■"Trade Group to Start Talks to Admit Iran," by Elaine Sciolino, New York Times, 27 May 2005, pulled from web site.

■"N. Korea Denies Nuclear Testing Reports," by Associated Press, New York Times, 27 May 2005, pulled from web site. A1.

You kill authoritarianism with connectivity, so it makes sense to bring Iran into the WTO. Good move by the Bush administration to drop our long-time resistance to these talks beginning. No, the Euros never got an agreement with the Iranians to stop pursuing nuclear energy through uranium enrichment, but the two sides are still talking and agreeing that some agreement makes sense.

Then there's the flip side with North Korea, a totalitarian regime we can't kill with connectivity because it's too shut up and isolated from the outside world. Here we're told the same lies the Iranians tell us, but no talks, no search for agreement, just the threat of tests.

Guess which one we should pull the trigger on?