With these guys as friends...: Poor North Korea. Now even the Russians and Chinese don't like them. For some reason, North Korea scares me more than Iraq. Is it the nuclear missle? Okay, that has something to do with it. But with Iraq, there's always been a bit of sheepish cat-and-mouse about it. Saddam really doesn't want to lose power, much less get killed, but he has to save face by thumbing his nose at the imperialist Americans. Eventually he gives in and with great huffing and puffing, settles down for a long winter's nap. Now I may be wrong, but North Korea doesn't seem to show this penchant for backing down. Maybe the country is that much more removed from reality (Saddam can at least remember 1991), but I can easily see it holding us all hostage with the "do we or don't we" strategy until we give major concessions. Fortunately, we have non-European "allies" in Russia and China, who, for their own reasons, don't want nukes over there any more than we do (being in short-range distance, I can see why). Nonetheless, as long as N.Korea is cagey and just a bit crazy, they will keep the dialogue running. Ultimatums won't work as well over there.