Pamela Falk Quotations

with North Korea reneging on a key issue of the new disarmament agreement, U.S. negotiators are trying to keep the six-party talks going because nuclear brinksmanship makes all nations nervous.

With the polls open and insurgent attacks in parts of Baghdad, the measure of success of the referendum will depend in part on Sunni participation in the vote,

Secretary of State Rice made clear in her remarks that the U.S. favors a referral of Iran to the Security Council for sanctions if negotiations fail, ... because the Bush Administration suspects that Irans uranium enrichment program is a nuclear weapons program, but the resistance from Russia and China to vote for sanctions, may undermine a U.S. referral.

Historically there have been compensation programs, not restitution. In other words money, not give them back the property. And that's most likely what's going to happen.

It is likely there will be a presidential statement. It's not binding, and the Security Council doesn't have to vote.

The advantage of having all the Heads of State in a three-day summit in this General Assembly session was a great advantage over previous U.N. meetings, ... because of the ability to have so many bilateral meetings.

With confidence in a unified Iraqi state at a low ebb, ... there is a lot resting on the referendum to replace insurgency with political participation.

With immigration on the front burner, this is probably President Bush's last best shot at getting the immigration reform through that he and Mexico's President Vicente Fox proposed five years ago, when they both were first elected.

The more defiant Iran becomes, the more the spotlight is on the U.N. to try to find a diplomatic solution.

The breakthrough agreement with North Korea not only diffuses a two-year stalemate but holds out the hope that Pyongyang will return to its international treaty obligations,

Although Russia and China have resisted the strong language of the U.N. resolution, the vote is expected to pass,

Foreign Minister Lavrov was clear that Russia remains committed to non proliferation and any Russian compromise proposals are within that context.

takes the pressure off the United Nations with regard to North Korea and avoids a contentious debate about sanctions at a time when talks with North Korea had stalled.

There still is a lot of negotiating that will have to be completed in November, including the specifics of the agreements and time frames. But in essence, North Korea has agreed to end its existing nuclear weapons and ongoing development and to include inspections in exchange for a U.S. agreement not to invade or attack North Korea and to gradually normalize relations.

The economics of Washington's strained relations with Venezuela could prove costly.

The challenge for U.S. negotiators will be to determine what is a continuing negotiation and what is a stall, ... and the stakes are high.