The word of the day is...

[mburbank]

Absolutely. And China could still be played, but it's a very dangerous game. I'm sure China doesn't want a nuclear capable N. Korea either, (since they also pay 'extortion' money to keep them a client state) but they're sure we'll pay the extortion money.

It's a pretty high stakes game for either China or the US to attempt a game of chicken.

But again... calll me cynical but it seems to me most relations between adversarial countries (and often between allies) is a game of extortion, threats, blackmail, strongarming, etc. The only thing I see different here is that North Korea is putting more of it's cards face up on the table.

We told Saddam we wanted him out. We threatened to bomb and invade his country if he did not comply. He didn't, we did. That's not extortion? The threat of Violence underlies all negotiation.