Nuke Of the North

The weather for the American Northeast for the rest of the week looks to be less of a big deal than it was originally expected to be, but international news has easily replaced my fears of another Sandy with fears of another nuclear missile crisis redolent of the Cuban crisis of 1962. In the wake of new United Nations sanctions against North Korea likely to passed today, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (the official and very misleading name of the North Korean government) has accused the United States and South Korea of preparing for military action against them and has threatened a pre-emptive nuclear - yes, nuclear - strike against the United States.

Although an Associated Press story reports that the North Koreans are not believed to have mastered the ability to produce a warhead that can fit on a missile capable of hitting the U.S., I have no idea if this "belief" is accurate. I've seen other dictatorships make threats that were easy to laugh off, but North Korea is no laughing matter. The North Koreans - who have the fourth largest army in the world - have been diligently working on developing their nuclear weapon capability for years.

If there's a silver lining in this possible mushroom cloud, the Chinese are on board with these sanctions, and the China is North Korea's closest ally - probably its only ally. China is in a position to defuse a possible crisis that other countries are not in. Be that as it may, North Korea doesn't need to nuke anyone to cause trouble. It can cancel the 1953 cease-fire with South Korea and invade the south, as it has threatened to do. There could be a major war in the southern part of the Korea peninsula with fighting that could make the Pusan Perimeter campaign look like a minor skirmish.

Hopefully, the situation can be defused quickly. In the meantime, the Chinese should send someone to Pyongyang to talk some sense into the North Korean leadership. The best thing we can do is keep Dennis Rodman from going back there, as his recent visit to North Korea didn't exactly help matters any.