On...North Korea, Ya Gotta Love These Guys

56 year hiatus of the Forgotten War May be Over

Probably not, but I love the North Koreans. They are so sad and lonely. They are like the fat fifth-grader in the corner of the room desperate for attention. He breaks pencils and flicks them when the teacher steps out of the room. He farts and laughs like a hyena. He picks fights with second-graders and hides when eighth-graders stroll by. As long as he's sane there is nothing to fear, but if he's mad, well then get ready for a big mess. Their grand leader is mad, but hopefully everyone around him knows what consequences lurk around the corner.

The USA must protect South Korea and Japan, but we don't want a war. We have been playing a nice balancing act in the Pacific since 1945. We need to keep it that way. North Korea with nuclear weapons is a reality. That's a done deal, but threatening neighbors can not be allowed. And most importantly selling any such nuclear or missile technology cannot happen. If so we need to sink every ship out of North Korea. We need to let China know they need to get ahold of their leash.

Here's a bunch of ARTICLES on this subject.

Dan Blumenthal and Robert Kagan from WSJ: What to do About North Korea

David Sanger from NYTimes: Tested Early, Obama Has Few Options

Fred Kaplan from Slate.com: First, Take A Deep Breath

Robert Kaplan from Atlantic: North Korea, the Next Iraq?

Christian Science Monitor: Why Obama Can't be Soft with (You know who)

On...I'm A Believer

Seeing the Light

Has David Brooks finally seen the light? Or has he merely opened the curtains a smudge? Now the light I speak of is not *THOCATCOH. I think he started to spray a bit of that on himself last November, but I think the bottle is now used up. I can't believe he's really abandoned his Centrist Eden, but I do believe he knows no matter how he talks it up Obama is not a centrist outside of teleprompter speeches. He's a Chicago-style socialist with a smile. That or he's a man who believes in the hope of fairytales. [See North Korea/Afghanistan/Pakistan/Iran/Israel for deeping Foreign Policy ogres.]

Brooks realizes that if all these programs go through and they areonly half as disastrous as they appear to be, he will never see the centrist changes he longs for be a reality.

At least now he can hammer away like Krauthammer. Too bad they don't reach more of the silent (or deaf) majority.

* The Hope Of Change And The Change of Hope

From...Robert Kagan in Foreign Policy

I would assume this is the must read essay making the rounds right now in intellectual circles. Just FYI. It's long. I'm not finished with it yet and haven't digested it either. That being said, he makes you think in new directions.

Robert Kagan in Foreign Policy on The Revenge of Geography

He made his mark with Of Paradise and Power, the must read essay of 2003. And it was fantastic.

He also had this article in the New Republic one year ago.