Reply #18: The story so far...

[Junkdrawer]

N. Korea is literally starving.

In the past, they have used the threat to "go nuclear" to get fuel and food. The NeoCons have decided not to play that game and instead are trying to starve them to the negotiating table in a position of weakness.

Recently, Japan was trying to help turn the screws by shutting down the Pachinko (a mixture of slot machine and pinball) gambling parlors run by N. Koreans (one of N. Korea's last sources of hard cash).

N. Korea has seen the bluff and is raising by stating they are getting ever closer to refining plutonium into a bomb.

And now, N. Korea is starting to instigate small arms exchanges in the DMZ.

They are a cornered, starving people. The last time this game was played, "Reagan defeated the Evil Empire". But, it just so happened that a much more sane man, Gorbachev, was the head of the USSR. This time it's a marginal madman named Kim Jong-il.

How will this poker game turn out? Stay tuned.