Russia Says Bush to Blame for North Korea Crisis MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia accused President Bush (news - web sites) on Monday of having ignited a crisis over North Korea (news - web sites) by antagonizing the nuclear-capable Stalinist state and playing on its dire economic situation. Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov said Bush was to blame for North Korea's erratic policies, including steps to unfreeze its nuclear program, because of his decision to brand it part of his "axis of evil" of hostile nations. "How should a small country feel when it is told that it is all but part of forces of evil of biblical proportions and should be fought against until total annihilation?" Mamedov told the Vremya Novostei daily newspaper.

I can remember in the early days of Bush's administration the shocking incident of Bush embarassing the South Korean leader in the photo-op room of the White House. The South Korean president had just spent several years of his life and quite a lot of political capital to try and produce some kind of long-overdue rapproachment with the north. Then, the first time he appears in public with Junior, Dubya simply blows off all the man's hard work and says that things are going to be different now (sorry, I don't remember the exact quote at this time). My god was I embarassed to be an American that day. Is Bush responsible for the impending disaster that is North Korea? You bet he is. It's exactly what he wanted. He represents a group of people that have always been more comfortable in a world where chaos reigns and everyone is shooting at everyone else. That way, they think, the ones with the biggest guns will get to dictate what will happen. Life has a way of knocking such hubris on its back. Unfortunately, it's like to take the rest of us with it when it does.