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To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (47899)	2/27/2005 6:54:32 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Respond to of 50167

Clinton says Hillary will be best choice as first US female president TOKYO: Former US President Bill Clinton said Sunday that his wife, Hillary, would be an excellent choice as the first female leader of the world’s most powerful nation. In an interview with Japan’s TV Asahi, Clinton said he did not know whether his wife, the senator of New York state, has any plans to one day run for the presidency, which has been held by 43 men but no women. “I don’t know if she’ll run or not,” he told the network, but added, “She would make an excellent president, and I would always try to help her.” Hillary Rodham Clinton has said she plans to run for re-election as New York senator in 2006. Speculation has periodically surfaced, however, that the 57-year-old former first lady may have her sights set for the presidency in 2008. Results from a US poll released last week showed that six in 10 American voters believe the United States is ready for a female president. Fifty-three percent thought Hillary Clinton should try for the job, according to the survey by the Siena College Research Institute and sponsored by Hearst Newspapers. ap

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (47899)	2/27/2005 6:55:11 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Respond to of 50167

North Korea may seek hefty price for giving up nukes By Jon Herskovitz All agree that an arms race in Northeast Asia would be costly and an armed conflict devastating ALL North Korea probably wants in return for giving up its nuclear weapons is a little respect, some peace of mind and a whole lot of money. Analysts said Pyongyang had raised the stakes in the diplomatic push to coax it back to the bargaining table when it announced for the first time on Feb. 10 it had nuclear weapons. The North has played brinkmanship before. In 1994 it found it could receive aid worth possibly billions of dollars in return for backing down from its nuclear ambitions. North Korea is a poor and isolated country that has trouble feeding its people and keeping the lights on at night. Despite its dire needs, leader Kim Jong-il has spent heavily to develop nuclear weapons and he expects a hefty return on the investment. “Their number one priority is survival, regime survival and Kim Jong-il’s survival,” said Ralph Cossa, president of the Pacific Forum CSIS, a prominent think-tank on Asian affairs. Analysts say one of Pyongyang’s long-term goals is to establish diplomatic ties with the United States, a breakthrough which it hopes would open the door for international investment and aid from bodies such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Places North Korea can to turn to for help include South Korea, which has tried to build up economic ties in exchange for better diplomatic relations. China, its main benefactor and Japan, which has a large population of Koreans with ties to the North who provide crucial cash through remittance payments, can also play prominent roles. Looking for $10 billion: North Korea watcher Douglas Shin said Pyongyang’s nuclear boast could be aimed at getting as much as $10 billion in compensation for scrapping its weapons programme. The five parties which have been negotiating with North Korea want a diplomatic agreement that will halt its nuclear programme, dismantle its existing weapons and do so in a verifiable way. All agree that an arms race in Northeast Asia would be costly and an armed conflict devastating. Three rounds of six-party talks, including North and South Korea, China, the United States, Japan and Russia, took place before they stalled last year without progress. Proliferation experts said it was likely that the North had one or two nuclear weapons, but it could have as many as 10. For internal political reasons, Kim needs to show some US concessions, such as bilateral meetings and a security guarantee for the isolated communist state. The North also wants Washington to stop calling it an “outpost of tyranny”, analysts said. When the North made its nuclear weapons boast on Feb. 10, it said it was pulling out of the six-party talks. Pyongyang has since hinted at returning to the table if Washington showed “sincerity.” US officials have met directly with the North within the framework of the six-way talks and officials from President George W. Bush’s administration have stated that Washington has no hostile intentions towards North Korea. “North Korea needs to be able to say that it didn’t bow down and negotiate given its ‘military-first’ Songun policy,” said Koh Yu-hwan, a professor at Seoul’s Dongguk University and a leading expert on North Korea. “Giving in on a military issue and the Songun ideology just don’t reconcile,” Koh said. Great deals to be had: The bargaining table can be lucrative for the North. In 1994, when it threatened to pull out of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and barred International Atomic Energy Agency officials from inspecting its Yongbyon plutonium reprocessing plant, an international consortium struck a deal to freeze and eventually eliminate Pyongyang’s nuclear facilities. In exchange, the energy-starved country got large heavy fuel oil shipments and ground was broken on two proliferation-resistant, light-water nuclear reactors. Then South Korean president Kim Dae-jung launched his “sunshine policy”, that provided the North with economic incentives in exchange for better bilateral ties. But in October 2002, Washington accused North Korea of cheating on the deal and operating a second, secret atomic weapons programmeme based on highly enriched uranium. Pyongyang denied that, but then kicked out international inspectors and restarted the plutonium programmeme at Yongbyon. The light-water reactors were never built and the reclusive state sank deeper into isolation. Cossa, of CSIS, said a main player in any settlement will be South Korea. He applauded the “sunshine policy” but said the Seoul administration of President Roh Moo-hyun had not done enough to seek reciprocity. It had given too much to the North in return for too little, in other words all carrot and no stick, he said. “South Korea is using too short a stick. The donkey can eat the carrot without getting up.” reuters