NORTH KOREA IS A TOUGH NUT

Tech Central Station's Ralph Kinney Bennett on North Korea:

Nowhere is the wretched legacy of Soviet Communism more apparent than in North Korea. Stalin's Far Eastern puppet state has become far weirder and more sinister than "Chuckie" at his worst. And seldom has such an unfortunate confluence of geopolitical elements allowed a -- pardon the expression -- "piss ant" country to become such a serious global concern. These elements include:

-A populace starved and oppressed almost to retardation by its psychotic and maniacal leader.

-A determined accumulation and development of dangerous military technology including long-range missiles and nuclear weapons.

-An intrinsic defensive advantage conferred by North Korea's own geology, geography and topography. It's a damn pile of rocks!

President George Bush has said that despite U.S. concern over its continuing development of nuclear weapons, the United States has "no intention" of "invading" North Korea. Wisely spoken. Now the White House is trying to secure some sort of multination nonaggression pact to entice Pyongyang back to the negotiating table on the issue of curtailing its nuclear weapons development.

ANOTHER VIEW from Slate's Fred Kaplan. Pretty amusing with such lines as:

"So the North Koreans say they have a nuclear weapon. Why should anyone be surprised? And why does everyone in the Bush administration and the White House press corps seem to think the announcement is something new?"

Fred, haven't people on the right been already in the know or stating these assumptions for a long time? What reports are you reading, Fred? This one is great:

"We don't know whether the North Koreans possess any actual nuclear weapons until they test one. We do know that they have reprocessed enough plutonium to build a dozen or so nukes, and President Bush's reckless policies—no less than Kim Jong-il's—must be held responsible for that frightening development."

Eh? Fred, what about eight years of the Clinton administration doing nothing have a little something to do with this? (Yo! Mingi, you around? Need you to chime in.)