Word: ils
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...literally true that diplomats in international capitals who have to deal with Pyongyang are those that draw the shortest straw. But it probably should be. No deal with the North is ever set in stone. And so it is again with the agreement Kim Jong Il signed last year to disable his nuclear bomb-making equipment and get rid of the nukes that Pyongyang has already produced - between 6 and 10, according to notoriously inaccurate CIA estimates. The government did disable the Yongbyon reactor, its key source of nuclear fuel, and blew up its cooling tower with the world...
...patriotism is the last refuge for scoundrels, what do you call a Cabinet minister who flips off the national anthem? Certainly not a statesman - nor a reliable political partner. By waving his middle finger Sunday while barking out a verse of Il Canto degli Italiani, Italy's Reforms Minister Umberto Bossi raised real questions about the long-term viability of Silvio Berlusconi's center-right ruling coalition...
...party nuclear talks with North Korea were gathering over the weekend to push forward on the next, critical step on the road to Pyongyang's ostensible nuclear disarmament: the plan for a verification program that would give the outside world confidence that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il is abiding by his word to stand down his nukes. On Saturday, China's delegate to the talks announced that Pyongyang had in fact agreed to the broad outlines of a deal to let international inspectors visit North Korean nuclear sites, review documents and interview technical personnel. The North also said...
...Indian IL-76 transport plane flew to Kabul Monday to retrieve the bodies of four diplomats killed in a suicide bombing at India's embassy in the Afghan capital. The dead, who numbered 41, included a brigadier general, R.D. Mehta, who had started his post just five months ago and a foreign service officer, V.V. Rao, whose two-year tour of duty in Kabul was about to end. The bombing is likely to have regional ramifications, both for India's relations with the neighborhood and those of every other country supporting Afghan President Hamid Karzai...
...when the North might expect to actually get assistance on a peaceful nuclear project - "basically, the message has been, when hell freezes over," says Cossa. But with North Korea having been officially taken off the bad guy list, this is likely to be the next item on Kim Jong Il's wish list. And it will probably be either Barack Obama or John McCain who decides whether to grant his wish...