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Not wanting to reward bad behavior, the U.S., China, South Korea, Russia and Japan  agreed to meet all of North Korea's energy needs if it behaves.  According to U.S. News,the deal looks similar to the Clinton "Agreed Framework" except that the bad boy (Kim not Bill) only gets rewarded after he complies. 

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Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist who wrote about the Dirty War in Chechnya, was assassinated.  She was a constant critic of Vladimir Putin.  She died on his birthday.  Putin is a former head of KGB.

According to USA Today Politkovskaya was working on a story about kidnapping and torture in Chechnya when she was killed.

American reporter, Paul Klebnikov was hit in Moscow in 2004.  The Committee to Protect Journalists says 42 journalists have been murdered in Russia since 1992.

I wanted to work this story it into a cartoon but it lacked gay e-mails so it didn't get much play in the U.S.  The Korean nuke test is big news and Russia is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council so here it is.

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Well, he went ahead and did it anyway.  House Speaker Hastert demanded an immediate response thanking Kim Jong II for knocking the Foley scandal off the front page.  Madeline Albright will drink to that.

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I'm back.  I've been on vacation and forgot to have someone take in the blog.  Sorry it's looking a bit untended.

After a relaxing 2 weeks away from the news it was  comforting in a weird way to log on to a grinning and clapping Dear Leader.