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In the contrary, if China can keep Kim from misbehaving, China can ask a lot of favors from the US (say, stop arms sales to Taiwan). Call this blackmail or whatever you like, but China can gain much more by keep Kim in line than letting this rascal ruin the party. I may be wrong but this is how the present situation shows.

Excellent point...and it could all be engineered to that end from the beginning...bad cop (N. Korea), good cop (The PRC), all to achieve ends they may not have been able to without such a show.

But, as I said, it could also be geared towards other ends. We have to be very careful and I believe Bush and his people are trying to do just that. I just wish we could and would bite the bullet and put more pressure on the RPC itself.

Yes, I agree with you that China has some scheme grander in scale than having Kim create trouble by picking on the biggest guy in the block. It just doesn't make any business sense for China.

bad cop (N. Korea), good cop (The PRC), all to achieve ends they may not have been able to without such a show.

In the financial arena Red China is portrayed as a bull market ready to explode faster than higher than anything we could possibly image, with America sucking the hind teat. Hey, the PRC is on our side, investors! [/huge sarcasm]