Spartacus

Spartacus: "Kerry v. Bush on the issues
With all the fun we've been having watching Dan Rather twist in the wind over his use of forged documents to smear the president, its been too easy to take our eyes off the real issues at stake in this election.
On of those real issues facing the US is what to do about the unstable hereditary dictactor armed with nuclear weapons in Northeast Asia, within missile range of parts of North America, all of Japan much of the rest of Asia. Bill Rammell, the ministerial-level envoy from the UK Foreign Office who just ended a four-day visit to North Korea, essentially said that North Korea will drag its heals about continuing six-party talks on disarmament until after the US elections. According to Reuters:
Rammell said the U.S. election in November had featured in his talks and North Korea was weighing whether it would have to deal in future with President Bush, who early in his tenure declared the isolated state part of an 'axis of evil' alongside Iran and pre-war Iraq, or Democratic candidate John Kerry.
As we have previously noted, it is clear that the North Koreans would prefer to negotiate with John Kerry. As today's lead editorial in the WSJ observes:
Under the arms control agreement negotiated by the Clinton Administration--the so-called Agreed Framework of 1994--the U.S. attempted to buy off Pyongyang with fuel oil and two light water reactors in exchange for North Korea giving up its nuclear program. But as soon as the North deemed it convenient, it repudiated that pact, booted U.N. inspectors out of the country, and turned off the TV cameras monitoring its nuclear facilities at Yongbyon. It then began demanding even a larger payoff in return for giving up the nuclear program it had earlier vowed it didn't have.
Having been burned once, the Bush Administration has since been trying (in concert with our Asian allies) t"