Morning Joe: The Return from North Korea

Stories we're following today:

Talks for Secret Mission to North Korea Began Once Journalists Were Seized - L.A. Times [link]

• Worried that the North Koreans would use Clinton's trip to win concessions on nuclear issues, the administration was careful to publicly characterize the mission as a private initiative with simple humanitarian aims.
• But behind the scenes, White House officials kept tight control of negotiations, said people close to the process.

Behind Bill Clinton's Rescue Mission - The Cable [link]

• As the office of former U.S. President Bill Clinton announced that the two American journalists whose release he gained today from North Korea were allowed to fly out with him and were en route to Los Angeles, Washington Korea hands said the arrangement for their release was likely worked out in advance through the "New York" channel.

Obama to Chair UN Council Meeting on Nuclear Arms - Reuters [link]

• The meeting will take place on Sept. 24 during the annual summit of the U.N. General Assembly. The heads of state of the other 14 Security Council members will be invited to participate, Rice said in a statement.

Neo Cons for the Bomb: More Advice from the Men Who Brought You Iraq - William Hartung in TPM Café [link]

• It is Obama's determination to back up his rhetoric with concrete steps towards disarmament that is driving Feith and his not-so-merry band of colleagues crazy. Whatever rhetoric they may use to disguise it, the "neo-cons for the bomb" are addicted to these weapons of mass terror and can't imagine a world without them. It's up to us to prove them wrong.

Russian Subs Patrolling Off East Coast of U.S. - New York Times [link]

• According to Defense Department officials, one of the Russian submarines remained in international waters on Tuesday about 200 miles off the coast of the United States. The location of the second remained unclear.
• But the collapse of the Soviet Union all but eliminated the ability of the Russian Navy to operate far from home ports, making the current submarine patrols thousands of miles from Russia more surprising for military officials and defense policy experts.

A View from the Dark Side

Clinton's Unwise Trip to North Korea - John Bolton of the Washington Post [link]

• While the United States is properly concerned whenever its citizens are abused or held hostage, efforts to protect them should not create potentially greater risks for other Americans in the future.
• This history is of the United States rewarding dangerous and unacceptable behavior, a lesson well learned by other would-be nuclear proliferators.
• Dark Sidenote: Bolton placed 9 op-eds in major American publications over the last 12 weeks. UN Dispatch tracks editorial boards' "instinctive" use of Bolton commentaries.