothered to really think about NK prior to this event, this conclusion would have been obvious. The problem is now we've made being jerks a matter of will, and so in the wake of this event a shift in our policy is capitualtion. We need a forgein policy with a more nuanced understanding of international relations than "you're either with us or against us."

The reason NK made a bomb...