"The ball is the U.S. court," he said.

[rodeodance]

Hardball poker being played by both sides--with dangerous weapons in-between.


Clickable stories in this summary:
http://www.slate.com/id/2116994/fr/nl/

Posted Tuesday, April 19, 2005, at 12:41 AM PT

USA Today teases the conclave and leads with a North Korean diplomat telling the paper Pyongyang has shut down its nuclear reactor in order to harvest fuel for bombs. As yesterday's NYT flagged, the reactor really does seem to be shut down. But nobody knows why and the diplomat could be bluffing about the bombs part. "The ball is the U.S. court," he said. The Wall Street Journal says that if North Korea is telling the truth, the U.S., baring a change of policy, is up-the-creek, particularly since South Korea and China have been expanding links to Pyongyang. "U.S. policy is essentially nowhere," said one analyst. "The U.S. won't negotiate, so there's no chance of a diplomatic settlement. And there's no chance of punishing either because the other countries won't support the U.S......