North Korea agreed in talks with 7 powers on February 13th to begin dismantling its nuclear facilities. The U.S. insisted that funds held in Macao would be released when signs of that commitment’s being fulfilled had been received. We have agreed to release the funds. Nothing has happened. North Korea continues building its nuclear facilities.

Yesterday, No. Korea began its talks with So. Korea on military accomodation with a joke about our famously incompetent president.

General Kim’s joke
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Bush goes out jogging one morning and, preoccupied with international affairs, fails to notice that a car is heading straight at him.

A group of schoolchildren pull the president away just in time, saving his life, and a grateful Bush offers them anything they want in the world as a reward.

“We want a place reserved for us at Arlington Memorial Cemetery,” say the children.

“Why is that?” asks Bush.

“Because our parents will kill us if they find out what we’ve done.”

The U.S. has been quite busy shuttling back and forth to Egypt and shoring up its undemocratic elections with high praise about good things to come in the dim future. Egypt is not lifting a finger to aid either the opposition at home, or in international efforts to enlist Egypt to help end the genocide in Darfur.

Mubarak, who also spoke about Darfur during a telephone call with President Bush on yesterday, emphasized that dialogue and not sanctions will solve the conflict, Awad said.
(snip)
Analysts say one reason Cairo is supporting the Sudanese government is to preserve its access to the Nile River, which runs through Sudan before reaching Egypt.

Eric Reeves, a Sudan expert at Smith College in Northampton, Mass., said that includes backing Khartoum’s efforts to prevent southern Sudan from voting for independence in a 2011 referendum that will be held under a 2005 peace agreement that ended a 21-year civil war in the south.

Sudan’s government opposes secessions because much of the country’s oil is in the south, and Egyptians fear an independent southern Sudan could jeopardize the amount of Nile water that reaches Egypt.

“What you see is a convergence of interest between Cairo and Khartoum,” Reeves said.

While Washington is calling for the bigger peacekeeping force in Darfur, experts say the US government is reluctant to pressure Egypt too strongly because it needs Egyptian help elsewhere in the region.

The respect that the cretin in chief has thrown away was the card that the U.S. held in negotiations up until his residency in the White House. Without that respect, the U.S. has little sway in the international scene. Without wisdom at its helm, the U.S. is the subject of laughter, as well as disdain.

The misappointments like Wolfowitz and Bolton are among many stumbles the executive branch has made. We have been subjected to a legacy of poo flinging, and now the flung-at are returning that favor.

In 2008 that lesson should be firmly held up for the voters to see and understand as they choose the next person to entrust this country to.