Pop goes the NPT

So Kim Jong Il yesterday proved to the world what everyone knew anyway. The North Koreans have had the atomic bomb for some time now.

9th October 2006 was just the day they made it official. Yet all the big guns have suddenly started running around like headless chickens. The U.S., Japan, China, Russia, the E.U. all making the usual threatening but essentially meaningless noises. The funniest sight was John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister making bellicose statements in the Australian Parliament. Good show, John.I'll bet Kim and his friends were quaking in their boots. Psst, John, it isn't as easy as decimating the poor Aboriginals. Even the Americans couldn't win the Korean war, remember ?
The frustrated Americans can sabre-rattle all they want but the reality is that they can't do much.The military option was ruled out (unless the North Koreans themselves start a war) some years ago when it became evident that the Koreans had developed the bomb. Otherwise George W. would have invaded North Korea instead of Iraq.After all, it was numero uno in his 'Axis of Evil' comprising N.Korea, Iran and Iraq. Since the South Koreans and the Japanese would rather not have nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles raining down on them, Iraq seemed the easier option at the time. As for sanctions, there are already quite a few sanctions in place. N.Korea is economically in such bad shape that things can hardly get any worse for them. Not being burdened with the necessity of having to face elections as the free world knows them, the regime does not have to bother about public opinion. Media pressure pre-supposes the existence of independent media - again, something Kim doesn't have to lose any sleep over. Therefore, unless the U.S.A. can get China to turn off food and oil supplies to its recalcitrant ally there isn't much George and Condi can do but gnash their teeth. Perhaps John Howard got it right after all. Since there is nothing else to be done, chest-thumping at least gets a decent press !