Dear Leaders

What's rumbling in North Korea? These rumours of a purge at the top of the government and military have been robustly denied by the DPRK in an unusually strong statement, saying that it's all misinformation from the US.

The DPRK still has one of the best and saddest websites in the world - I don't think it's changed in three and a half years since I first discovered it. Am I going too far if I say that its clumsy design, using large jpeg images for all its buttons, links and text seems simply too proletarian to be true?

On the other end of the political spectrum, it looks like Pinochet may finally stand trial. But like all these sorts of things, I'm not holding my breath in anticipation of a quick judicial process.

Bringing dodgy heads of state to justice is probably very important, but doesn't often achieve very much in real terms. In a rare reminder of the fate of another despotic leader, Patrick Coburn of the Independent reminds us that the arrest of Saddam Hussein, one year ago today, has accomplished very little to bring peace or stability to Iraq.

And let's not even get started on the ongoing trial of Slobodan Milosevic.