One Less Axis of Evil State?
North Korea to Close Reactor in Exchange for Raft of Aid
The NYT headline lacks gravitas, in my opinion. Gave me a mental image of rafts of food and fuel be floated over to North Korea.
Anyway...
The partner nations agreed to provide roughly $400 million in various kinds of aid in return for the North starting a permanent disabling of its nuclear facilities and allowing inspectors into the country.
Perhaps equally important, the United States and Japan agreed to discuss normalizing relations with Pyongyang. The United States will begin the process of removing North Korea from its designation as a terror-sponsoring state and also on ending U.S. trade and financial sanctions.
Among the negotiators, Japan did not agree to the aid package, however, saying it first needs to work out further bilateral issues regarding abductions by the North.
The accord sets a 60-day deadline for North Korea to accomplish the first steps toward disarmament, and leaves until an undefined moment — and to another negotiation — the actual removal of North Korea's nuclear weapons and the fuel manufactured to produce them.
Under the agreement, the first part of the aid -- 50,000 tons of fuel oil, or an equivalent value of economic or humanitarian aid -- would be provided by South Korea, Russia, China and the United States; in the case of the United States, that would require congressional approval, which is likely to be difficult to get.
For disabling the reactor and declaring all nuclear programs, the North will eventually receive another 950,000 tons in aid. Further negotiations are to begin on March 19 in Beijing.
I've got my fingers crossed. I hope it works.
But North Korea has sidestepped previous agreements, and is thought to have many mountainside tunnels where it can hide projects.
It's the first time I'll give props to the Bush Administration. Negotiation over annihilation is a good thing boys. Now work on fixing the nightmare you've created in Iraq.
We're waiting for the storm currently blanketing the mid-West to arrive on the East Coast. Some fool weather-person will give the storm a name no doubt. Maybe if the National Weather Center didn't issue its warning in all caps people wouldn't get all worked up:
/O.NEW.KOKX.WS.W.0001.070213T2300Z- 070215T0300Z/ NORTHERN FAIRFIELD- 503 AM EST TUE FEB 13 2007
...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO 10 PM EST WEDNESDAY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN UPTON HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING... WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO 10 PM EST WEDNESDAY.
LIGHT SNOW IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN LATE THIS AFTERNOON...BECOMING STEADIER AND HEAVIER TONIGHT. AS WARMER AIR MOVES INTO THE REGION WEDNESDAY...THE SNOW WILL LIKELY MIX WITH SLEET DURING THE DAY...POSSIBLY CHANGING ENTIRELY TO SLEET OR FREEZING RAIN FOR A BRIEF PERIOD OF TIME. AS THE STORM MOVES TO THE NORTHEAST LATE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND COLDER AIR FLOWS BACK INTO THE AREA...THE PRECIPITATION WILL CHANGE BACK TO ALL SNOW BEFORE TAPERING OFF AND ENDING WEDNESDAY NIGHT. TOTAL SNOW AND SLEET ACCUMULATIONS BY THE TIME THE PRECIPITATION ENDS COULD RANGE FROM 8 TO 14 INCHES...WITH ABOUT A TENTH OF AN INCH OF ICE ACCRETION POSSIBLE DURING PERIODS OF FREEZING RAIN.
THERE CONTINUES TO BE SOME UNCERTAINTY AS TO THE EXACT TRACK OF THE LOW... WHICH WILL HAVE AN IMPACT ON PRECIPITATION TYPE AND SNOW AMOUNTS.
A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW... SLEET... AND ICE ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. STRONG WINDS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE.
Looks really bad, doesn't it? I have to admit ice is not my idea of a good time but snow really isn't an issue. The YaYa's Valentine's dinner maybe in jeopardy, however. We'll just have to wait and see.
Because deep inside of me lurks a seven year old boy.
