Okay, This is Weird...

Bush and I are both against John Bolton. What is this... Bizarro World?

Surprise, surprise, diplomacy and negotiation are proving effective, rather than swagger:

North Korea agreed on Tuesday to take steps towards nuclear disarmament in exchange for $300 million in aid under a deal President George W. Bush hailed as the best chance to get it to scrap its atomic weapons program.

The landmark agreement, reached four months after Pyongyang stunned the world with its first nuclear test, requires the secretive communist state to shut down the reactor at the heart of its nuclear ambitions and allow international inspections.

But the accord also calls for concessions by the United States towards economically impoverished North Korea, which Bush once lumped together with Iran and Iraq as an "axis of evil."

The United States and Japan agreed to discuss normalizing ties with North Korea, something it had long sought. Washington also said it would resolve within 30 days a dispute over frozen North Korean bank accounts in Macau, and consider removing Pyongyang from a list of state sponsors of terrorism.

In addition, Russia plans a "radical reduction" in the debt it's owed by North Korea. This is very good news all around, but the criticism has already begun... by Bolton and conservatives? The complaint? You guessed it:

Bush defended the deal against critics, including from his key conservative base, who said that offering aid and other guarantees to North Korea in return for disbanding its nuclear network was rewarding "bad behavior" and a sign of US weakness.

Shouldn't we be celebrating and encouraging any progress with North Korea? We're so worried someone out there might call us a wuss and knock our books out of our arms, we're willing to continue playing with fire in North Korea?

Among the agreement's vocal critics was Washington's former envoy to the United Nations, John Bolton, who called it "a very bad deal" that shows US weakness at a time when Washington is challenging Iran over its controversial nuclear program.

This is not showing weakness. This is showing that the US can be a responsible negotiator, and work with other countries without always resorting to bombing the shit out of them. I'm feeling really weird about giving Bush the benefit of the doubt on this, but negotiation and a peaceful solution to the North Korean nuclear problem is not a bad thing. John Bolton, do shut up.

(Energy Dome tip to Crooks & Liars)