A Poor Little Naughty Child

If you see the world as a community of nations , you would find these nations are like different types of individuls. Right now, as far as I can see, North Korea must be a poor little naughty child.

A week ago, in the much chauvinist-toned State of Union Address a, Bush made no mention of the country in question. That must have pissed off North Korea. Now, Pyongyang admits, for the first time, that in fact it has nuclear weapons of some sort. It wants to drop out of the 6-nation negotiations. And it wants to have bilateral discussions with U.S., the big guy... "Hey, good or bad, am i not even up at the same level as Iran?" The kid sure has got the attention he wants. But "stay where you are and wait for your turn," says hunky corky Americans as it enters the Rooster year, rejecting the bilateral demand today.

The new iron-woman Condi Rice is not letting go with Iran as yet. To Iran, she said something to the effect, "Do what you are told, otherwise face the next step." Last night, my TV main man David Letterman speculated, "This next step will be the fabrication of facts. And then we march in... "

We could only hope this is Pyongyang's way of playing diplomacy or bargaining, as some senior experts in Washington pointed out. The sad truth is, when you are poor and the size of a potato, you don't have many options when it comes to diplomacy. You are either bullied or you have to beg, nicely. With the tens of million of people at the brink of starvation, North Korean is basically left with no choice. Again, this is only my wishful thinking.