Thanks, U.N. Security Council.
Thanks, Clinton Administration.
All that Clinton-era appeasement of North Korea, followed by the U.N.'s toothless "diplomatic pressure" on North Korea to halt its nuclear weapons program, ignoring calls by the United States for more robust action, really paid off!
Or not.
Actually, it paid off about as well as diplomacy, unbacked by action, usually pays off. North Korea says it has detonated its first nuclear bomb.
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea said Monday it had performed its first-ever nuclear weapons test, setting off an underground blast in defiance of international warnings and intense diplomatic activity aimed at heading off such a move.
The North Korean statement said there was no radioactive leakage from the test site.An official at South Korea's seismic monitoring center confirmed a magnitude-3.6 tremor felt at the time North Korea said it conducted the test was not a natural occurrence. The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition his name not be used, because he was not authorized to talk about the sensitive information to the media.
Australia also said there was seismic confirmation that North Korea conducted a nuclear test.
However, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that information still needs to be collected and analyzed to determine whether North Korea truly conducted its first nuclear test.
Japan's top government spokesman said if confirmed, the North Korean test would post a serious threat to the stability in the region and a provocation.
China, the North's closest ally, said Beijing "resolutely opposes" the North Korean nuclear test and hopes Pyongyang will return to disarmament talks.
U.S. and South Korean officials could not immediately confirm the report.
South Korea's Defense Ministry said the alert level of the military had been raised in response to the claimed nuclear test.
The U.N. Security Council is expected to discuss the reported North Korean test on Monday, and the United States and Japan are likely to press for a resolution imposing additional sanctions on Pyongyang.
A resolution adopted in July after a series of North Korean missile launches imposed limited sanctions on North Korea and demanded that the reclusive communist nation suspend its ballistic missile program — a demand the North immediately rejected.
The resolution bans all U.N. member states from selling material or technology for missiles or weapons of mass destruction to North Korea — and it bans all countries from receiving missiles, banned weapons or technology from Pyongyang.
The North said last week it would conduct a test, sparking regional concern and frantic diplomatic efforts aimed at dissuading Pyongyang from such a move. North Korea has long claimed to have nuclear weapons, but had never before performed a known test to prove its arsenal.
I can't wait to see how the U.N. Security Council continues to talk after Iran's first nuclear test, which could arrive any day now. The U.N. has quite a track record of talking about Iran's nuclear program.
Meanwhile, nuclear proliferation: It's breaking out all over.
Now all that stands between Iran and a nuclear weapon is the ability to purchase one from North Korea. Add to that the chilling fact that Iranian observers -- mainly scientists and engineers - were present when North Korea tested its intercontinental-range missiles on July 4th.
With only the ability of oil-rich Iran to buy nuclear weapons from cash-strapped North Korea now standing between Iran and the nuclear bomb, those who trumpeted the claim that Iran was at least 5 or even 10 years away from acquiring a nuclear weapon have now been proven wrong.
Those who wrongly or misleadingly claimed that Iran was at least 10 years from being able to acquire a nuclear weapon include the New York Times; the Washington Post (based on -- guess what? -- a National Intelligence Estimate of 2005; I guess those National Intelligence Estimates aren't as reliable as some Democrats have portrayed them to be); the BBC; the leftist website AMERICAblog; and NPR. There are others; but this list will do for starters.
Will you ever accept the advice of any of these sources on matters of national security again? If so, why?
This might be a good time to review my earlier post discussing Buster Foghorn's excellent indictment of the media for lacking a sense of urgency and importance. While North Korea prepared for its nuclear weapons test, where did the mainstream media point your attention? Which story was the subject of an astonishing 103 stories on ABC, CBS and NBC last week? If there is such a thing as media malpractice, you've just witnessed it.
So where are we?
The international community has proven unwilling or unable to halt nuclear proliferation in our time.
As a result, the United States and other decent nations must become deadly serious about nuclear missile defense. Such missile defense programs deserve substantial resources. There is no trustworthy alternative.
Great nations will fall if we get this one wrong.
Sadly, as Ace of Spades points out, Democrats have tried time and time again to delay, kill, and gut the U.S. missile defense program.
Now that tyrants, terrorists, and madmen are arming themselves with nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them, there is no such thing as mutually assured destruction.
If we do not provide for nuclear missile defense, the only assured destruction will be our own.
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More coverage of the news at Fox News and CNN
More commentary at Stop the ACLU, Gateway Pundit, Michelle Malkin, The Yelling Box, Mary Katharine Ham, Texas Rainmaker, Riehl World View, Blue Star Chronicles, RightWinged, Flopping Aces, The Political Pit Bull, Blogs for Bush, Pink Flamingo Bar, Wizbang
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