WORLD NEWS: "U.S., North Korea Talks Are in State of 'Inertia': Kim's Health Raises Uncertainties, Stalls Nuclear Discussions," by Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal, 19 September 2008.
No great surprise that DPRK backtracks from the last agreement with the U.S. As Bush-Cheney winds down in its extreme lame duckness, it seemed wildly optimistic to think we'd get what we wanted from Pyongyang.
Yes, Kim's alleged stroke in mid-August will get us the same outcome, meaning our lame duckness is now matched by his, and so those around him will talk and act tough out of fear.
But then there's the larger pattern, pointed out here by David Asher, a former Bush senior official, of North Korea acting bad and then asking for new talks, so Kim's decline may simply have reset that cycle in motion.
On that basis, then, I'd expect something truly bad from North Korea, given the ruling coalition's fears of life after Kim.
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