The Back Story On North Korea's Return to the Table

Fred Kaplan has a good piece up at Slate on the resumption of the six-party talks with North Korea; Kaplan basically plays it as a face-saving compromise, with an obstinate Bush Administration (featuring John Bolton as a special guest star) giving way on two key points to get the talks moving again. What was the difference? Condi, it appears. Though Powell had also favored getting the talks moving again, he never had the President's ear the way Condi does, as is well known by now. Worth a look...