I don't know if it is because she is a woman but there is no comparing the adulation Powell receives to the dissing of Rice. And, yet, the only world leader who made his preference clear in the upcoming elections is the one most directly handled by Rice, i.e., Putin. The Russian president announced on Friday (18 June) in Astana that Russia had warned the United States about possible acts of terrorism by Saddam. Putin said the following:"After the events of 11 September 2001 and before the start of the military operation in Iraq the special services repeatedly received information that official organs within Saddam's regime were preparing acts of terrorism at military and civilian facilities on and outside US territory... Bush personally thanked the leaders of one of the Russian special services for this information, which he considered very important," he said.

An annoyed Department of State forgot its diplomatic good manners and immediately cast doubt on the veracity of the Russian president. The media downplayed the story. But is it so unlikely?

After all, as reported by the NYT on Sept. 23, 1990, on July 25, 1990, on the eve of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, Saddam Hussein warned US Ambasssador April Glaspie:"We know that you can harm us although we do not threaten you. But we too can harm you. Everyone can cause harm according to their ability and their size. We cannot come all the way to you in the United States, but individual Arabs may reach you."

By the way, recent reports informed us that China (along with South Korea and Japan) is paying North Korea to participate in the talks. Bravo! Multilateralism works and strenghens US hand in the negotiations. The stupidest thing Kerry said was that he will return to bi-lateral negotioantions with North Korea.