This clarifies things, at least.
So when does Iran blow one off, too? They do seem to chat a lot.
And now it is only time before Japan goes nuclear. And then South Korea and Taiwan.
Northeast Asia just got a lot uglier.
Unless we can end that monstrous regime in Pyongyang in the next six months, events will spin out and while we can probably live with the new situation--being rather distant--the countries of the region will sit on a powder keg.
Of the powers involved, I only really feel bad for Japan. They have worked with us. China, Russia, and South Korea, which refused to oppose North Korea, have earned every bit of discomfort they get out of this.
And I suspect that North Korea will not survive. There is no real reason for anyone to aid North Korea and every reason to deny them all aid and let them die.
UPDATE MINUTES LATER: Still waiting for confirmation. But if North Korea is a confirmed nuclear state (with no weaponized nukes yet, I assume), should we consider partitioning North Korea? China is already massing troops out of worry.
I personally have no problem with letting China have a buffer zone carved out of North Korea if it ends the repulsive North Korean regime.
But we must wait for confirmation, I guess. If North Korea did not set off a nuke while claiming to do so, how pathetic is that? So I can't imagine this not being confirmed.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Oh, and if the North Koreans did detonate a nuke, in the next several months we should disperse our Army brigade still in South Korea into company-sized packets since a concentrated brigade would be a logical target for any North Korean nuclear weapon.
And as we react, remember that Iran is a bigger threat due to Islamist terror. We've long assumed North Korea has a nuclear capability and this test--if we confirm it--simply confirms what we have long assumed. Work the problem. Don't panic. North Korea is the state in a desperate situtation. Not America. Not Japan. And not South Korea. Let North Korea die.
UPDATE JUST AFTER MIDNIGHT: The test may have slightly fizzled with less output than desired. Regardless, even if you were of the mind pre-test to give North Korea goodies, I would hope we would all agree that giving in to nuclear blackmail opens the gates to more nuclear blackmail. We need to squeeze those nutballs and watch them collapse. We should seriously consider blockading them. We'd need China to seal their border, of course. Oh, and I can't imagine anybody opposing missile defense now.
Checking out now. We'll see what it looks like in the morning. Effing bastards have ruined my morning coffee, that's for sure. But as I've said, at least the situation is clarified. Or should be.
Isolate that regime and let it die.
MORNING UPDATE: The Iranians thinks the test is our fault:
Not only did the United States not lift the sanctions it had imposed on North Korea, it even increased the diplomatic pressure. Such pressure finally led North Korea to conduct its nuclear test," Iranian state radio said in a commentary.
"North Korea's nuclear test was a reaction to America's threats and humiliation," it said.
Well that's a fascinating explanation. And one I'm sure we'll hear a lot here at home in the coming weeks.
But with the Iranians--Nobel Prize winners in feeling humiliated and threatened--say that low self esteem is reason to fire up a nuke, I'd keep an eye on Iran. Notwithstanding the official wisdom that says Iran is 5-10 years from having a nuke. In reality, however long it takes Iran to build their own, they are only about 20 hours from having a nuke FedExed to them from North Korea.
And now Iran knows their nuclear dollars will be well spent on a North Korean design.
