I was tempted to add "BREAKING" to the title, but I listened to my best judgements and decided not to.
So.....
On to the b*****g news...It appears that Megalomanic Extraordinaire has expressed "regret" about conducting the nuclear experiment last week to a Chinese delegation...
More from the
Associated Press via Yahoo:
"If the U.S. makes a concession to some degree, we will also make a concession to some degree, whether it be bilateral talks or six-party talks," Kim was quoted as telling a Chinese envoy, the mass-circulation Chosun Ilbo reported, citing a diplomatic source in China.
Kim told the Chinese delegation that "he is sorry about the nuclear test," the newspaper reported.
Now let me make this clear: I'm not sure how much stock one can put into this human mutation-gone-awry's words. I have no idea if he is actually serious, or whether the U.S. can actually negotioate with him in good faith. What is clear however, is that the Bush administration dropped the ball (biggest understatement of all time) on the threat they posed--choosing instead to call them names as our official policy while bogging down our miliary in Viatnam Redux with a country that posed no threat. They share about as much resposibility for this mess as does Kim Jong Il's mental instabilities.
If he is sincere, or mostly sincere...or even somewhat sincere, then there is absolutely no reason to continue a hard line Bolton/Rumsfeld approach to our policy that will only make matters worse by agitating the Crazy Man unnecesaarily. China is playing a huge role here and I hope that something good can come out of this.
However...don't count on it while we have the Moustached-Hotel Lobby-Chaser/Stalker in charge of our North Korea policy. But at least some degree of good news has come out.